This is a reprise from www.2blowhards.com. Excerpt:
[Mozart] ran into another problem for an artist dependent on an aristocractic audience: war. An unpopular war with Turkey that began in 1788 limped on through 1791. Opera production virtually halted and concert activity plummeted as the aristocracy, fearing conscription into the army, headed for the provinces en masse. For Mozart, the consequence of these economic reverses was, as Maynard Solomon notes, something close to a total breakdown, leaving him deeply depressed and impairing his productivity.
By the way, here is my earlier post on Mozart and Baumol's cost-disease. Here are Mozart's economic insights, excerpted from his diary. Under the fold, you can read Mozart on income and substitution effects...
"You
say that 400 florins a year as an assured salary are not to be despised,
and it would be true if in addition I could work myself into a good position
and could treat these 400 florins simply as extra money. But unfortunately,
that is not the case. I would have to consider the 400 florins as my chief
income and everything else I could earn as windfall, the amount of which
would be very uncertain and consequently in all probability very meager.
You can easily understand that one cannot act as independently towards
a pupil who is a princess as towards other ladies. If a princess does not
feel inclined to take a lesson, why, you have the honor of waiting until
she does. She is living out with the Salesians, so that if you do not care
to walk, you have the honor of paying at least 20 kreuzer to drive there
and back. Thus of my pay only 304 florins would remain–that is, if I only
gave three lessons a week. And if I were obliged to wait, I would in the
meantime be neglecting my other pupils or other work (by which I could
easily make more than 400 florins). If I wanted to come into Vienna I would
have to pay double, since I would be obliged to drive out again. If I stayed
out there and were giving my lesson in the morning, as I no doubt would
be doing, I would have to go at lunchtime to some inn, take a wretched
meal and pay extravagantly for it. Moreover, by neglecting my other pupils
I might lose them altogether–for everyone considers his money as good
as that of a princess. At the same time, I would lose the time and inclination
to earn more money by composition. To serve a great lord (in whatever office)
a man should be paid a sufficient income to enable him to to serve his
patron alone, without being obliged to seek additional earnings to
avoid penury. A man must provide against want."
That sounds much less appealing than a bar of Hershey’s dark chocolate.
I’ve read the “scathing investigative report” and found it full of zeal for exposing the alleged fraud being perpetrated by luxury chocolatier NoKa, whose rather mundane mass-produced chocolate is being repackaged and marketed at prices (ranging from $309/lb to $2080/lb depending on specific product) exceeding those of foie gras ($50/lb), sterling silver ($175/lb) domestic caviar ($275/lb), Kobe beef($300/lb)or even a fat stack of dollar bills ($454/lb).
Unfortunately, when the author concludes “Are Noka’s chocolates worth the prices they charge? They are not.”, he misses one critical element of economics. Subjective value.
He’s absolutely correct in concluding that they’re not worth the price to him, but they may be well worth the price to someone who wishes to demonstrate his/her ability to afford the world’s most expensive luxury products, at any price. Hence, Wyclef Jean drives a $1 million McLaren F1 supercar, while Jay-Z and Diddy suck back gallons of Louis Roederer Cristal champagne ($350/bottle).
This characteristic makes such products “Veblen goods”, for which demand increases with the good’s price (at least within a narrow target market).
That said, the author presents as strong, well-researched case that NoKa may be misrepresenting the origin of their chocolate, but that’s a legal issue, not necessarily an economic one.
The economic question for me is: what was in it for the blogger?
He put together an excellent and thorough piece of chocolate research at no small cost in time or dollars. Yet it’s a free site, with no visible ads.
What was his motivation?
Wowza. This expose’ may have been one of the most riveting and informative (about single-origin chocolates, couverture makers, and which chocolatiers use which couvertures) articles I read all year. Thanks, Alex, for the link — although I was expecting it to be one of Tyler’s! I guess chocophiles hang together. =)
I really want to try some of the Amedei chocolates he waxed so rhapsodic about….
“Rather, it was a thick, gritty, generally unsweetened frothy beverage composed of ground cacao beans, water, and other spices and flavorings”
I drank it when I spent the night in the jungle with a BriBri family in Costa Rica. It was actually pretty good, don’t know if she added a little sweetner or if I’m just used to the flavor of bitter and semi-sweet chocolate.
It’s possible to buy chocolate that is 99%. It kind of tastes like soap.
The Ocumare bar mentioned in the article is available at Trader Joe’s for $1.99.
I’ve never tried it; might have to now.
“Magical moments and memories”? Can’t you people come up with at least good bullshit?
>>A gift of NOKA Chocolate is a gift of the NOKA Chocolate Experience.<<
What bunk! Is that really from NOKA, or is someone spoofing them? I hope Alex T. will take a minute to check the IP address of that commenter.
BTW, if it’s really a response from NOKA, all they said was “Buy our chocolate because of the nice box.”
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