5.1 KiB
Potterian Economics - Research Paper
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Author: u/Wiron *
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URL: https://www.reddit.com/r/rational/comments/7e3qae/potterian_economics_research_paper/
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Score: 13
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Created: 2017-11-19T21:41:48
Post:
We study the Potterian economy, which we compare to economic models, to assess how Harry Potter books affect economic literacy. We find that some principles of Potterian economics are consistent with economists’ models. Many others, however, are distorted and contain numerous inaccuracies, which contradict professional economists’ views and insights, and contribute to the general public’s biases, ignorance, and lack of understanding of economics.
Comments:
u/Escapement [+28] Ankh-Morpork City Watch (23 minutes later)
On a vaguely related note: The Theory of Interstellar Trade by Krugman.
This paper, then, is a serious analysis of a ridiculous subject, which is of course the opposite of what is usual in economics.
u/PeridexisErrant [+8] put aside fear for courage, and death for life (9 hours later)
[Extending] the analysis to trade between planets with large relative motion ... is left as an exercise for interested readers because the author does not understand the theory of general relativity, and therefore cannot do it himself.
Page five. The whole article is pretty funny, both in the jokes sprinkled throughout and the complete implausibility of both the physical and economic premises of the analysis. It is a reasonably serious analysis though!
u/neondragonfire [+5] (16 hours later)
... but... but... you don't need general relativity to deal with planets with large relative motion. Special relativity covers that. Now, if you had planets with different masses, then suddenly general relativity becomes important because time will pass differently due to different gravity.
Slight nitpicking aside, this paper is absolutely awesome.
These complications make the theory of interstellar trade appear at first quite alien to our usual trade models; presumably it seems equally human to alien trade theorists.
u/LeifCarrotson [+3] (2 days later)
It is indeed awesome.
There is a much more legible version of the paper here, typeset into LaTeX and crisply rendered, rather than a scan of a typewritten paper.
And I don't want to turn this thread into a list of all the best quotes (you might as well post the whole paper), but this is one of my favorites:
This is an inertial problem—which becomes a weighty problem in a gravitational field—requiring an economic analysis, provided in the next section.
It's thoroughly infused with excellent wordplay.
u/None [+1] (2 days later)
My favourite:
This proof has been for a special case; but the proposition is in fact relatively general. (The reader must, of course, be careful not to confuse relative generality with general relativity.)
u/PeridexisErrant [+2] put aside fear for courage, and death for life (a day later)
the author does not understand the theory of general relativity
And even says so in the paper ;-)
u/NotACauldronAgent [+5] Probably (8 minutes later)
80 pages
Um, thank you? Saving this for a rainy day.
u/ToaKraka [+13] https://i.imgur.com/OQGHleQ.png (43 minutes later)
That page count includes 2 title pages, 1 page for the abstract, 39 pages of quotes from the Harry Potter books (the "Supplementary Online Appendix"), and 7 pages of references.
u/bassicallyboss [+1] (4 days later)
In case anyone's as lazy as I felt when reading this, that makes 32 pages (31 without abstract) if you don't read any quotes or references.
Edit: And the analysis of economics in the story doesn't start until page 10 of the paper, or section 5 (page 13 of the PDF).
u/ben_oni [+3] (2 hours later)
Once again, we see how these crazy Muggles have to rely on things like "economics" because they don't have magic!
u/PM_ME_OS_DESIGN [+2] (2 days later)
rely on things like "economics"
they don't have magic
Ah, but you just contradicted yourself. And for further proof, I present gyroscopes, which are well-established to be thaumatological in nature.
u/ben_oni [+2] (2 days later)
Clearly a gyroscope is a kind of magical device. That video was probably made by a squib.
u/None [+2] (14 hours later)
Price of goods was one thing young me fixated on when my mom read the first few Harry Potter books to me, I thought it was ridiculous how wand, book and potion ingredient prices compared. Ron even says that he's never even owned a galleon or something like that.
u/None [+1] (2 days later)
I tweeted this link @jk_rowling I wonder if she'll read it.