Economics Questions

Re: Economic significance of staues and monuments

musicgold — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 03:44:01 GMT

Thanks folks.

Re: Economic significance of staues and monuments

laminustacitus — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 02:23:58 GMT

musicgold:
1. These statutes/monuments/buildings are economic waste, as the capital used to build them was lost - it did not generate any economic returns

Not everything of worth needs to be defined according to its productivity - art, for example, should be valued according to its beauty.

musicgold:
The kings and knights who built these things screwed their taxpayers by reducing the economic output both by taxing as well as from investing capital in economically useless projects.

Actually, many of the "monuments" of today had uses - even the titanic squandering of resources that was Versailles has a use: to prove the superiority of the king, and to control the aristocracy.

Re: Economic significance of staues and monuments

krazy kaju — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 01:48:47 GMT

If the statues, monuments, etc. were paid for voluntarily (not by government or government-esque agents), then there was nothing wrong with the construction of these "public" works, since consumers clearly saw some worth in the projects.

Economic significance of staues and monuments

musicgold — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 01:46:50 GMT

Hi,

Recently, I came back from a tour of a few European cities. Some cities have a large number of huge statues, monuments and religious buildings. The following points came to my mind.

1. These statutes/monuments/buildings are economic waste, as the capital used to build them was lost - it did not generate any economic returns. The kings and knights who built these things screwed their taxpayers by reducing the economic output both by taxing as well as from investing capital in economically useless projects.

2. The construction of these projects may have created new jobs and economic stimulation at the beginning, but in the long term these projects are economic waste.

Is my thinking correct? Please provide your comments.

Thanks,

MG.