"they pointed out that the same number of musicians is needed to play a Beethoven string quartet today as was needed in the 19th century; the productivity of classical music performance has not increased. On the other hand, the real wages of musicians (as in all other professions) have increased greatly since the 19th century"
This seems painfully naive to the point of farce. Do they really believe the value of playing music is derived solely from the effort to produce it and not from how many people consume it and under what circumstances it is consumed?
When I was an econ undergrad and I would hear absurdly naive logic like this I always thought it was a sign that I didn't understand some complicated underlying concept. But it's just nonsense. I still don't understand why people don't call this obvious absurdity out.
This seems painfully naive to the point of farce. Do they really believe the value of playing music is derived solely from the effort to produce it and not from how many people consume it and under what circumstances it is consumed?
When I was an econ undergrad and I would hear absurdly naive logic like this I always thought it was a sign that I didn't understand some complicated underlying concept. But it's just nonsense. I still don't understand why people don't call this obvious absurdity out.