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Started by Ama Mensah (@amamensah) ·

why a string quartet costs more every year

Started out annoyed about haircut prices and ended up here. The idea is from a 1966 book about the economics of the performing arts and it still explains a lot.

5 sources · 31 min down the hole

How I got here

Started with
“why do concerts and healthcare keep getting more expensive”
Ended at
Productivity

The Trail

  1. “why do concerts and healthcare keep getting more expensive” (google.com)
  2. Baumol effect (en.wikipedia.org)

    a.k.a. cost disease

  3. William Baumol (en.wikipedia.org)
  4. String quartet (en.wikipedia.org)

    same four people, same length of piece, as in Beethoven's day

  5. Productivity (en.wikipedia.org)

What I came away with

Some work can't get much more productive, like playing a quartet or cutting hair, but those workers still need wages that keep up with sectors where productivity soars. So their prices rise relative to everything else. It's a big part of why education and healthcare get pricier while TVs get cheaper.

Keep going