I tempi sono grami, per la prima volta dal dopoguerra la generazione dei figli vivrà peggio rispetto a quella dei padri. Lo si sente dire spesso, ma ne siamo poi così sicuri? Attenzione perché PIL e redditi stagnanti sono un indicatore ingannevole. Per capirlo, niente di meglio che ragionare pensando al “bello” e al ruolo crescente dell’ estetica nella società contemporanea.
Much of the value created through aesthetics doesn’t make it into the economic data that shape perceptions and policy. The problem isn’t with the statisticians, who are neither careless nor incompetent. Intangible goods like aesthetics are inherently difficult to measure and count, especially if competition means their value isn’t reflected in higher prices…
… Consider women’s shoes. Embroidered and beaded shoes used to sell for luxury prices, no less than $100 a pair and usually more. They required skilled artisans to make, so moderately priced shoes couldn’t cover the manufacturing expense. But in the late 1990s, automation drove down the cost of these adornments and improved their durability. Because sophisticated skills were no longer needed, the work could be done in cheap labor markets like China…
Did fancy shoemakers suddenly garner enormous profits? Not at all. The shoe business is far too competitive. Instead, embroidery and beads began to appear on shoes selling for $70 instead of $250. “Because the savings in labor costs are mostly passed on to the consumer…
… Adjusted for inflation, the price of a movie ticket in 2001 was lower than in 1990 and much lower than its peak in 1971, yet sound systems and special effects are substantially improved. Holding other quality factors constant, moviegoers get more for their money today… ecc. ecc. ecc.
More important than the direct policy effects is the data’s psychological effect. Incomes LOOK STAGNANT even while LIVING STANDARDS are rising. Since we so quickly become accustomed to higher aesthetic standards, we forget what things used to be like…
We look at the official data and conclude we’re poorer than we really are…
Missing some of the economy’s greatest advances, we believe pessimists who say progress has effectively ended. Or we focus all our optimism on flashy technology and miss the incremental improvements in everyday life…”
The Substance of Style: How the Rise of Aesthetic Value Is Remaking Commerce, Culture, and Consciousness (P.S.) by Virginia Postrel
