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Surely some of these costs / economic activities are just like the parable of the broken window? For example, the meal makers. Construction works buy their lunc

Surely some of these costs / economic activities are just like the parable of the broken window? For example, the meal makers. Construction works buy their lunches from shops nearby - that's great for those shops. But how is this improving the economy? Those workers would have needed lunches anyway. If they weren't working, they could have made their lunches at home, and not had to eat out. It would have (probably) been cheaper for them than buying lunches from the local shops. So maybe the workers spent more money buying their lunches, but that's just extra inefficiency, and not extra economic acitivity. Just like the broken window, the workers spend more in one area and so have less money to spend elsewhere.

anonymouskimmer 3y ago
> But how is this improving the economy? Those workers would have needed lunches anyway. In economics this is called hedonic adjustment. The economy is improved because the workers value purchasing a lunch more than making their own. It's cheaper to listen to the radio, or even buy a CD, than to go to a concert. Going to a concert is not seen as economically inefficient. 9 foot ceilings are not seen as economically inefficient compared to 8 foot ceilings. The additional foot is seen as value. A house made of bricks is valued more than a house made of straw, despite them both functioning equally as well as long as a huffing and puffing wolf isn't around. Etcetera.