Home >> United States & Canada >> Media & Internet  Email  Print The Economics of Michael Jackson Prof. Peter Morici - 7/27/2009 The electronic mass media has created two interconnected phenomenon that give us personalities like Michael Jackson.
First, stars can make money in amounts that 1930s and 1940s entertainers could never have imagined. They not only live richly but can become wildly rich and leave estates akin to those of great financiers. With digital recording their intellectual property will support generations of heirs.
Also, the public sees so much of stars they can't hold broad public attention long without become odd, unusual or controversial. The Michael Jackson that we knew these last 20 years was a very different from the Michael in the Jackson Five. He manufactured an artificial personality—almost an avatar. Sadly, in many ways, that destroyed his life.
The economics of the media and the saturation of celebrity images require personalities like Michael Jacksons to emerge if they are to enjoy enduring success.
What made us uneasy about him—his wealth and peculiar life—is what the market requires for entertainers to be successful.
Peter Morici is a professor at the Smith School of Business, University of
Maryland School, and former Chief Economist at the U.S. International Trade
Commission.
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