Our cat Theo has a heart disease. We found that out from a cat cardiologist.
A cat cardiologist? Really?
Yes, really.
Why do I mention this on a site called EconLog? Because the fact that there are cardiologists for cats is a sign of economic growth.
I’m pretty sure that fifty years ago we didn’t have cat cardiologists. There wasn’t much demand for them because Americans, on average, were substantially poorer than they are now. You might argue that there wasn’t much supply either, and you would be right. But why wasn’t there much of a supply? It was due to the fact that technology had not evolved to the point where cardiologists could diagnose cats, but that was also due, in part, to the fact that Americans were poorer and weren’t willing to demand such cardiology for cats.
There are so many indicators of economic growth and how wealthy it has made the average American.
Consider movies. In a blog post titled “Howard Hughes Would Envy You,” EconLog, September 19, 2024, co-blogger Kevin Corcoran told a fascinating story, which I had not known about, of Howard Hughes and his use of his own television station to play movies. Kevin points out that in the 1960s, Hughes was very wealthy, wealthy enough to own his own TV station, KLAS, in Las Vegas, where Hughes lived.
Kevin writes:
Now in control of his own private TV station, he could ensure movies would be broadcast at all hours. And apparently, it wasn’t uncommon for him to decide he didn’t like what was being shown and simply call the station to tell them to play something else instead. As a result, anyone else who was watching the station would suddenly find themselves confused as the movie they were in the middle of watching was suddenly switched to something else.
Imagine that: wanting to watch a movie when you want to, changing your mind, and then watching another movie. To do that, Hughes had to buy a TV station for $3.6 million, which, translated to today’s dollars is about $34 million.
Of course, we don’t have to imagine that. Most of us do it by subscribing to Netflix or other services and paying annually less than 0.0001 percent of the price Hughes paid. (Of course, I should price Netflix over 10 or more years, but you get the point.)
Boy, are we wealthy!
And now compare our situation to that of kings and queens just 2 centuries ago. Even a king could not play a song when he wanted to. If he wanted it late at night, he would have to assemble an orchestra. Maybe it could be done but maybe it couldn’t. Now we all “assemble” our own orchestras and can do so by touching a couple of things on our portable phones. And the artists get it note perfect every time.
I would not trade my life for that of Howard Hughes. I especially would not trade my life for that of George IV, the king of England 200 years ago.
