Ed Glaeser has a fantastic post over on the New York Times' Economix blog about the economic lessons imparted by various fairy tales. The whole post is funny (if you're an economics geek like me), but I just had to reprint my favorite part. Writes Glaeser:
I've never been quite sure about " Jack and the Beanstalk," where the boy trades a cow for a handful of beans and eventually makes a fortune off the deal. I suspect that this tale is best interpreted as implying that risky enterprises can occasionally pay off, but taking on such outcome volatility also creates a nontrivial chance of being eaten by a giant.
I laugh every time.
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