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There are more twins in the "millennial generation" than any other generation, thanks partly to a twin boom in the '90s. The main reason was a new technology called in vitro fertilization, which in its early days frequently produced twins, triplets and other multiple births.

The result? A million "extra" twins born between 1981 and 2012.

And all of them might be hurting the economy.

"Basically we'd prefer people not being twins to being twins," says economist Mark Rosenzweig.

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Rosenzweig's career is built on studying twins. But if he's being honest, he thinks twins are bad economic news.

First, there are the health care costs. Twins are more likely to be born prematurely, which can lead to all sorts of expensive medical problems.

Birth weight matters, too: Rosenzweig did a study based on hundreds of female twins in Minnesota that looked at the effect of birth weight on lifetime earnings.

"The birth weights of twins are on average about 28 ounces lower," he says. "So the earnings result was 16 percent lower, related to the fact that they had lower birth weight."

That's right: on average female twins make 16 percent less money over their lifetimes than non-twins — just because they're born less chubby. And lest you think it's only the girls who are in trouble, multiple studies have also found low birth weight in boys correlates with less educational success, which also means earning less money.

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And then there's the family stress of bringing home two babies.

"The birth of twins, it's usually greeted with a great deal of shock: a two-person stroller, two cribs, two of everything, basically," says twin researcher Nancy Segal, who runs the Twin Studies Center at Cal State Fullerton.

It also means a doubling of other costs, like college tuition. Raising all the extra millennial twins has been hard on many family budgets. And then, if the twins were conceived through in vitro fertilization, there's the cost of having them in the first place; the procedure is expensive.

But despite the cost, Segal doesn't buy the idea that twins are a bad thing for society. She points out twins tend to support each other emotionally, and tend to live closer to each other and to family than regular siblings, which can make them more available to care for aging parents.

And being twins might just help them economically too.

Matt and Mike Gradnani are identical twins and they're really close. They went to college together, they played football and rugby together and they go to bars together. At 25 years old, they live together in an apartment they own together, which they could afford because there are two of them.

"I mean we both kinda felt that it would be smarter in the long run to put money in our own investment, instead of someone else's pocket," says Matt. "And ultimately the two of us could afford a lot more together than we could individually."

And Mike and Matt even co-own a successful business selling real estate. How's that for hurting the economy?

But they're just two of the one million extra millennial twins entering the workforce, and starting families of their own, in the coming years. The ultimate economic impact of all those twins is yet to be known.

twins

When Ronaldo Mouchawar was working in a Boston engineering firm he dreamed of moving back to the Arab world. Born and raised in Aleppo, Syria, he had come to the U.S. to study, then got a high-paying job, but he believed he "owed something" to his home region.

It turned out his ticket back was a smart idea at the right time.

He founded Souq.com in 2006 and settled in Dubai, the financial capital of the United Arab Emirates. Now he's the CEO of what's considered the most successful e-commerce site in the region. He recently raised $150 million in capital to expand. The 44-year-old entrepreneur says commerce is part of his DNA.

"I studied engineering, my dad was a really strong trader merchant, so the combo was a no-brainer for me."

Setting up a business in many Arab countries is difficult, which made business-friendly Dubai an obvious base. Internet penetration had reached 20 percent in the UAE by the time he moved there. His e-business took off a few years later when the regional cell phone revolution connected millions more to the net.

"Suddenly, you go from 30 million users to 130 million users" in the Arab world, he says in his glass-walled office in Dubai. This meant potential customers in Egypt and Saudi Arabia. "The Arab world massively embraced mobile technology. There is 70 percent penetration in the Gulf. That was prime territory for us."

A Quiet Transformation

In a region where war, political turmoil and oil prices dominate the headlines, technology quietly is transforming the Middle East, says Mouchawar. He recognized the potential early and is riding the wave. Now, Internet start-up companies in Dubai attract millions of dollars from venture capitalists who come from Silicon Valley and from the Middle East.

"For those of us who sit in the middle of it, we already feel it," says Fadi Ghandour, the founder of Aramex, a logistics company based in Amman, Jordan. He moved his operation to Dubia and spends most days listening to start-up pitches. He's now a full-time investor in a movement he believes will reshape the region.

"You can feel the crescendo," he says. "People will start to feel that energy that you saw in Tahrir Square, in Egypt," he says, referring to an Arab democracy movement that started in 2011. "This is the energy of the start-up community across the region."

Technology is embraced by the young generation in a region where 60% of the population is under 35. "Youth empowerment, this was a driver for us," says Mouchawar.

Jobs for this generation are scare. Youth unemployment is in double digits in all Arab states. Tech jobs can change the statistics by leveling the playing field for educated tech specialists in a part of the world where family connections are often the key to a decent job.

Creating A 'White Friday'

On the day I visit the offices, the workspace for hundreds of young employees is decorated with black and white balloons. The open space floor plan, with the soft clatter of keyboards and clustered meetings, has the vibe of any tech company. But it is striking to see so many young women monitoring computer screens and heading planning meetings.

The balloons?

"It's a very tough day," says Mouchawar, as he gives me a tour, "so just to make sure we have some fun."

There is an all-nighter ahead for the entire team in the countdown to the biggest shopping day of the year. It's a first for Souq.com. Think Black Friday.

Mouchawar rebranded the shopping day. He calls it "White Friday," a more fitting name for Arab culture. "We wanted to own it, to own the brand."

He explains that it makes cultural sense. In the Arab world, Friday is the traditional day of prayer. A "black" Friday doesn't work in Arabic.

In the highly competitive world of e-commerce, Mouchawar has localized and Arabized a successful business model that has already proven successful in the West.

"One of the challenges is how we Arabize millions of products, product descriptions, build a proper catalogue index, but that's our edge," he says.

He walks into the "war room" where another team is watching large computer monitors in the lead up to the start of White Friday.

"We have screens to see traffic, sales, Twitter feeds, what customers are saying," he says.

Saudi Arabia is big on Twitter but in Egypt the favored communication tool is Facebook. The team follows all the social media feeds in real time for feedback on what customers are saying about quality and price.

For Mouchawar, e-commerce is a platform that can build a new Middle East. It could create badly needed jobs for young people and boost the businesses that are the backbone of Arab economies.

"If you see where the jobs are, it's got to come from small and medium businesses," he says. E-commerce can provide distribution for these merchants for the first time and open markets across the Middle East.

"Imagine the access this merchant can have from a street in Cairo to a customer base in Saudi Arabia, to the UAE. If we can connect all these dots, you will have an incredible customer base."

He explains that the company handles the "last mile" deliveries even to places with no dependable mail service or a postal address.

Mouchawar met his goal of driving 10 million users to the website with White Friday sales, partnering with product giants including Microsoft, Apple, Samsung and Sony, to offer deep discounts. It's another step in building a brand.

The start-up culture took off in 2011, just as Egyptian protesters went to the streets of Tahrir Square in Cairo. That energy for political change has been diverted and exhausted. The tech revolution continues as the more promising Arab Spring.

Middle East

Dubai

Fast-food workers rallied around the country Thursday, calling for a minimum wage of $15 an hour. But in suburban Detroit, a small but growing fast-casual burger and chicken chain has figured out how to pay higher wages and still be profitable.

When Moo Cluck Moo opened its first location almost two years, the starting pay for all workers was $12.00 an hour. The idea, according to co-founder Brian Parker, was to train everyone to multitask.

No one is just flipping burgers. All of the workers are expected to be jacks-of-all-trades: They bake buns from scratch daily, they house-make aioli and prepare made-to-order grass-fed burgers and free-range chicken sandwiches.

And, now, says Parker, the investment is paying off. Revenue is up at the chain's two locations. And workers are sticking around. And their pay now? It's up to $15 an hour. By comparison, a typical fast-food worker in the U.S. makes about $8 or $9 an hour.

"Because of our low turnover, and the fact that people are really into their jobs, $15 an hour wasn't a big stretch," Parker says.

Parker says there's savings in not having to constantly train new hires, and his workers are empowered because they're given so much responsibility.

The Salt

Across The Country, Fast-Food Workers Rally For $15-An-Hour Pay

When we stopped in for a visit this week, manager Dan Chavez was standing at the grill preparing a made-to-order Moo Burger. He's been cooking in restaurants for 15 years, so he knows how to move quickly from the grill to the fryer. He also overseas baking and talks to customers.

"It's more fun than I've had at other jobs, because we get to do everything ourselves," he says.

And Chavez says the higher-than-average wages are a big part of his job satisfaction.

"It feels good just to be able to pay my bills and enjoy a little of life," Chavez says.

In the beginning, Parker wasn't sure the higher wages would be sustainable. But now the restaurants are thriving. "We're ... going to show a profit in the last quarter," Parker says. And he and his partner are planning to add new locations.

Now in order to make this model work, customers have to pay a little more.

Grass-fed Moo Burgers on a homeade buns start at about $6. This compares to a Big Mac, which retails in the U.S. for about $4.80. That's a price differential of just over a dollar.

In starting the company, the founders says they were motivated by the lack of options. "We couldn't fine an affordable place to take our kids and grandkids that didn't have hormones, preservatives," they write on the company's website.

They now vet their suppliers to make sure all the food they buy meets their specifications, and they source their beef from Joseph Decuis Wagyu Farm in Indiana.

"We're building a brand," Parker says. And part of getting Moo Cluck Moo out there is telling people about its sourcing of beef and chicken, and talking about its commitment to paying people a living wage.

"I'm not driving around in a six-figure sports car," Parker says. But he does have his eye on the future.

So are small burger chains like Moo Cluck Moo — which are willing to pay workers more and serve more upscale menus — going to put pressure on the giants such as McDonald's and Burger King to raise wages?

"No, I don't think so," says Michael Strain, an economist at the conservative-leaning American Enterprise Institute.

Strain says there are two different models here, and two different kinds of customers. These new chains appeal to people who are willing to pay more for food prepared from scratch. But, he says, traditional fast-food chains are not going to go away.

"McDonald's appeals to people who like the Dollar Menu, and to people for whom that price point is appealing," he says.

And McDonald's will likely continue to offer its Dollar Menu, and other value pricing, as long as it can find people who are willing to work for the kind of wages it currently offers.

But if workers become too expensive, Strain argues we'll start to see more automation — and fewer fast-food jobs.

"Imagine if some machine gets invented that can operate the french fry machine at McDonald's, " Strain says. That's one less worker needed at the fryer.

This automation has been happening for a while. Strain says. When he was a kid, it was a person — not a soda machine — that filled your cup.

fast food workers

Fast-food workers rallied around the country Thursday, calling for a minimum wage of $15 an hour. But in suburban Detroit, a small but growing fast-casual burger and chicken chain has figured out how to pay higher wages and still be profitable.

When Moo Cluck Moo opened its first location almost two years, the starting pay for all workers was $12.00 an hour. The idea, according to co-founder Brian Parker, was to train everyone to multitask.

No one is just flipping burgers. All of the workers are expected to be jacks-of-all-trades: They bake buns from scratch daily, they house-make aioli and prepare made-to-order grass-fed burgers and free-range chicken sandwiches.

And, now, says Parker, the investment is paying off. Revenue is up at the chain's two locations. And workers are sticking around. And their pay now? It's up to $15 an hour. By comparison, a typical fast-food worker in the U.S. makes about $8 or $9 an hour.

"Because of our low turnover, and the fact that people are really into their jobs, $15 an hour wasn't a big stretch," Parker says.

Parker says there's savings in not having to constantly train new hires, and his workers are empowered because they're given so much responsibility.

The Salt

Across The Country, Fast-Food Workers Rally For $15-An-Hour Pay

When we stopped in for a visit this week, manager Dan Chavez was standing at the grill preparing a made-to-order Moo Burger. He's been cooking in restaurants for 15 years, so he knows how to move quickly from the grill to the fryer. He also overseas baking and talks to customers.

"It's more fun than I've had at other jobs, because we get to do everything ourselves," he says.

And Chavez says the higher-than-average wages are a big part of his job satisfaction.

"It feels good just to be able to pay my bills and enjoy a little of life," Chavez says.

In the beginning, Parker wasn't sure the higher wages would be sustainable. But now the restaurants are thriving. "We're ... going to show a profit in the last quarter," Parker says. And he and his partner are planning to add new locations.

Now in order to make this model work, customers have to pay a little more.

Grass-fed Moo Burgers on a homeade buns start at about $6. This compares to a Big Mac, which retails in the U.S. for about $4.80. That's a price differential of just over a dollar.

In starting the company, the founders says they were motivated by the lack of options. "We couldn't fine an affordable place to take our kids and grandkids that didn't have hormones, preservatives," they write on the company's website.

They now vet their suppliers to make sure all the food they buy meets their specifications, and they source their beef from Joseph Decuis Wagyu Farm in Indiana.

"We're building a brand," Parker says. And part of getting Moo Cluck Moo out there is telling people about its sourcing of beef and chicken, and talking about its commitment to paying people a living wage.

"I'm not driving around in a six-figure sports car," Parker says. But he does have his eye on the future.

So are small burger chains like Moo Cluck Moo — which are willing to pay workers more and serve more upscale menus — going to put pressure on the giants such as McDonald's and Burger King to raise wages?

"No, I don't think so," says Michael Strain, an economist at the conservative-leaning American Enterprise Institute.

Strain says there are two different models here, and two different kinds of customers. These new chains appeal to people who are willing to pay more for food prepared from scratch. But, he says, traditional fast-food chains are not going to go away.

"McDonald's appeals to people who like the Dollar Menu, and to people for whom that price point is appealing," he says.

And McDonald's will likely continue to offer its Dollar Menu, and other value pricing, as long as it can find people who are willing to work for the kind of wages it currently offers.

But if workers become too expensive, Strain argues we'll start to see more automation — and fewer fast-food jobs.

"Imagine if some machine gets invented that can operate the french fry machine at McDonald's, " Strain says. That's one less worker needed at the fryer.

This automation has been happening for a while. Strain says. When he was a kid, it was a person — not a soda machine — that filled your cup.

fast food workers