More Tricks, Fewer Treats

 That is what Almost Daily Grant's is predicting for Halloween this year. Candy prices are up by 13% compared to last year, the largest annual increase on record. Because of general inflation, households are expected to decrease their total spending on candy. As explained in its commentary:

Talk about a sugar high.  Citing data from the Labor Department, The Wall Street Journal relays that candy prices are up 13% from a year ago, the largest one-year increase on record, owing to galloping labor costs along with flour and sugar prices.

 

Consumers are responding to those surging costs with a modest downshift, as the National Retail Federation reckons that households will average $100 in Halloween-related spending this year. That’s down from last year’s $103 outlay. 

 

More tricks, fewer treats: it’s a type of hedonic adjustment.

Spending slightly less on candy when its price is higher, means fewer units are purchased, so the kiddies will have less to enjoy.

Ritenour at the Center for Political and Economic Thought

Last month I was blessed to lecture at the Center for Political and Economic Thought at Saint Vincent College. The very good people at the Center were kind and encouraging and the students were engaging. My thanks to Mary Beth McConahey and Zachary Davis for the invitation and hospitality. I had a great time.

My lecture entitled "Do God and Economic Science Mix?" explained the biblical foundations of economics, discussed the economics of prosperity, and shed some light on the Christian ethic of property and its implications for economic policy. You can watch the lecture here:

Hans Sennholz

Today is the one hundredth anniversary of the birth of Hans Sennholz. He was one of four students in the US to receive their PhD directed by Ludwig von Mises. In a large way, he is responsible for my being at Grove City College. He was hired by J. Howard Pew to be the Chairman of the Department of Economics at GCC in 1956 and he remained here until 1992. He established the tradition of Austrian economics at Grove City, which is why we continue to specialize in the humane way to do economics even in this day in which we live.

I was blessed to hear a few lectures by Sennholz given after he retired. Here is one recorded while he was in his prime. Notice he is doing the whole thing without notes: