What size, madam?

Well I know the one about the economy and skirt length - you know, in good times, skirts get shorter. and in bad times, longer, but it seems there is a similar co-relation between the state of the economy and the height of the heels on women's shoes. Researchers have tracked the performance of the UK's GDP over the last five years and the sale of high- and low-heeled shoes over the same period, and this seems to indicate that women buy more high heels when the going is good, and more low heels when things are tough.  As one daily paper said, gives a whole new meaning to the phrase - footsie index.