How to Create Markets in Contestable Commodities
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Description
Standard economic theory has a strong preference for proving the efficiency of competitive markets by analyzing the market for widgets. It is a fair question to ask exactly what a widget is in the context of this theory, to which the appropriate answer is that it is a close relative of the gidget, the second notable good in neoclassical economic theory. As befits the low regard that the dismal science holds in literary circles, the term “widget” was introduced in a play by George S. Kaufman and Marc Connelly, Beggar on Horseback, in a dismissive sense, to refer to “some mechanical product without artistic or spiritual value,” their own writings, for example. But this useful term has been fully co-opted by the economics profession for a useful function, namely, “to indicate a hypothetical ‘any-product.’” As will become clear, the word “widget” functions well when identification of a particular product is irrelevant to the exposition of a particular theoretical point.
Source Publication
The Global Body Market: Altruism’s Limits
Source Editors/Authors
Michele Goodwin
Publication Date
2013
Recommended Citation
Epstein, Richard A., "How to Create Markets in Contestable Commodities" (2013). Faculty Chapters. 374.
https://gretchen.law.nyu.edu/fac-chapt/374
