The Pope and the Price of Fish

It is interesting for a student of economics to learn how demand and supply analysis works in practice.

Until 1966 Roman Catholics were not allowed to eat meat on Fridays and ate fish instead. In 1966 the Pope (Папа Римский) said that Catholics could eat meat on Friday. What do you think happened to the average weekly price and average weekly quantity of consumed fish?

The demand for fish fell as some Catholics who had to eat fish before started eating meat on Friday when they were allowed to do so.

This is a simple example of the effect of a change in tastes (вкусы) on the demand. Economists said that lower demand would lead to lower equilibrium price and the quantity of the demanded fish.

Studying reports on fish prices and quantities of sold fish in the United States before and after 1966 we can see that this is what happened.

Crime Will Be Out Sooner or Later

Once during the civil wars of Rome a slave was murdered in one of the city squares, and nobody knew who committed the crime. The murdered slave’s dog guarded the body and didn’t allow anybody to touch it. The king, traveling that way, saw the animal watching the body. When he learnt that the dog had been there for three days without food or drink he ordered to bury the body and bring the dog to him.

After some time the review of the king’s troops took place and every soldier had to march after the king. All this time the dog lay quietly by the king’s side, but on seeing the murderers of his late master, he flew at them with extraordinary fury barking and tearing their clothes. The king took notice of it. He ordered to make an inquest and the criminals confessed the crime. Later they were tried and sentenced to death.

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