Ontem eu tive o prazer de rever um baita sujeito: Jorge Vianna Monteiro. Um dia destes eu conto como eu o conheci. Mas o que importa é que ele me deu uma dica de um artigo cuja referência eu não me lembro. Péssimo, né? Mas pelo menos eu achei algo similar. Aí vai um trecho:
Megan McArdle has this interesting point about opportunity costs in the Harry Potter series. The (un)fortunate habit with economists is that they are forever looking for economics in everything. I used to think it happens only to people like Pete and Fred who have been in economics forever, but then I was rudely awoken when I found myself unconsciously applying my economic knowledge to every little thing in my life, when I am shopping, during a recent midlife crisis and while reading Harry Potter. The first four Potter books were plain fun to me. I love fantasy and since JKR follows a Tolkien style narrative it was easy cozying up with a Potter book all night. All that changed with the Order of the Phoenix. Here the plot became very economic to me. It was all about bureaucratic interference and the public choice arguments surrounding it. Bottom line, when the government interferes in education it screws it up. It also clarifies that when there is a shortage of something a black market always springs up. Dumbledore’s Army or the DA was a black market of sorts. There was a demand for learning and using magic spells at Hogwarts, and since there was shortage of the same due to regulation, an entrepreneur (Hermione Granger) came along and took advantage of the situation to start a club to learn magic secretly. The power of vested interests also comes out. Fudge’s aim was to keep his post and so he mistakenly believed that Dumbledore was after the Ministry and refused to believe the truth about U-No-Hu.
O que mais eu gostei foi este trecho: “I was rudely awoken when I found myself unconsciously applying my economic knowledge to every little thing in my life, when I am shopping, during a recent midlife crisis and while reading Harry Potter.”
Ou seja, o e-book do sushi e a nova idéia do Adolfo, sobre ditos populares poderiam ser complementadas com esta outra, que busca enxergar a economia em obras literárias. Há uns 14 anos atrás, eu fiz isto em uma turma, usando um livro do Jorge Caldeira (Mauá, Empresário do Império), mas isto é outra história…