Ten Economic Lessons from The Treasure of the Sierra Madre

摘要

I hope that I've shown that The Treasure of the Sierra Madre demonstrates a canny grasp of economic principles and whetted your appetite to watch (or rewatch) the movie in these terms. In the scenes described and others, the film examines altruism; bargaining and negotiation; barriers to entry; creation of capital; capital constraints; compensating wage differentials; contract enforcement; corruption; cost-benefit analysis; credence goods; debt payment; deferred compensation; economies of scale; efficiency wages; entrepreneurship; exchange rates; externalities; fairness; the nature and organization of the firm; framing effects; game theory; gift exchange; incentives; formal and informal institutions; investment strategies; job search; the value of knowledge; labor market signaling; selection of the optimal location; marginal benefits and costs; the marginal product of labor; natural-resource extraction; opportunity costs; partnerships; price-and-wage determination; property rights and their enforcement; public goods; reputation; risk; scarcity; secrecy; sunk costs; supply-and-demand analysis; teamwork; technology and technological change; the theory of value; trade; trust; unemployment; and the creation and recognition of value and wealth.