What is the only source of profit?
02 Dec 2015 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, Austrian economics, entrepreneurship, history of economic thought, industrial organisation, Ludwig von Mises, survivor principle Tags: competition as a discovery procedure, consumer sovereignty, entrepreneurial alertness, market process, market selection, profit and loss, The meaning of competition
Milton Friedman on the ultimate consumer protection
03 Oct 2015 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, applied welfare economics, entrepreneurship, industrial organisation, Milton Friedman, survivor principle Tags: competition and monopoly, consumer protection, consumer sovereignty, The meaning of competition
Mises on entrepreneurs and consumer sovereignty
21 Sep 2015 Leave a comment
in applied price theory, Austrian economics, economic history, industrial organisation, Ludwig von Mises, survivor principle Tags: competition and monopoly, consumer sovereignty, creative destruction, entrepreneurial alertness, market selection, The meaning of competition
What watch a movie 2-D when you can watch it in 3-D?
08 Aug 2015 Leave a comment
in economics of media and culture, industrial organisation, survivor principle Tags: 10-90 lag, consumer sovereignty, creative destruction, entrepreneurial alertness, Hollywood economics, technology diffusion
We were watching some movie trailers last week-end. One of the 3-D movies also mentioned that it was available in 2-D.
I am surprised that there is still a market for movies in 2-D when people have the option for a tiny sum of money to watch it in 3-D. Of course, this market survives therefore it must be efficient and somebody must like watching 2-D movies over the 3-D movie option.
Is also the case that there is considerable difference in the quality of 3-D movies. There must be trade secrets. For example, Peter Jackson’s films in 3-D are excellent. Some 3-D movies sometimes look like they are in 2-D all to frequently. I saw one trailer for a 3-D movie that looked like it was just 2-D with beer goggles on.
Market segmentation in the London newspaper market
11 Jul 2015 Leave a comment
in constitutional political economy, economic history, economics of media and culture, entrepreneurship, industrial organisation, Public Choice, survivor principle Tags: British elections, British politics, consumer sovereignty, creative destruction, entrepreneurial alertness, expressive voting, London newspapers, market selection, media bias, product differentiation, rational ignorance, rational irrationality, The meaning of competition
The truth about the press and power? Readers, not editors, decide elections. @RobertdgSmith specc.ie/1c58mAr http://t.co/Vhit9P9iM7—
Fraser Nelson (@FraserNelson) May 06, 2015
Creative destruction in content control
01 Jun 2015 Leave a comment
in economic history, economics of media and culture, entrepreneurship, industrial organisation, survivor principle Tags: consumer sovereignty, creative destruction, entrepreneurial alertness, media bias
The Death of the One-Hit Wonder
13 May 2015 Leave a comment
in economic history, economics of media and culture, entrepreneurship, Music Tags: consumer sovereignty, creative destruction, entrepreneurial alertness, market selection, one-hit wonders, superstar wages, superstars, The meaning of competition
In a recent article, The Atlantic argues that while record labels used to be able to determine which songs would become radio hits, stations now rely more heavily on consumer preferences.
In short, iHeartMedia, the conglomerate that owns 850 radio stations, doesn’t care about the desire of the music industry for a quicker hit cycle so they can sell more units. They just don’t want you to change the channel — and the best way to keep you tuned in is to keep playing the same songs.
Another factor is that 1% of artists earn 77% of all revenues from recorded music. Modern music is dominated by superstars. Some of these are quite old superstars from many decades ago when they first had their first hit. The industry circling its wagons:
Just as the movie industry seems to be relying more heavily on sequels, the music industry is putting more emphasis on promoting established artists.
In a turbulent marketplace, record companies are liable to be more risk averse. Developing new artists who might hit it big is less appealing when the prize is projected to get smaller.
The Bechdel Test: whether women are in a movie as fully human characters, or as plot devices for the male characters
27 Jan 2015 Leave a comment
in discrimination, economics of media and culture, gender, industrial organisation, movies, occupational choice, survivor principle Tags: co-worker discrimination, consumer sovereignty, customer discrimination, employer discrimination, Hollywood economics, sex discrimination, The meaning of competition
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Hollywood is a slave to the box office on the most cutthroat industry there is. Film producers and screenwriters will portray men and women in whatever roles and whatever extent sells tickets.
How women are represented in the movies is determined solely by the preferences of the audiences willing to buy tickets. It’s a buyers market out there. Film producers would do whatever it takes to finance films that sell tickets, as even Five Thirty-Eight realised:
“Movies that are female-driven do not travel,” said Krista Smith, West Coast editor of Vanity Fair, describing the broader sentiment in Hollywood. There are almost no women who have sales value in multiple international territories, maybe with the exception of Sandra Bullock, she said.
Times change, and film producers change with the times. Consumers are both sovereign and change their minds, and in the case of movie audiences, constantly demand novelty and surprises, as even Five Thirty-Eight picked up on:
Hollywood is the business of making money. Since our data demonstrates that films containing meaningful interactions between women do better at the box office than movies that don’t, it may be only a matter of time before the data of dollars and cents overcomes the rumours and prejudices defining the budgeting process of films for, by and about women.
This moral panic over gender wage gaps between millionaire actresses and actresses dare not say that for want of offending the audience that is actually the main driver of any gender gap in movies.
Hollywood activists complaining about the gender wage are to business minded to dare insult the audiences that pay their wages.
Utopia, you are standing in it! 
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