h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Beetroot-flavoured Bounty, Comrade?

Oh, wait...they're called Ruffles.

Me too. I buy some every week I haven't got any ready to harvest...

Wow. And I thought *I* liked beetroot. What do you use them for? Apart from turning your poo pink.

I love beetroot, but don't cook it that often because I don't quite know what to do with it. Roasted and put in a salad is quite nice. Beetroot risotto is pretty good. That's about all I've got.

Old fashioned salads always used to have grated beetroot and carrot. I for one miss them!

Borschtes of courses aint jus`for horses!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borscht
Also makes good jelly or jam.
Oh, sliced and pickled!

-jwf-

Corned beef hash: as much as my body can handle

The Plain Chocolate versions of most chocolately things seem to be rarities.

I looked this year for a Plain Chocolate Terry's Orange and there are Milk oranges and White oranges and some new Volcanic flavoured oranges but no Plain oranges.

It is always a struggle to find boxes of plain chocolate biscuits at Xmas time and you usually have to settle for the mixed boxes containing some plain biscuits.

I have wondered over the years if it was a cost saving as cocoa is more expensive than milk.

It's because consumers are foolish creatures who actually believe that milk chocolate is better than plain chocolate!

"you're making a value judgement there - that it is better to appreciate scarce plain chocolate Bounty bars than to be sated with them. Economics makes no such judgement"

You're right - "economics" doesn't make that judgement. Nor do I.

The marketing department of the Mars Corporation makes that judgement.

And between them and you, you'll forgive me if I think they're the ones who can actually prove they know what they're doing...

Then why is it called bounty, not scarcity? That's just dishonest.

Shall we try it another way, SoRB?

Mars Inc are working in a sub-specialism of economics called 'accountancy'. Within that they can calculate very reliably, as you've suggested, that there will be a winning formula for creating the right demand for plain chocolate Bountys and thus maximising their profits. But this will work on averages. There will be creating and satisfying an average degree of satiety.

*On their terms* they will win: average satiety -> maximum profits.

However...in the Real World this average is made up of individuals. Some will have just enough plain chocolate Bountys; some - those living next to Waitrose - more than is strictly necessary; others not enough. For all that Mars Inc tell me I have exactly the right amount of plain chocolate Bountys for purposes of profit maximisation - I'm afraid I'm still left with the unsatiated feeling that I want a plain chocolate Bounty. In my terms, like. If that's OK by you.

(Lt's try a wider analogy: 'It's OK that you're poor. On average everyone is rich.' *genuinely* difficult economic/philosophical/political question.)

This distinction between the type of Accountancy that you've been talking about and wider Economics is subtle but very important. It would be worthwhile your giving it a little thought. It's no accident, perhaps, that Economics is taught alongside Politics and Philosophy in some of the world's most respected institutes of learning.

Beetroot:

Cut a cross in it and bake whole.

When cooked, open it up and add a dollop of yoghurt.

Top with the 'tarka' what you'd use for dhal. (fry up ginger, garlic, onions, cumin seeds, mustard seeds, maybe a few fennel and/or kalonji)


OR...grate or cube the beetroot and make a dry curry with dessicated coconut. There you are: Beetroot Bounty curry.

I'm sure someone made a film about the difficulty of finding these chocolate bars. Or was it a comic?

The Hunt For Red Bounty.

Correction to #73.

*Optimum* satiety, not average.

So your position is that if you, personally, are not supplied with everything you desire, in whatever amount you desire, whenever you desire it, then Market Economics itself has failed?

Or is it broader than that - if EVERYONE is not fully satiated of all desires at all time, market economics has failed?

Really?

I think what Ed's saying is that if some people can't get plain bounties for love nor money half the time, but people who live near Waitrose have a constant supply there's a flaw in the argument that it's simply a matter of the manufacturer deliberately making the items scarce, because if one place has plenty all the time they cannot be that scarce. I think.

More importantly I need to try that beetroot thing.

An interesting discussion.

I guess it all depends what's meant by 'market failure'. I've always taken it to mean that the market is unable to supply a commodity or service at a price and/or on terms and conditions that the customer is willing to pay.

One possible example of this is downloading MP3s and films. Because the market failed to give consumers what they wanted (quality, legit, safe, products at a fair price on fair usage terms), piracy flourished. Now that DRM has largely done, and people can download individual tracks for under 80p and whole albums for £3-8 or so, there's much less incentive for illegal downloads. The previous business model seemed to revolve around 'subscriptions' which seemed to be effectively 'renting' music. Ironically, a lot of the music that I legitimately purchased outright which had DRM now won't work. Arguably online football streaming is the latest example of market failure. Fans want to see matches for their team, but current TV providers don't give them enough of *their team*'s matches, and charge more than they're willing to pay.

Whether individual companies 'feast and famine' strategies regarding product availability count as 'market failure' I'm not sure. One one level it does - Ed *would* make a purchase were it not for the lack of availability. On another, if it's part of a deliberate strategy, it's something different. Perhaps it would really only make sense to talk about 'market failure' at the level of chocolate bars in general, rather than one sub-type of one particular brand only.

It's hard not to be aware of the games that retailers play each year in terms of manufacturing stories about shortages, people queuing from silly o'clock, parents rushing around London frantically looking for the must-have toy this Xmas. But - obvious astroturf 'campaigns' for the return of the Wispa aside - I wasn't aware of it happening with chocolate bars.

Does anyone (Hoo?) know if this happens with Creme Eggs? I think I heard somewhere that they're not available all year round because they have a fairly short shelf life, and it seems to me that late-stage Creme Eggs are very likely to be dry and flaky rather than moist and gooey.....