tooth fairy economics

HOW AN EVANGELICAL CAPITALIST WITH WINGS CLAIMED THE MONOPOLY ON CHILDREN’S TEETH.

Writer Jo Walker

IN THE WEST, THERE ARE THREE MYTHICAL ENTITIES WE ALLOW INTO OUR CHILDREN’S BEDROOMS. Santa and the Easter Bunny, numbers one and two on the visitation list, boast longstanding (if contentious) religious origin stories. The third is unclaimed by any mainstream church. She’s an ersatz Disney character who might also be a mouse in disguise. As a proponent of free-market American capitalism, she pays in cold, hard cash. And she’s young. If we date the beginnings of her widespread tooth-collecting program, she popped into existence sometime in the late 1940s. Which means the Tooth Fairy – that seemingly eternal avatar of oral hygiene – is a Baby Boomer. For a supernatural latecomer, the Tooth Fairy taps into some ancient traditions. Every human society has evolved rituals around the disposal of baby teeth.…

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Smith Journal (Digital) - 1 Issue, Summer 2019

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