Instruments of Desire

One of my students Sam Landman has spotted a niche market proving resilient in the face of mounting macroeconomic difficulties.

Sam writes:

As many people are holding back on putting deposits down on houses, and putting off buying a new car, one market is increasing solid - namely the musical instrument industry. This is largely due to the fact that many people hold onto their precious instruments for at least 15-20 years (with stradivarius violins being kept for much longer averaging 55 years), whereas with houses, people move house on average 5-7 years, whilst the use of a car is a low with an average of 3.5 years before a replacement vehicle is sought.

In terms of microeconomic theory - the rising price of musical instruments is perhaps caused by a low supply of top quality instruments, as the turn around of 12 years per instrument causes a constriction of supply of old hand-made instruments. This scarcity of supply combined with a highly inelastic demand curve (as people buy an instrument for sound and quality not price) can result in a high pricing for an instrument. What we are now seeing is a contraction in the number of older instruments made available for sale, as people weather the storm in order to sell their instrument in better times, which forces an inward shift of the supply curve, and higher prices. 

Picking up on Sam’s comments. Might the market demand for instruments actually rise during an economic downturn? Buying an instrument for a family member or a friend can be a catalyst to a life-long affinity with learning and playing it, and at times of economic stress, buying an instrument is not only a decent investment in the long run but a great way of relieving some of the pressures of modern life.

And the huge success of music-themed video games must be having an effect on demand. A report in the Times today says that the popularity of active music titles such as Guitar Hero and Rock Band have prompted up to 2.5 million children to learn the instruments for real.

With parents plucking up the courage to buy guitars for their children. And with sales of traditional orchestral instruments doing well - here is an industry increasingly out of tune with the rest of the economy.

Unit 2 Macro: Cyclical and Structural Economic Issues Facing the UK [23 May 2012]
Unit 3 Micro: Game Theory and Business Economics [21 May 2012]
Unit 2 Macro: Measuring Inflation in the UK [20 May 2012]
Unit 2 Macro: Real Interest Rates [20 May 2012]
Q&A: What do we need to know about output gaps? [20 May 2012]
Unit 2 Macro: The Output Gap [20 May 2012]
Unit 1 Micro: Revision Presentation on the Price Mechanism [16 May 2012]
Unit 1 Micro: Revision on Rice Prices [13 May 2012]
Unit 1 Micro: Price Elasticity of Supply [13 May 2012]
Unit 2 Macro: Revision Notes on Supply-side Policies [10 May 2012]
Unit 1 Micro: Revision Blogs on Markets and Intervention [10 May 2012]
Unit 1 Micro: Revision Quiz and Game on Market Prices [10 May 2012]
Unit 2 Macro: Monetary Policy and Inflation Glossary [5 May 2012]
Unit 2 Macro: Aggregate Demand Glossary [5 May 2012]
Unit 1 Micro: Climate Change Policies - Finding the Right Mix [30 Apr 2012]
Unit 1 Micro: Using the Cost-Benefit Principle [30 Apr 2012]
Unit 3 Micro: Revision on Contestable Markets [8 Apr 2012]
Unit 3 Micro: Revision on Scale Economies and MES [5 Apr 2012]
Unit 1 Micro: Revision on Price Elasticity of Supply [5 Apr 2012]
Unit 1 Micro: Revision on Elasticity of Demand (for Rice) [3 Apr 2012]
Unit 1 Micro: The Collapsing Price of Carbon [3 Apr 2012]
Unit 1 Micro: Revision on Producer Subsidies [2 Apr 2012]
Unit 2 Macro: Revision on Real Economic Data [2 Apr 2012]
Unit 2 Macro: Revision on Real Disposable Income [2 Apr 2012]
Unit 3 Micro: Revision on Scale Economies, Technology and Prices [1 Apr 2012]
Unit 1 Micro: Revision on Maximum Rents in Housing [1 Apr 2012]
Unit 1 Micro: Revision on Producer Cartels [31 Mar 2012]
Unit 2 Macro: Revision on Index Numbers [31 Mar 2012]
Unit 1 Micro: Brazilian coffee buffer stock hit by falling prices [29 Mar 2012]
Life in the Slow Lane - UK Growth in 2011 Lags the Euro Area [28 Mar 2012]
George Buckley at the Millfield Economics Society [28 Mar 2012]
Unit 1 Micro: The Tax on Beer [16 Mar 2012]
Unit 1 Micro: Inequality - The Rise of Fuel Poverty [15 Mar 2012]
Unit 1 Micro: 50 years of anti-smoking campaigns and awareness [6 Mar 2012]
Unit 1 Micro: Breaking Down the Cost of Gas [4 Mar 2012]
Unit 2 Macro: Might Oil Prices Bring another Recession? [4 Mar 2012]
Unit 4 Macro: King on the UK Economy [15 Feb 2012]
Unit 2 Macro: Focus on China - Inflation [26 Jan 2012]
Unit 2 Macro: Look Upwards to Find the next Downturn [15 Jan 2012]
Unit 4 Macro: Natural Disasters and their Economic Impact [7 Jan 2012]
Unit 1 Micro: Low Cost Airlines Beat the Recession [1 Jan 2012]
Unit 1 Micro: Biomass Subsidies and Timber Prices [30 Dec 2011]
Unit 2 Macro: The UK Housing Market in 2011 [26 Dec 2011]
Unit 3 Micro: Sub Normal Profits - BP Leaves the Solar Industry [21 Dec 2011]
Unit 3 Micro: Oligopoly and Duopoly in Bus Markets [20 Dec 2011]
Unit 3 Micro: Tacit Collusion in the Supermarket [27 Nov 2011]
Unit 1 Micro: 50 Years since the end of the Max Wage in Football [23 Nov 2011]
Pasty Prices - Something to Chew Over [19 Nov 2011]
AS Macro: The State of British Business [13 Nov 2011]
Unit 3 Micro: Unilever hit by rising costs [6 Nov 2011]
Unit 3 Micro: Examples of Price Discrimination in Action [31 Oct 2011]
Unit 1 Micro: Economists attack food price speculation [24 Oct 2011]
Unit 3 Micro: Ofcom gives stamp of approval for flexible pricing in mail [21 Oct 2011]
Unit 4 Macro: World Food Day [16 Oct 2011]
Unit 1 Micro: Producing Coffee - Kenya in Pictures [4 Oct 2011]
Unit 1 Micro: Homework Assignment on Market Prices [2 Oct 2011]
Unit 1 Micro: Exercise on Equilibrium Market Prices [27 Sep 2011]
Unit 1 Micro: Exercise on Market Supply [26 Sep 2011]
Unit 4 Macro: IMF Flags up Risks of Double Dip [20 Sep 2011]
Unit 2 Macro: Economic Growth and Inequality [14 Sep 2011]
Study Note - What is Macroeconomics? [13 Sep 2011]
Starter Activity: Health Economics [1 Sep 2011]
Monetary Policy Roundtable [25 Jul 2011]
Unit 1 Micro: Cotton Prices and the Retail Price of Clothing [13 Jul 2011]
Unit 1 Micro: Economics of Volatile Corn Prices [12 Jul 2011]
Zondle Game: 10 Question Quiz about OPEC [11 Jul 2011]
Unit 4 Macro: Dangers of High Inflation [11 Jul 2011]
Unit 3 Micro: Oligopsony - Dairy Losses Drive Farmers from the Fields [10 Jul 2011]
Unit 1 Micro: FirstBuy, Affordability and Effective Demand in Property [10 Jul 2011]
Unit 1 Micro: High price of petrol drains demand [9 Jul 2011]
AS Micro: Fears over a century of hunger [22 Jun 2011]
AQA ECON4 Context [20 Jun 2011]
AQA Macro: Remember to revise inflation [25 May 2011]
AS Macro Key Term: Demand Pull Inflation [24 May 2011]
AS Macro Key Term: Deflation [24 May 2011]
AS Macro Key Term: Cost Push Inflation [24 May 2011]
AS Macro Key Term: Inflation [24 May 2011]
AS Macro Key Term: Recession [23 May 2011]
A2 Micro: Competition Policy [20 May 2011]
A2 Micro: Oligopoly and Collusion [20 May 2011]
A2 Micro: Oligopoly [20 May 2011]
A2 Micro: Price Discrimination [19 May 2011]
A2 Micro: Entry Barriers in Markets [19 May 2011]
Unit 3 Micro: Monopsony Power in Markets [19 May 2011]
A2 Micro: The Importance of Profit [19 May 2011]
A2 Micro: High and Low Marginal Cost Products [19 May 2011]
A2 Micro: Consequences of Price Discrimination [19 May 2011]
A2 Micro: Examples of Price Discrimination [19 May 2011]
Unit 3 Micro: Perfect Competition [19 May 2011]
A2 Micro: Competition and Efficiency [19 May 2011]
A2 Micro: Moving Away from Profit Max [18 May 2011]
UK Economy Update: What Mervyn Said [11 May 2011]
AS Micro: What´s really behind the oil price rise? [10 May 2011]
Interest Rates Held at 0.5% once again [5 May 2011]
AS Micro: Commodity Prices [5 May 2011]
AS Macro: Extended House Price Deflation? [5 May 2011]
AS Micro: Rising Global Food Prices [2 May 2011]
A2 Micro: EU Aviation - State Aid and State Ownership [28 Apr 2011]
AS Micro: Mock Exam Question on Sugar Prices [28 Apr 2011]
Wiki Revision: A to Z on Monopoly [23 Apr 2011]

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