Monday, March 8, 2010
ECO 101
An article in the Guardian says French nuns producing wafers used during holy communion were shocked to learn that the governing authorities of a major Catholic shrine contemplated buying a cheaper version from Poland. Traditionally, this occupation has been a major source of income for the nuns, and now they were outraged to learn they could be undercut by more efficient secular producers in another EU country. After a successful PR counteroffensive, the religious authorities gave up their efforts to find a more affordable substitute, but demanded a price cut from the holy sisters. I guess those clueless nuns could use a free subscription to the Economist (with the accompanying issues of Reason I hope subscribers are still getting as a bonus - as if the undermine the free-market maxim that there is no free lunch). Or, maybe, next time George Clooney should be flown in to deliver the bad news.