Olympics Organizers Can’t Figure Out How Free Markets Work
The juxtaposition in this report of news that London cops are arresting ticket scalpers and news of empty seats causing consternation among organizers is funny because the person who wrote it apparently doesn’t draw a connection between the two (via Mark Perry).
“London’s Metropolitan police said they had arrested 16 people since Friday for illegal reselling of Olympics tickets, as Games organizers said they were investigating why scores of seats were empty at some events yesterday.
The presence of ticket scalpers shows that there’s a demand for Olympics seats. The presence of empty seats shows that there are a lot of people who, perhaps, bought tickets and can’t or aren’t attending.
Maybe the authorities should just let the ticket scalpers do their thing? It might not fill all the seats, but it seems absurd to squash a viable market for ticket sales as seats go unfilled.
Tags: free markets, olympics
