So I just got Anthology 3, and can't believe how these guys still captivate me. I figure you can learn all of economics by thinking about The Beatles. Here's the first installment, and feel free to offer your own lessons.
Lesson 1: What are the odds that 4, or 3, or even 2 musical geniuses would find themselves together in a small town? Answer: slim to none. It is more likely that one genius inspired the rest to raise their level of performance. Probably John Lennon was the original genius, but soon the others came to match his talent, especially the young and formative George Harrison. Even George's final album, 32 years after the break up, is pretty outstanding. This is how human innovation works, largely through peer effects. And this is why so much of human accomplishment has occurred in the West.
Addendum: To clarify, the mechanism at work here is not merely hero worship, but rather peer effects, or more precisely, acculturation, or self-acculturation, as Tyler has called it. That is, John inspired George, who inspired John. John need not be a genius for the group to produce great music. In fact, the first few albums are not great, that only happened later, which suggests acculturation as opposed to genius.
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3 comments:
Ah, you didn't tell me you'd started a blog. I'll add you to my blogroll when I'm, well.. organised.
Since you corrected me on George Mason I only feel it's fair to point out that Liverpool (where I went to University) isn't exactly a small town. It's about 1.5 million people although it used to be 4 or 5 at the height of the industrial revolution.
Well happy blogging anyway...
Glad you found it, bloke.
Interesting theory. I think the lesson is that the Beatles were talented but not particularly genius: they were just the right people at the right time. They were lucky enough to be successful at the right moment, technologically and culturally and economically, to build on their own success. Once they became financially secure enough to pursue their own experimental and artistic tendencies, they became very interesting.
There were probably four better musicians playing music together in Liverpool a hundred years ago, and i know there are bands out there today that are unbelievably great, but their timing is not as lucky. A hundred years ago recorded music was just beginning, and today we are saturated in it.
On the other hand, four brilliant kids on a myspace page are relatively privileged, and their music can still inspire a few people. Too bad for all the billions of Johns and Pauls and Georges out in the rest of the world who will never have the luxury to pursue their dreams...
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