The Emerging Schiavo Industry
Well, like they say at Marginal Revolution, there are markets in everything. Checking eBay this evening, I noticed that someone is selling the domain name for www.TerriSchiavo.com, with over 22 bids so far (at over $400). (Curiously, all the other domain names up for sale have gotten no bids.) If you are interested, you can also pick up some Schiavo-inspired living wills, pro-life t-shirts, and even Terri-Schiavo-as-Joan-of-Arc cuff links.
Tasteless? No doubt. But as anyone who uses the Internet knows, there are literally millions of goods for which any one of us would have a zero or negative demand price but for which others would willingly shell out money if they could only find a seller. It is an unappreciated attribute of the market system that it creates incentives for entrepreneurs to search out and serve the demand of minorities--even minorities of one. This means that even people with tackier demands can still get served.
True, I am not pleased with the implication that the fact that someone is actually marketing this product means that there is probably someone who wants to buy it. But squelching such transactions would, undeniably, make us worse off, at least if in so doing there results less of an entrepreneurial incentive to serve the minority demands for those products we do want.
Comments (5)
LOL, "Mr. T" in a pocket. Hey, it might sell well with Rocky-fans.
Published: March 26, 2005 1:14 PM
This does raise a legitimate criticism of the market however. It rewards those who provide goods and services people want, regardless of what it is that people want.
If you believe that many people want things that are not good for them, because they are ignorant, immature, malicious, etc.. then it follows that the market provides many things that are not good. Put another way, a tremendous amount of energy in the free market goes towards satisfying desires that would be better off not being satisfied. If, for example, you look at a good deal of music (say, gangster rap), movies, internet porn, strip clubs, prostitution etc... one can't help but think that though the market is efficient, and respects individual rights, it is certainly not perfect.
Now, while I think this is a legitimate criticism of the market, I don't think it suggests that any other system of government is superior. That's because human beings are inherently flawed, imperfect, under-deveoloped, etc.. and always will be. Any other form of government involving more government intervention will show the effects of this while sacrificing human beings ownership of their own lives.
Published: March 27, 2005 11:15 AM
"But squelching such transactions would, undeniably, make us worse off, at least if in so doing there results less of an entrepreneurial incentive to serve the minority demands for those products we do want."
Actually, squelching this transaction would make both this particular seller and buyer worse off. For me, this is enough reason for not wanting to squelch.
This unlike Mr. Westley, who doesn't care about the well-being of this specific buyer and seller, but grudgingly agrees to allow the transaction only out of his own self-interest. :)
Phil
Published: March 27, 2005 11:00 PM
With personal freedom comes personal responsibility. So the idea is that people can choose what they want, but will hopefully learn from their mistakes and bad choices, whereas government nanny-ism tends to protect people from their mistakes and thus encourages bad choices.
Published: March 28, 2005 12:06 PM
Schiavo was a waste of economic resources. That money would be better being spent on helping the injured in Indonesia, from the recent earth quakes.
Published: March 31, 2005 12:43 PM