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Supply and demand
The price of machetes has halved in parts of Nigeria since the end of general elections in April because demand from thugs sponsored by politicians has subsided, the state-owned News Agency of Nigeria reported.
Here is the link. Thanks to Bulent Murtezaoglu for the pointer.
Posted by Tyler Cowen on July 2, 2007 at 11:21 PM in Economics | Permalink
Comments
That reads like nonsense to me. Do we really think the number of political thugs is so high (and that much higher than demand from farmers) that their demand (or lack of) for machetes affects the price?
Posted by: tom at Jul 3, 2007 4:07:11 AM
The demand from thugs is probably much lower than from farmers, but they can afford to pay higher unit price and, unlike farmers, cannot pay until after elections.
Posted by: f at Jul 3, 2007 5:23:19 AM
Sorry, I've lived in Africa and machetes are two a penny. Most families have 2 or 3 just for everyday use. Firstly, why would thugs have to go out specifically to buy machetes for election rabble rousing? Secondly, how many thugs are we talking about? I think it's retro-fitting the data to some pre-conceived idea that makes a nice headline.
Posted by: tom at Jul 3, 2007 5:28:52 AM
NB that a machete will last for years as a farming tool, but probably needs to be disposed of immediately after having been used as a weapon, so thugs will go through them at a grater rate than farmers. I have to say that this story sounds pretty far-fetched to me, though.
Posted by: dsquared at Jul 3, 2007 5:29:07 AM
Anyone else think the key words are "state-owned"?
Posted by: thom at Jul 3, 2007 7:13:24 AM
I am surprised no one has mentioned that machete production would appear to be a constant cost industry...
Posted by: Tyler Cowen at Jul 3, 2007 7:38:00 AM
Tom ... thanks the for perspective, its spot on. Information like this just rile me up. If you spent time reading Nigerian newspapers you realise that news is really fiction. Reporters seat at their desk and concort stories and statistics. What is the source of the referenced data. Surely, all the kidnappings in the Niger Delta are not executed using machetes, when the country is awash with guns from Eastern Europe.
Posted by: tmex12 at Jul 3, 2007 11:44:10 AM
