Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2003/03/07
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Jack, I did not say that economists are devoid of moral judgements or the concept of fairness in general. The example you give with people selling water for $20/gallon to hurricane victims clearly disgusts me as it would anyone else. But when we are talking about normal products produced in a market, like the Rapidwinder or Leicavit, then what is a "fair" price is impossible to define. You state that Tom sets the price at a level which he feels "adequately" compensates him. Fine, but if that level were $1000 then he would sell far fewer winders. The order backlog may be a result of Tom's illness last year, but it still indicates that the price was lower than the market clearing price. I am making no judgement about Tom's pricing policy. I know him personally and I know that he is a great guy for whom the production of the winders and other accessories is partly a labor of love. But I still note that the shortage is an indication that he *could* charge more. In fact, when Tom's health problems were first made public, I remember one of the dealers who shall remain unnamed increased the price of Rapidwinders by $100 or so. Was that unethical? I don't know, we are not exactly talking about AIDS drugs for poor Africans here or water for hurricane victims... But it definitely is an indication that market forces were at work. Life is full of examples of shortages which are "solved" by the market. Look at Superbowl tickets. Is scalping unethical? If I buy a ticket from a guy outside the stadium for $500, is that price "unfair?" I don't think so, it is simply the market price at that particular time and place. I could after all have chosen to spend 2 days (or paid someone to do so) camped outside the ticket office to ensure that I would get my tickets at the nominal price, but I choose to pay a scalper instead. In the old Soviet Union, which suffered endemic shortages of everything, pensioners and students would supplement their modest incomes in exactly that way: by standing in line on behalf of someone else for a fee. Nathan - -- Nathan Wajsman Herrliberg (ZH), Switzerland e-mail: nathanw@bluewin.ch mobile: +41 78 732 1430 Photo-A-Week: http://www.wajsman.com/indexpaw2003.htm General photo site: http://www.wajsman.com/index.htm - -- To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html