What will the Mars economy look like?
This last week I enjoyed watching the Mars rover landing, and I’m looking forward to the photos and video we get this week. When discussing Mars these days, it’s hard to not mention the subculture (led by Elon Musk) that believes we will move humans there one day. When that happens, what will the economy look like?
My primary question is, what will economic institutions look like on Mars? Every semester my student read about the colonization of the Americas. Despite being colonized around the same time, today’s economic outcomes in the Americas are diverse. What can this teach us about Mars?
My challenge for you is to read Factor Endowments, Inequality, and Paths of Development Among New World Economics by Stanley Engerman and Ken Sokoloff. They discuss how the economics of the early colonies shaped long-run economic outcomes. Every year my students read this paper, then I ask them to predict what would happen on Mars.
Do you want me to do a video on the Mars economy? Hit the like button so I know.
Where did slaves go in the Americas?
When I was preparing to teach about slavery, I was shocked to learn that only 7% of the transatlantic slave trade went to what would become the United States. The other 93% went to Brazil and the Caribbean. I mentioned this to a friend the other day, and he was shocked too.
Because the topic is so important, I toiled over making this my best video ever. These videos don’t get as many clicks because my viewers are more interested in videos about studying economics (see below), but I hope you’ll check it out. There’s even a scene that my kids asked me to show them four times in a row (you’ll never guess which one…).
If you want to see it, run over to YouTube and find the latest video on Market Power.
Supply Shock
Texas had a terribly cold week, and as a result many power plants could not function. When supply drops, what happens to prices? They go way, way up.
What viewers want
Last week I posted a poll about the content my viewers want. I try to mix two types of content: (1) advice for studying economics and (2) general economics videos (like this week’s video on the slave trade). But I noticed that my general economics videos sometimes don’t even perform half as well as my videos on studying economics. So I asked you why. Here are the results.
I did not expect the poll to be that lopsided. Here’s why it’s so weird to me: if you’re interested in studying economics, you should also be interested in economics topics.
I have a hypothesis on why it ended up this way. Generally, my videos are not sufficiently engaging. Only about 40% of people who start a video watch all the way to the end. That means I’m not competitive with other channels providing general economics videos.
But even if my videos on studying economics are not engaging, the content can’t be found anywhere else. So I have a monopoly (for now).
I’m not going to stop making videos on studying economics. But for this channel to grow, I need more people interested in economics. Which means I have to make my videos better. That’s why I spent more time planning the video on the slave trade. Next week I’ll let you know whether it worked.
If you have suggestions on how to make the videos more engaging, let me know!