Silly Little Country

The Value of Someone's Efforts

I have many friends who like complaining about the earnings/wealth of people so trivial as entertainers and sports stars. But I really think Don Boudreaux makes a superb point here.
Here is a quick excerpt.

When I read of McCartney’s fortune, I’m struck by how puny it is compared to the amount of pleasure he’s contributed to humankind. Consider:

If each viewer of only the Beatles’ first two appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show deposited $1 into an account in return for watching the Beatles on these telecasts, this account would have had in it, on February 16, 1964, $143.7 million. (The number of people who tuned in to the Beatles’ February 9, 1964, appearance was 73 million; the number who tuned in one week later for their second appearance was 70.7 million. These data are here.)

If this money were invested at the historical rate of return earned by U.S. stocks, it would have earned an annual return, on average, of eight percent. Today, this account would be worth about $3.5 billion.

I know that, as someone who was never much of a Beatles fan, this consumer surplus argument is dead right. Imagine what REAL fans would have paid. Read the rest of the original post.

posted by Alan Adamson @ 6:10 PM