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Culture War Roundup for the week of November 14, 2022

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Math is entirely correct (and this is just econ 101), but put very simply and less precisely - if the original market is well behaved enough, and there's "enough" thing for everyone who's willing to pay $100, then the scalpers can't make money, because people can buy from the original seller at $100. And the people who haven't bought tickets are willing to pay less than $100, so the people the scalper crowds out by buying extra tickets are 'on the margin' and willing to pay $100, so the scalper doesn't make money - they buy for $100, sell for $100. But in cases of 'scalping' there usually isn't enough thing for everyone who's willing to pay $100, so there are lots of people who are willing to pay $200 who aren't getting a ticket, so the scalper buys for $100 and sells for $200.

This 'makes the market more efficient' in cases where the thing matters and isn't a concert ticket - if company A wants to buy thing for $10k because it's a critical component for centrifuge and company B wants to buy the thing for $5 because it looks nice on their wall, and the seller is selling for $5, and B buys it, this is just dumb - whereas if the scalper scalps it and sells it for $10k, the economically useful thing happens, and the scalper gets the monetary benefit (which the original seller can capture by raising the price themselves).