Sunday, December 26, 2010

political economy of the arts

A very interesting comment thread today over at MarginalRevolution on unions in the Arts. I think that it's a great example to use in a labor history or just a (heterodox) labor econ class. It's a fun example that highlights many of the important themes of trades unions such as protection of trade skills, skilled vs. unskilled issues, and how politics and economics intersect for labor on a macro scale. Anyway here is the link:


I had something to say about the ways in which political entities have historically restricted access to a trade and why we're not necessarily worse off for it. I then drew the grad school analogy, asking "Are grad schools an enemy of scholarship?" to which one person replied, "I could name some that certainly are :)"

Touche...

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