[Script Info] Title: [Events] Format: Layer, Start, End, Style, Name, MarginL, MarginR, MarginV, Effect, Text Dialogue: 0,0:00:02.13,0:00:04.26,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,♪ [music] ♪ Dialogue: 0,0:00:14.09,0:00:17.82,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,- This is a pretty tragic topic and in\Nsome ways it's tough to talk about, but Dialogue: 0,0:00:18.00,0:00:21.54,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,let's give it a try. Let's keep in mind\Nthat in the modern world there still Dialogue: 0,0:00:21.72,0:00:26.93,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,really is a lot of slavery and many people\Nare rightfully outraged by this. But the Dialogue: 0,0:00:27.11,0:00:32.41,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,question is what to do about it? So in the\N1990's, there were humanitarian reformers Dialogue: 0,0:00:32.59,0:00:38.34,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and they went to Sudan and their plan was\Nto buy slaves and set them free. Now that Dialogue: 0,0:00:38.52,0:00:42.71,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,sounds great, what could be better than\Nsetting free slaves? That sounds pretty Dialogue: 0,0:00:42.89,0:00:47.76,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,noble, but did it actually stamp out\Nslavery or did paying slaveholders to Dialogue: 0,0:00:47.94,0:00:54.27,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,release these slaves lead to more people\Ncaptured? Let's use the economic concept Dialogue: 0,0:00:54.45,0:00:58.96,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of the elasticity of supply to help\Nunderstand this better. The problem is Dialogue: 0,0:00:59.14,0:01:02.84,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,this, the people trying to free the\Nslaves, we'll call them the slave Dialogue: 0,0:01:03.02,0:01:07.48,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,redeemers, they're also creating\Nadditional demand for slaves. After all, Dialogue: 0,0:01:07.66,0:01:12.59,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,they're buying slaves in the market. That\Nadditional demand shifts out the demand Dialogue: 0,0:01:12.77,0:01:18.38,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,curve for slaves and that leads to a new\Nand higher market price. That higher price Dialogue: 0,0:01:18.56,0:01:22.57,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,will bring forth additional supply. So\Nwhat are the people who round up and Dialogue: 0,0:01:22.75,0:01:26.35,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,kidnap the slaves, what are they going to\Ndo? Well, they're going to increase their Dialogue: 0,0:01:26.53,0:01:30.31,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,operations. They're going to have more\Nraids and they're going to take more Dialogue: 0,0:01:30.49,0:01:36.34,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,people into slavery. We can already see\Nthere's at least a possibility that buying Dialogue: 0,0:01:36.52,0:01:39.95,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the slaves and setting them free will be\Ncounterproductive because we haven't Dialogue: 0,0:01:40.13,0:01:44.85,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,managed to stamp out all of slavery, what\Nwe've done is set some people free but Dialogue: 0,0:01:45.03,0:01:48.53,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,actually give those kidnappers, those\Npeople in the middle, we've increased Dialogue: 0,0:01:48.71,0:01:53.64,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,their incentives to bring more people into\Nslavery. And therein lies the potential Dialogue: 0,0:01:53.82,0:01:58.89,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,for an even greater tragedy. The concept\Nof elasticity in economic terms that Dialogue: 0,0:01:59.07,0:02:04.07,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,refers to how responsive is quantity\Nsupplied when market price changes. Dialogue: 0,0:02:04.25,0:02:08.69,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It's going to help us understand how much\Na slave redemption program will increase Dialogue: 0,0:02:08.87,0:02:13.67,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the number of people who end up captured\Nby slave raiders. Inelastic supply means Dialogue: 0,0:02:13.85,0:02:19.23,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that even a much higher price doesn't\Nresult in a much larger quantity supplied. Dialogue: 0,0:02:19.41,0:02:23.55,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In that case, even if the price of slaves\Nwent up by a lot, not that many additional Dialogue: 0,0:02:23.73,0:02:28.25,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,people would be captured. That's the\Nbetter case scenario. It also means the Dialogue: 0,0:02:28.43,0:02:32.89,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,price of slaves will go up and stay high\Nbecause the off setting supply response is Dialogue: 0,0:02:33.07,0:02:37.37,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,weak and it's not pushing that market\Nprice back down again. Again that's the Dialogue: 0,0:02:37.55,0:02:41.88,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,better case scenario. It means that in the\Nlong run the redeemers are doing more to Dialogue: 0,0:02:42.06,0:02:47.06,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,limit slavery than to encourage it. But,\Nhowever, let's say the supply curve is Dialogue: 0,0:02:47.24,0:02:51.81,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,more elastic, that means a flatter curve\Nand it means the quantity supplied to the Dialogue: 0,0:02:51.99,0:02:57.61,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,market will increase a lot with the higher\Nprice. In that case, it's easier to find Dialogue: 0,0:02:57.79,0:03:02.11,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,more people to enslave. Then as a result\Nof the boost in demand from the Dialogue: 0,0:03:02.29,0:03:08.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,humanitarian redeemers, a lot more people\Nwill end up captured and enslaved and then Dialogue: 0,0:03:08.58,0:03:12.79,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the total number of people captured as\Nslaves is going up quite a bit. And you Dialogue: 0,0:03:12.97,0:03:17.19,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,have to wonder in that case are these\Nslave redemption programs really a good Dialogue: 0,0:03:17.37,0:03:24.91,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,idea? So what's the answer? It's genuinely\Nhard to say whether the supply of slaves Dialogue: 0,0:03:25.09,0:03:30.86,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is elastic or inelastic, but we can look\Nat price as a possible indicator of which Dialogue: 0,0:03:31.04,0:03:35.01,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,scenario is more likely to hold. We know\Nthat in the early years of slave Dialogue: 0,0:03:35.19,0:03:39.65,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,redemption there was a noticeable increase\Nin the price of slaves and that could be Dialogue: 0,0:03:39.83,0:03:45.41,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,evidenced of a fairly inelastic supply\Ncurve. However, over time the price of Dialogue: 0,0:03:45.59,0:03:50.95,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,slaves has fallen and that could indicate\Ngreater elasticity of supply in the longer Dialogue: 0,0:03:51.13,0:03:56.14,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,run. That makes sense but the suppliers\Nare usually more responsive to an increase Dialogue: 0,0:03:56.32,0:04:01.00,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in price as they have more time to adjust.\NFor instance, they can hire more people Dialogue: 0,0:04:01.18,0:04:06.03,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and expand their operations.\NSo this evidence overall suggests that Dialogue: 0,0:04:06.21,0:04:10.84,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,perhaps the program has become less\Neffective over time and perhaps today it Dialogue: 0,0:04:11.02,0:04:15.84,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,may actually be counterproductive and be\Nincreasing the burden of slavery. In other Dialogue: 0,0:04:16.02,0:04:21.32,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,words, good intentions aren't always\Nenough. If someone comes along and puts an Dialogue: 0,0:04:21.50,0:04:25.55,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,apparently good idea on the table, we\Nstill need to think through it's Dialogue: 0,0:04:25.73,0:04:27.67,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,unintended consequences. Dialogue: 0,0:04:27.85,0:04:33.47,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,- [male] If you want to test yourself,\Nclick Practice questions. Or if you're Dialogue: 0,0:04:33.65,0:04:36.55,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,ready to move on, just click Next Video. Dialogue: 0,0:04:36.55,0:04:38.55,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,♪ [music] ♪