Scrooge and economics
Chris Barat
kimba_1962 at verizon.net
Mon Dec 8 04:50:45 CET 2008
Larry Giver wrote:
<<On Nov. 30 Leo Schulte asserted that if more Americans and Europeans
read Scrooge comics, our economies would be in better shape. Certainly
my early education in macroeconomics came mostly from Scrooge/Barks
comics; I had no course in economics until college.
Consider WDC144: Scrooge hires Donald to spend several cubic meters of
cash that won't fit in the money bin. They travel the country spending
the cash, much of it on luxury items. We learned that this stimulates
the economy resulting in increased income for businesses---in
particular, Scrooge's businesses, and he has several more large sacks of
money waiting for him at the end of the story.
Now recall that Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke claimed that if
all else failed, the Federal Reserve could stimulate the economy out of
a recession by printing money and dropping it from helicopters. Some of
his critics have given him the nickname "Helicopter Ben". Perhaps
relevant today, something similar in the extreme happened in WDC126,
when a tornado scattered Scrooge's 3 cubic acres of cash all over the
countryside. This time there's too much stimulus: lots of people pick
up millions each, and perceiving themselves wealthy they quit their
jobs. Thus the economy comes to a sudden halt, and there's not much
that the money can buy.
In fact, in this very story Scrooge states (page 3 panel 4) "I know that
money isn't worth anything!" That's quite a statement from a character
who's spent his life relentlessly acquiring more and more of it. But I
recall that about 2 months ago the Pope said something very similar
about money.
Other Scrooge stories have lessons about the law of diminishing returns,
and the correlation or lack of correlation of wealth and happiness. And
we who buy comic books have certainly learned about inflation. They
cost a lot more than the 10 cents price that used to be on the front
cover.>>
This is exactly the reason why I originally posted the article! I had
no particular political point to make, I was simply amazed and intrigued
by the use of Scrooge in this manner. In my mind, it ranks right up
there with Barks' "economic" stories as an imaginative use of Scrooge in
an economic context.
Chris Barat
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