Introduction to Beynesian SWIFT ONO MICS

FORBES CONSIDERS BEYONCÉ ONE OF THE WORLD’S MOST POWERFUL WOMEN, BUT CAN HER WORLD TOUR INFLUENCE MACROECONOMIC TRENDS, AS ONE SWEDISH ECONOMIST BELIEVES?

WORDS CARLA LEWIS

Undeterred, some countries still paid no heed to Germany’s mistakes. Despite their central banks containing only a clutch of IOU slips for defaulted World Bank’s International Development Association loans, Venezuela and Zimbabwe tried fixing their economies… simply by printing more bank notes.

Even though Bey’s perceived impact on the Swedish economy is negligible – especially when seen in the light of Zimbabwean and Venezuelan inflation – some economists believe Michael Grahn overestimates the “Beyoncé Effect”. However, analysts observed similar trends in the cities where Taylor Swift performed – accommodation prices supposedly increased fivefold on the singer’s concert nights. Economists call this demand-pull inflation, an imperative theory of British economist John Maynard Keynes. According to Keynesians, this inflation occurs when “the aggregate demand in an economy overtakes the aggregate supply, causing rising prices.”

Should one apply (grossly oversimplified) Keynesian theory to the economic impact of Beyoncé and Taylor’s concert tours, it would look as follows:

Swarms of the Beyhive and flocks of Swifties visit a city to see their favourite pop star. They need food and shelter (aggregate demand), but hotel rooms and salmon gravlax are limited (aggregate supply). So hotels and restaurants hike their prices and inflation follows suit. Depending on your politics, it’s either supply and demand or predatory capitalism.

I’m calling it the Beynesian Swiftonomic Theory.

Carla Lewis is a features editor and writer at Beeld, a division of Media24 ■