Friday, April 10, 2009

Countercyclical Assets

During economic hardships it is normal and good for people to decrease or delay their purchases. However, there are goods that are purchased more (like bankruptcy lawyers), these are called countercyclical assets. Here are some of the more unusual ones I've come across:

1) Marx’s anti-capitalism book Das Kapital

2) vitamins to prevent expensive doctor visits

3) cheap birth control in the form of vasectomies

4) candy as a cheap source of comfort

5) less reliable banks and increased desperation means more safes

6) in Ireland, closed factory tour guides

7) in Italy, loan sharks and organized crime

8) online and offline companionship

9) sadly, mud pies

10) evangelical church attendance

11) businesses that allow you to break dishes to relieve stress

12) investors have moved from stocks to gold, vintage wine, parking spaces, and alpacas

13) high end prostitutes/therapists

14) inexpensive ways of self-defense, like tasers

15) Ayn Rand's pro-capitalism book Atlas Shrugged

1 comment:

  1. Here's a tricky one: I'm guessing that glasses sales and infomercial purchases also go up. Here's why: when the economy goes down, blood sugars rise because people can't pay for their medicine or a physician's visit. Thus, their vision becomes poorer and they buy glasses to compensate (there are 24 million diabetics in the US).
    My patients also sit around and watch more TV because they don't have jobs, so I'm betting they buy stuff from daytime infomercials. I would research these things but I'm too lazy.

    ReplyDelete

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