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November 19, 2011 Macroeconomics

If my wife and I gave birth to a third child, the average GDP per person in our household would fall by 20%. If, instead, on that same day, someone bestowed upon us a gift of a cow, the average GDP of our home would increase.

"4" Comments
  1. An addition to the herd?

    Imagine the value of the manure alone! You could sell the manure, or you could use it yourself. Your tomato plants would never be the same.

    If you bought a holstein, you’d quickly find that it would produce, at the beginning of the cow’s lactation, somewhere in the neighborhood of twelve gallons of milk per day. She would have to be fed 20 pounds of hay, at a cost of approximately $5, and 50 pounds of mixed feed, at a cost of $20 per day to maintain that output. It would take some time to reduce that production safely, but there would always be the option of just shooting the cow and inviting the neighborhood over for an ox roast.

  2. I could go and spend half a million on a new combine for my small plot. By all statistics, GDP would rise because investment went up, but in reality I’d quickly be on my way to become bankrupt. Likewise, if I got a cow, I’d probably try to quickly sell it or slaughter it; I don’t have the time or stuff required to handle cows.

  3. Hey, Mike, Michael, and Rod, aren’t we lucky nobody gave us a combine? And Michael should be happy he does not have the stuff to make a stuffed cow.

    This must drive Rizzo crazy. He wanted us to weigh in on the Zero Population Growth people, the bean counters at the Department of Commerce, and the Chicom’s one-child policy, and Rod helps him with his next party.

  4. Ignore the beancounters. I recommend you have a child. And don’t have a cow.

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