2014-07-12
Original: 2014-07-12 on Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal
Transcript
Panel 1
Woman: It's called "Baumol's" cost disease.
Panel 2
Woman: The idea is that some jobs become more productive over time due to technology and so are better paid. Other jobs, such as playing live music, or preaching, or sex work, do not change in productivity and yet somehow they pay better over time too.
Panel 3
Woman: Baumol's solution is that the musicians pay is buoyed by the fact that he could become a computer programmer.
Panel 4
Woman: Buyers of labor pay the musician extra to NOT change jobs.
Panel 5
Woman: So you see, we're ALL connected! No financial action exists in a vacuum.
Panel 6
Woman: Are you going to give me a pay range or not?
Man: And encourage prostitution?! You monster!
Votey:
Woman (shouting, angry expression): SECURITY!
Woman: It's called "Baumol's" cost disease.
Panel 2
Woman: The idea is that some jobs become more productive over time due to technology and so are better paid. Other jobs, such as playing live music, or preaching, or sex work, do not change in productivity and yet somehow they pay better over time too.
Panel 3
Woman: Baumol's solution is that the musicians pay is buoyed by the fact that he could become a computer programmer.
Panel 4
Woman: Buyers of labor pay the musician extra to NOT change jobs.
Panel 5
Woman: So you see, we're ALL connected! No financial action exists in a vacuum.
Panel 6
Woman: Are you going to give me a pay range or not?
Man: And encourage prostitution?! You monster!
Votey:
Woman (shouting, angry expression): SECURITY!
Alt text
A six-panel comic of a smiling woman delivering an economics lecture to a man. She explains "Baumol's cost disease": that some jobs grow more productive and better-paid over time thanks to technology, while jobs like live music, preaching, or sex work don't gain productivity yet still pay better over time. She says Baumol's explanation is that a musician's pay is buoyed by the fact he could instead become a computer programmer, so employers pay him extra to NOT switch jobs. She concludes grandly that "we're ALL connected" and "No financial action exists in a vacuum." In the final panel the man, who turns out to be the one being lectured, asks flatly, "Are you going to give me a pay range or not?" The woman recoils in mock horror: "And encourage prostitution?! You monster!" Votey: a close-up of the woman's face, eyes narrowed in anger, shouting "SECURITY!"
Transcribed by Claude Opus 4.8.