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121 sats \ 5 replies \ @grayruby 5 Dec \ on: Music Has No Economic Value; Convince Me Otherwise (TDE, Joakim Book) BooksAndArticles
Before getting into the the music thing I think this teacher/basketball player comparison is flawed. The guy who plays basketball at the YMCA is a basketball player, not a professional basketball player, just like when I teach my friend how self custody bitcoin or my wife teaches me how to make macaronic and cheese from scratch we are teachers, not professional teachers.
You can't in one instance calculate only those that do something professionally for compensation (teachers) and in the other instance calculate anyone that undertakes that activity (basketball).
The comparison isn't perfect, but it is relevant if you only consider the old guys at the gym who would play basketball at the highest level available to them and leave out those who are doing it purely recreationally.
On the margin, basketball players (those who are willing to play for compensation) have to pay to play, because there is such a glut on the market. The marginal teacher, on the other hand, gets paid to teach, because there is a shortage on the market.
There's a whole, much longer, discussion about why heterogeneity of labor makes all of these discussions very flawed.
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Sometimes it is difficult to find the margin because people value things so differently. And, yes, I know, the marginal value is found in the last one bought. I think the liquidity of the market determines how easy it is to find the marginal value of the last bought good.
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You're right, because there's also the marginal unit of the next one to be sold (and we don't know what that one will be sold for).
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BTW, I found the post where you and the Mises guy were going at it and cross posted this article there. I think he probably had some inkling of this being published and front-ran it.
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There is a market value to music!! it is the value that someone will pay to buy it. It is subjective and different for every person in the market place. If they didn’t think they would derive more satisfaction from it than from the money, they would not make the exchange. That the exchange was made is proof that there is value in the music.
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