October 31, 2007

Happy Halloween!

Or not!

Kevin Hassett of the American Enterprise Institute is not happy. He says the economics of all holidays are suspect, but that Halloween is just plain wrong:

Now if you know someone well, perhaps you can anticipate the type of gift they might like. But Halloween is no time for thoughtful, targeted gift-giving. At Halloween, each house on a typical American block picks out one type of candy, and they give that exact same candy willy-nilly to everyone who shows up at the door. It's an economic nightmare.

This is no laughing matter. The scale of the problem is immense. The National Confectioners Association estimates that 2005 Halloween sales were $2.1 billion, easily making Halloween the biggest candy season. This year, sales will certainly be higher.

What percentage of those sales end up providing candy that individuals don't really like? If my own careful scientific study of Halloween bags is any guide, perhaps about 75 percent.

It's not the dead that concern me about Halloween. And it is not the impact of all that sugar on the weight of our kids. No, it's the dead-weight loss, or pointless lost utility of the entire enterprise. That likely has a dollar value that exceeds $1.5 billion annually. American citizens squander more than a billion and a half dollars a year on an economically inefficient holiday.


I counter that it's worth the billions in education. Halloween is exciting to the very young. Free Candy! As they get older, they can question the quality of the goods provided and the value of their time collecting. I passed by Taco Bell yesterday and let the line scare me off - even I am growing up!

It's socialism kids -- enjoy your early perception, then come to expect its grim realities. Now if the Democratic presidential candidates would only learn.

Hat-tip: Greg Mankiw


Posted by jk at October 31, 2007 1:16 PM

Socialism on the back end, yes, but capitalism at its most ruthless on the front as wholesalers and retailers slash prices on slow moving inventory to get it off the books. And in the middle the guilt-ridden suburbanites look for the most cost effective way to assuage their unearned guilt - just as taxpayers resign themselves to brazen thievery of their wages to help "the children" and "the needy."

BOO!

More frightening than any black cat or creaky gate.

Posted by: johngalt at October 31, 2007 3:23 PM

Most ruthless? Suburban guilt? I thought you had come to the ThreeSources party as a collectivist -- but the crack about the children and the needy was a peek under the mask.

Happy Halloween, jg.

Posted by: jk at October 31, 2007 4:09 PM | What do you think? [2]