Market Power

Christ and Market Power

Policy Guy sends me this from Razing the Bar:

I would argue that there is. The alternative to the "ministry" view is that Christian musicians are Christians with musical abilities. Nothing more and nothing less. They compete in the marketplace with other people with musical abilities, some of whom are Christians and some of whom are not. However, (Christian Contemporary Music) CCM labels are at a distinct disadvantage in this competition. Their CDs sell for, on average, $15 - $16, while those of their competition (non-CCM labels, or, if you prefer, secular labels) sell for, on average, $12 - $13. How, then, do you convince the music-buying public to pay that extra $3 per CD?

I think you do it by promoting the uniqueness and the exclusive nature of Christian music. CCM musicians are more than Christians with guitars. They're ministers. They're annointed. They're called by God. They feature evangelistic messages designed to lead people to God (this despite the fact that the overwhelming evidence shows that it is Christians, not non-Christians, who listen to CCM). Furthermore, those musicians who don't record for CCM labels are *not* ministers. They may be Christians, but they haven't been zapped in the same way. This is the special "oooomph" that CCM needs to compete in the marketplace. Never mind that Brother X might be a brand new Christian who was signed because of his abilities to sing, play the guitar, and string together rhyming words like "loss" and "cross." If he records for Word or Myrrh then he's a minister.

How do you get people to buy this stuff? You simply tell them that the music is annointed. You emphasize the (false) dichotomy between "Christian" music and "worldly" music. You carefully control your product so that only overtly religious material or upbeat, wholesome material is released. You carefully control your artists so that they are presented as larger than life and Superstars of Holiness, and you ensure at all costs that their sins are kept hidden from their followers. And if one of them slips up and lets his sin become known, you have no choice but to boot him out of the club. How do you justify the extra $3. Simple. You tell people that they're not only getting music, but music from Giants of the Faith. And God help the poor wretch who doesn't live up to the image.

Apparently this was written awhile back, and since I don't listen to this sort of music, I have no idea about the pricese of CCM music relative to pop music.  I did a search on Amazon and couldn't find anything conclusive on relative prices, so... anyhoo... according to economic theory, the last CCM CD cost and was valued at $3 more than the last pop CD.  The question is "Why?"   A few potential answers...

1. There are fewer CCM musicians.
2. There are more barriers to entry to the market ("...only overtly religious material or upbeat, wholesome material is released.")
3. CCM musicians don't serve the same market and consumers of CCM music have a higher willingness to pay, all else equal, because the music gives them some kind of spiritual utility that pop music doesn't give its listeners.

Dilbert Gets It

And gets it good.

HT to Econlib.

I Dislike my Smooth Top Range

As regular readers know, I like to cook and I like beer.  Naturally, I like to cook (brew) beer.  But I haven't done so in the 3.5 years I've lived in Mankato because of my stove - a smooth top range.  I do like the fact that it is easier to clean than some of the older electric-burner stoves we've had, but the opportunity cost is too high:

1.  Boiling water takes forever.  Since I have to boil around 3 gallons of hops, specialty grains, water, malt, and whatever else I decide to throw in, it will take a long time to get the boil going and I'll have to spend more time monitoring it.

2.  It's easy to scorch the bottom of the pan which can give some weird off-flavors to the beer.

Having one also restricts what I can put in the cupboards above it:  since I am a clutz, there'll be no cans or bottles.  Having one fall would mean me shopping for a new top!

Luckily, I have a sister from Colorado who visits me periodically and I make sure she brings me some of my favorite Colorado beers.  There's also a nice little brewery down the road from Mankato.  And the local liquor store also carries a nice selection of beer, including stuff from this great Boulder, Co. establishment.

Time to Retire

I ran across this at Fark:

Romanian second division soccer club UT Arad sold a player in exchange for 15 kilograms of meat, local sport daily Pro Sport reported on Monday.

However, fourth division Regal Horia made a bad deal because defender Marius Cioara decided to end his footballing career and take off to Spain to find a job in agriculture or construction.

15 kilograms of meat?  At 2.2 pounds per kilogram, that's 33 pounds of meat.  What type of meat?  33 pounds of lean ground beef would bring about $70 retail.  I'm guessing that 33 pounds of Porterhouse would bring over $400 retail.  If your team thinks a hunk of meat is worth more to your team than you, it's probably time to find alternative employment.

RIP Dennis Weaver

Dennis Weaver of McCloud and Gunsmoke fame has passed.

The old television stars are dropping like meteors.

Sticks and Stones

Robert McHenry writes about the perils of offending anyone for any reason.

It's this grim determination to set us all right -- based, of course, on the absolute conviction that they already are unassailably right -- that renders apology superfluous. The Danish newspaper that published the cartoons that sparked the spontaneous demonstrations only five months later has apologized. David Irving has offered a typically weasely statement of regret. President Summers has apologized repeatedly, and followed apology with money for this and that academic boondoggle. All to no avail. These are no mere private sinners, free to repent in their closets and be forgiven by their gods after appropriate mortification. These are very public and, as 'twere, iconic sinners, fit only to be tarred and feathered, racked, stoned, drawn and quartered, pinned to ant hills, and possibly even rebuked by Oprah, all for our very public edification and purification. Apologize? Save your breath, and kneel. Oh, and please grimace appropriately for the cameras.

...From elementary school, where "creative" spelling is encouraged and "every child is a winner," to idiot columnists telling kids not to sweat failing high school algebra on account it ain't no use nohow, to a state legislature considering a bill to empower college students to demand alternative coursework when they deem something in the standard syllabus to be offensive to their exquisitely developed senses -- the entire educational system has been conscripted into the project. And again, criticizing any of this just shows that you're part of the problem. And you wouldn't want that, would you?

Minnesota's Incredibly Stupid Gas Price Law at Work

Thank god the Minnesota lawmakers are doing their job.  We don't want to pay low gas prices now, do we?

Defenders of the law say it's critical to protect small and medium-sized stations.

They note that unlike large chains, those stations often can't cushion below-cost gasoline with sales of other merchandise.

Well that would just be too bad.  Boo hoo.

Perhaps those defenders wouldn't mind paying for some of my gas.

HT Fark.

Update:  King has some thoughts here.

What I Learned in College

Arnold Kling discusses the singalling model of education where a college education per-se doesn't increase a person's productivity (and thus earning power) but, instead, merely sends a signal that differentiates the high-ability degree-holder from a lower-ability person.

Bryan writes,

I've been defending the signaling model to other economists for 15 years, and always met fierce resistance. Frankly, I think that this resistance mostly stems from a failure of introspection. If you really compare what you learned in school to what you actually use in your job, the disconnect is too large to ignore.

The challenge is to reconcile two observations.

1.  College graduates earn more than people who do not graduate from college.

2.  Introspection suggests that what we learn in college is not very important on the job.

Then perhaps the relationship between earnings and a college education is one of correlation without causation. Perhaps people would prefer to spend age 18-21 on campus, at least if they have sufficient aptitude so that without too much effort they can avoid the unpleasantness of bad grades.

So college, like summer camp, is a consumption good. And you might observe just as high a correlation between earnings and summer camp attendance as between earnings and college attendance. But in neither case is there much causation.

Of course, Arnold writes about general education, not job-specific undergraduate education like Engineering and Nursing. 

In college, I majored in Economics but I also had a keen interest in History and Philosophy.  But since the job markets in those two fields were limited, I merely whetted my interest by taking a few classes in both subjects.  I figured I could always read books from those subjects as I went through my life (and I have).

Upon graduation from Morningside, I worked for Walgreens for a few years while the Powerwife went to pharmacy school.  I don't recall using much econ that I learned in college in doing my job although I recall having discussions with colleagues and employees about various things where I used stuff I learned in college.   But I chalk that up to the fact that I only had 6 econ courses in my major course of study.  The only field course that was offered at Morningside was Money and Banking.  There was no Labor Econ, no International Trade, etc.  It wasn't until I started my master's work at UNO while I worked at Walgreens when I started connecting my economics studies to my work place.

HT to King.

Do You Guys Care Anymore?

After the Kansas-Missouri game at Larryville this year, Kevin Young had this to say:

"We are on scholarship to play basketball," Missouri guard Kevin Young said. "We're not on scholarship to go to journalism school and write papers. We're here to play basketball. It's like a job. You have a choice. You can either quit or keep playing and I hope everybody keeps playing."

Nice.  At least he has the guts to say this:   

We're not on scholarship to go to journalism school and write papers. We're here to play basketball. It's like a job.

Anyways, it's apparent that the Tiger players are not doing their jobs and I don't know who can get them to do their job.  After Saturday's game against Colorado, Graham Watson of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch had this to say:

In the first half against Colorado, the Tigers up 15, I found myself getting excited. I wasn't’t excited because Missouri looked like it might win, but excited because for the first time in five weeks I was ever so close to writing a story that didn't’t involve quitting (K-State story still mention Snyder quitting).

But alas, no. The Tigers took my one happy moment and crushed it when they went down 23. Heck, let’s be honest, they crushed it when they came back on the court for the second half.

Ouch.

Hope is lost for Missouri basketball this season. It’s apparent in post-game interviews with players and coaches. It might appear in flashes, but it is definitely evanescent.

Thomas Gardner and Jason Horton jawed at each other on the court.  The "Ole' Defense" was more apparent than ever before.  The Buffs seemed to take more layups that I do when I shoot hoops by myself and the Tigers took shots worse than the guys who screw around at Otto Gymnasium shooting from half court.  The season is over - with a week to go.  I know... there's always a miracle in the Big 12 tournament, but these Tigers are declawed. 

Update:  Mike DeArmond's article in Sunday's Kansas City Star is terribly, but accurately, sarcastic:

MU Comes from Ahead.

 

Can You Hear Us?

Heh.  Play the video attachment.

HT to King.