McDonald's makes the world a cleaner place.

Yes McDonald's really does make the world a cleaner place. This is pointed out to us by Don Boudreaux in his discussion of a recent paper by Adrian E. Tschoegl on McDonald's: "McDonald's -- Much Maligned, But an Engine of Economic Development." Boudreaux quotes Tschoegl as saying:

McDonald’s emphasis on cleanliness, including or especially in restrooms, has led its competitors to upgrade their facilities. Before the first McDonald’s opened up in 1975, restrooms in Hong Kong’s restaurants were notoriously dirty (Watson 1997). Over time, competitors felt compelled to meet McDonald’s cleanliness standards. The same thing appears to be occurring in China (Watson 2000). In Korea, McDonald’s introduced the practice of lining up in an orderly fashion to order food; traditional practice was simply to crowd the counter, with success in ordering accruing to the most aggressive (Watson 2000). In the Philippines, Jollibee mimics McDonald's clean and well-lighted look.