Metadata
- Author: M I Krueger
- Full Title:: Asteroid Economics: Why We’re Shopping Our Way Through Armageddon
- Category:: 🗞️Articles
- URL:: https://psyche.co/ideas/asteroid-economics-why-were-shopping-our-way-through-armageddon?utm_source=rss-feed
- Read date:: 2025-09-13
Highlights
I call it asteroid economics. We consume with abandon because we sense destruction. (View Highlight)
Throughout history, societies facing existential threats have not responded with conservation but with spectacular abandon. During the French financial crisis of the 1780s, aristocrats facing fiscal collapse reflexively intensified luxury consumption rather than investing in reform or refortification of the military. As thousands of workers protested outside the Palace of Versailles in 1786, courtiers reportedly enjoyed opulent balls. During the Black Death, survivors spent wildly rather than saving. Italian people ‘gave themselves up to the enjoyment of worldly riches’ with banquets and unbridled luxury, while England’s King Edward III held tournaments where all were encouraged to maintain festive spirits, believing parsimony was pointless when death resided in every street. (View Highlight)
I don’t think I knew who was the inventor of diversifying investments!
the economist Harry Markowitz becomes essential. His Nobel Prize-winning insight was elegantly simple: don’t put all your eggs in one basket. Spread risk across diverse investments. (View Highlight)