David B. Shemano wrote:
Furthermore, why is it so easy for the masses to learn to want to consume and
so hard to learn to want the alternative?
David,
I think Tibor Scitovsky has a useful answer to this question. The modern economy
reduces the values of goods while it increases the value of time. Although
Scitovsky's "The Joyless Economy" makes this argument using conventional economics
analysis, I think it still offers many useful insights. Thus, because of the
relative price structure between goods and time, people will be attracted to goods
intensive activities and repelled from time intensive activities.
Time intensive consumption activities have the particular property that their
marginal utility does not decline. Scitovsky focused on the Arts, but, in general,
any activity that people must spend time learning about in order to consume it
will be discouraged in the modern economy.
With time intensive activities the more one consumes the more satisfaction one
receives. Consumption of the arts requires more than walking through a museum or
attending an opera. It means acquiring knowledge of the subject. Most people can
consume and enjoy the latest Hollywood movie in little more than the movie's
running time. This is seldom the case with art.
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