Faced with explicit costs, evite, Kiki’s delivery service lies in costly efforts. Fortunately, for viewers, it is an attractive lesson on the nature of costs, an introduction to James Buchanan’s work on costs and choices.
Kiki’s delivery service, Studio Ghibli’s 1989 masterpiece captures the authentic moments of a young witch trying to make it herself. Morover, it emphasizes the fundamental nature of cost and choice. The logic of cost is very unintuitive and difficult for students and amateurs, mainly because common usage defines it as money. The typical concept of cost also provides the inherent quality of an object. The economic thinking clarifies the meaning of deeper costs, and Kiki shows this in one standout scene.
As Kiki settles into her new town – with the help of a lovely bakery, her family cat, a few friends, and a good dog – she starts a delivery service. Kiki can fly in the boom so she can transport goods immediately. The scene (approximately 47 minutes) begins with visuals and sounds of people walking, shopping and eating towns amidst the cry and noise of urban life. In contrast, Kiki is having a “boring” day at the bakery, with her view from the window looking like a passerby.
As the days develop and Kiki wants customers for her delivery service – she can eat subjects other than pancakes – she is being hit by choice. The customer calls the bakery for a 4:30 delivery, a friend who will be her friend comes to the store and buys cookies, and to the party (at the aviation club, asks “serious club for kids, such as flights and aircrafts”, another customer offers a heavy package to the shop with “urgent” requests. Kiki accepts all these requests and the scene is built. She fantasizes with the bakery owner for guidance on what to wear and the subsequent dilemma. Fast footprints and the sound of her running on the wall sells tension. Kiki worries about what to wear to the party. Already at 4:00, she has an urgent delivery, a 4:30 delivery, and a 6:00 party. Kiki is about to do her delivery. She helps one of her customers bake on foot, loses track of time, and misses the party.
Kiki did not explicitly gather the costs she faced because there are other concerns in the film and she is not facing explicit financial costs. However, she faces implicit or opportunity costs. She implicitly considers the costs of her actions explaining her behavior and subplot. In this way, the scene successfully encapsulates the logic of cost starting with rarity. In economics, rarity is a state of the world where there are more desires and desires than the resources to satisfy those desires and desires.
Kiki lets her time have relative rare scholarships. She has more desires and uses of timely time. She has to choose how she uses her time, come up with what to wear, put out urgent delivery or scheduled items, go to parties, or make delivery. She is a witch, but she cannot be in two places at once, and her broom gets faster and faster. Rarity involves choices that come with sacrifices. That’s where the cost is. If Kiki chooses to dance, she will not be able to deliver her, and vice versa. When she chooses to make a delivery, her opportunity cost is the forgotten value of another delivery and perhaps going to a party. He said that if she had more time, if the dance was another night, there would be less conflict and she might face lower costs. Each of her choices is not very important to her. If she spent more time, that is, she could do her delivery and go dance to visit nearby audibles.
The fascinating aspect of this scene is that, like the rest of the film, you can see the internal drama, emotions and the choices Kiki faces. In terms of costs, this scene shows how economists think about costs. They are internal and subjective assessments of the choices we face. Kiki does not face explicit costs, they are just in her mind. For example, she doesn’t pay fuel costs or air mileage to fly a broom and make the delivery. She is still paying for the costs. They are opportunity cost. Furthermore, these costs change as the situation changes. Kiki said in a previous scene that it is necessary for the cost of delivery, i.e. the price charged to the customer. This is because, following the logic of opportunity cost, it indicates that the shortage of customers indicates a relatively low opportunity cost. On a “boring” day at the bakery, in Adionte, the opportunity cost of making Kiki delivery was quite low because of the very little obligation. When she was asked by the party and other requests came in, her options were the same.
You are a universal lesson, like the universal appeal of film. We are all faced with choices in an uncertain world. We all face opportunity costs. These lessons are also a central aspect of economic science, with costs affecting human behavior. The end of the chapter questions in economic thinking emphasizes the lesson and how easily we become ER. Francis Weyland once wrote:
…The qualities and relationships of natural agents are God’s gifts and his gifts, so they are umbing. So, to take advantage of the momentum generated by the waterfall, you simply need to build the water ring and its necessary attachments and place them in the right position. This uses broken water at no further cost. Therefore, this is the only expenditure that calls for the attention of political economists, as our only expenditure is the instrumental cost for natural agents to be re-enforced into availability.
Waylon’s error is that he didn’t pick the water, and “water wheels” could have alternative uses, with opportunity costs.
These are also lessons that James Buchanan makes clear in his groundbreaking book costs and choices (here is my summary of the book). His work develops the history of thinking behind costs, gathers the need to link costs with choices, and advances the distinction between the costs of progress or choices and costs affected by past appearances and choices. For Buchanan, the (opportunity) cost is only borne by individuals facing options, such as Kiki choosing a delivery recuet and going to a party. The cost is subjective as Kiki was discovered amid considerations of going to parties, doing delivery and assisting customers. She doesn’t really like the boy who asked her to the party, but she still accepts it. Similarly, these considerations concern the expectations given current information. When Kiki decides to make a delivery, she expects travel plans, rewards, lost opportunities, and more. The cost, i.e. the value of the previous and subsequent opportunities, is not felt by the individual’s deliberation with the mind, not for the choice itself. This also prevents opportunities from being directly observed and dated at the time of your choice (up to the latest status). Kiki sees flying off to make a delivery, but when she chooses to make a delivery or Ken, whom she chooses to sacrifice other opportunities, can’t see the cost of the opportunity she gives birth. How Kiki behaves – just like everyone else – relies on a subjective assessment of the opportunity costs of expressed benefits and experience. For example, she might have gone to a party, but she placed high value on developing her business and supporting her customers. She was willing to incur the opportunity cost of missing the party.
This does not mean that it does not involve Ross’s Opopup City in an objective sense. For example, imagine the cost of a flight. Buchanan points out that others can determine the value of potential alternatives, but individuals still decide on subjective assessments and choose in urine. In Chapter 3 of Cost and Choice, Buchanan states:
You may also regret the decisions we make. This can be a certain cost. For example, Kiki may regret missing out on time while helping an older woman bake herring and pumpkin pie. Or she may regret taking on more business than she can handle. Such regret, hindsight, and other things that could have been for Buchanan and economists are the only choice cost, to the extent that they change how they perceive future circumstances.
Costs can hold a variety of meanings, but economic approaches provide for a richer interpretation of behavior. Kiki’s delivery service offers a great way for students and amateurs to explore this approach. Much of economics helps to better consider economic thinking by following introductory concepts such as cost and choice, clarifying concepts and organizing additional examples.
Byron “Trey” Carson is an associate professor of economics and business at Hampden Sydney University, Virginia, where he teaches courses in Introductory Economics, Money and Banking, Health Economics and Urban Economics.
