In an article in Business Week, The Pope and the Profits , it talks about the profits that are being made by various businesses after the death of the Pope.
E-bay had a huge amount of memorobilla posted on its web page, items from wristbands to comic books. Among the most expensive items were a bottle of holy water blessed by the Pope, at $500,000, and an oil-pastel portrait of John Paul II, signed by him, at $150,000.
Now doesn't this seem a little ubsurd to a certain extent to charge such high prices for items of the Pope and to make money in ways like this? I know that demand is high for items and collectibles pertaining to the Pope, but do we go to far at times? I think that selling items and making money from such things is okay, but I do think that we push it to the extreme.
1 comment:
-1 on Trudy and Fred's comments for spelling errors.
This is a good example of problems with markets. There isn't a lot of reason why anything should not be sold. Alternatively, is it ethical to actually do so? Economics has no answer for the latter, other than making it illegal won't make it go away.
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