Slug Wars & Price Elasticity
...and a discounted book!
The title doesn’t make much sense, does it? The first part relates the ravings of an irate gardener. The second is a surprisingly complex feature of economic theory.
“Ok,” I hear you say. “How’s he going to link these two together – and not cause me to fall asleep before the end?”
Bear with me. I’ll keep it as short as I can. I used to be a banker, so you can trust me. There are as many jokes about Economists as there are about Lawyers. Well, maybe not quite so many, but there are lots. For example, if you have ever listened to an economist on the TV, he or she will be keen to give the most rounded and fair answer to any given question. Such as, “Will prices rise this year?”
The number of answers we receive equals double the number of economists in the room. They always give one perfectly acceptable response – “Yes”. But then follow it with, “…on the other hand, ‘No’.”
And proceed with a detailed analysis of why both answers are equally valid.
I have permanent marks on my forehead from falling asleep at my keyboard some years ago waiting for a definitive answer in a debate, ‘Yes’ or ’No’.
I’m hesitant to expose you (except any genuine economists reading this) to a lengthy explanation of price elasticity.
In short, it’s how the demand or supply of something changes if the price is changed. Or vice versa.
Let’s look at an example: if something desirable or important is in limited supply, sellers can raise the price considerably – people have to buy it, almost whatever it costs. Think of fuel for your car that you use to get to work.
‘Course, scarcity of product doesn’t always mean sellers can charge whatever they want. Diamonds are scarce, but lots of us get through life without buying many of them. We’d like to, but diamonds aren’t essential, even if they are ‘A Girl’s Best Friend’. And the seller would have to drop the price so far to bump up sales noticeably, they’d go out of business.
If the market is flooded with something, say, bananas, I might rush to the store to buy some. But how many do I need? What do I do with the four boxes of ripening fruit in my car which I bought just ‘cos the price was low? They were a bargain!
Just as economists study the economy, so too do Ecologists study Ecology. Their ‘markets’ are ecosystems.
An example: Before Men interfered, wolves used to expend energy and risk to hunt (say) elk. But then Men appear to have made available cheap goods (sheep and goats) in large quantities to their wolf ‘customers’. The domesticated flocks were far cheaper to acquire in terms of both energy and risk. But these actions disrupted the balance of nature - the ecological ‘Market’. Setting out an easily-killed prey, handily corralled in a nice open space (like a supermarket) offered wolves nutritious dining with little effort.
So Man hunted wolves to extinction in many places. I guess they got fed up having their flocks of sheep and small children killed and eaten. (Ugh)…
The hunters removed an existing market segment (by shooting the wolves) and ended up with another market segment for which their goods are not suitable. (Excess elk). They created a different problem of over-supply. The natural food of the wolves, which was harder to hunt, began to multiply. And when Man killed all the wolves to protect domesticated flocks, natural prey animals multiplied in an unrestrained manner with no predation to control numbers.
Using this simile to illustrate economic theory has limitations, I do recognise.
Which brings me, in a roundabout way, to slugs! Do keep up, dear.
Why, if this year has produced a multitude of the slimy so-and-sos in my garden, am I not seeing an army of hedgehogs and night-flying birds to take advantage of this bounty? The Economists’ view might suggest the food market doesn’t have perfect correlation. There are ‘Leads and Lags’. So I’m presently struggling with an over-abundance of supply – a ‘Supply Lead’, if you will – of slimy gastropods.
If we have a dry summer from now on and a harsh and cold winter, then any influx next year of hungry hedgehogs (which got the memo at last) will be mildly miffed. Even sorely disappointed. Because slug numbers would be greatly depressed. I’d be giddy with delight, but that’s not part of the ecological equation. This would be a ‘Demand Lag’.
I guess economic theory doesn’t always translate into other milieux.
As Bill Nye (‘The Science Guy’) used to say, ‘An ounce of experimentation is worth a pound of theory.’ So, it’s time for my own real time experiment on price elasticity.
I’m running a discount offer on ‘Saved by the Bull’ which is Book 1 in my series about Al Sharika. It starts now, and would make a great gift for Fathers’ Day. Until Monday 17th June, you will be able to buy the first instalment of Patrick Field’s adventures at just $3.99.
Let’s see if the economic theories hold up! Quite apart from that, let it whisk you away to a foreign land where simple goodness battles with ancient evil. It had slugs. And snails. You can judge for yourselves how much price elasticity there is in fraud and money-laundering.
Happy reading!