女巫的超前思维
亲爱的经济学家：
Dear Economist,
有一个关于古罗马末代君王塔尔坎(Tarquin)的传说。一位老女巫走到塔尔坎面前，提出以高昂的价格卖给他9本预言书。塔尔坎对这一提议不以为然。女巫烧毁了其中的3本书，然后提出以原价卖给他剩下的6本。塔尔坎再次拒绝了。
There is a legend about the last king of the Romans, Tarquin. An old witch came to Tarquin, and offered to sell him nine books of prophecy at an exorbitant price. Tarquin laughed at the offer. The witch burned three of the books, and then offered to sell him the remaining six for the original price. Tarquin refused again.
女巫又烧毁了3本，然后同样以最初9本的价格向塔尔坎出售剩下的3本。这一次，塔尔坎担心自己可能会错失一些宝贵的东西，于是以女巫索要的价格买下了剩余3本书。这反映了什么样的需求曲线呢?
The witch burned three more books and offered to sell Tarquin the three books that were left for the original price that she had demanded for nine. This time Tarquin was scared that he might be losing something precious, and bought the remaining three books for the price that the witch asked. What sort of demand curve is that?
克里斯·麦克马洪(Chris McMahon)通过电子邮件发送
Chris McMahon, by e-mail
亲爱的麦克马洪：
Dear Mr McMahon,
