Good drama = good economics

Drama is truly compelling when it exposes the raw, painful trade-offs its characters face

When the term economics is used in relation to drama, what springs to mind is the financing and the box office takings of a film, or the sale of broadcasting rights for television series. There are also a few movies in which economics itself features, like Margin Call or The Big Short, with a cameo appearance of Richard Thaler, the behavioural economist and 2017 Nobel laureate.

But last week I realized there is much more to it. I was watching the Saturday night slot on BBC Four, a special treat for a European expat in the UK, with super shows like The Bridge, Inspector Montalbano and I know who you are. (It even broadcast a Belgian crime series, Salamander, some time back.) The current series is a French crime drama, Spiral (Engrenages in French), and watching the trials and tribulations of the characters, it suddenly hit me.

Economics is essentially about making choices, not just for central bankers setting base rates, or chief executives approving an investment proposal. If we could have our cake and eat it, if resources like time and money were plentiful and inexhaustible, if having one thing did not necessarily imply not having another, there would be no such thing as economics. But we need to…