“ There is no free breakfast” ( Eng. There ain't no such thing as a free lunch ) - a catch phrase that implies that obtaining any benefit is always associated with costs, even if these costs are not visible at first glance [1] . The original also There's no such thing as a free lunch or in the form of acronyms TNSTAAFL , TANSTAAFL or TINSTAAFL . In translations into Russian also “there are no gratuitous breakfasts”, “a gourmet snacks do not exist”, “there are no free lunches”.
A close Russian proverb, though having an additional connotation of meaning - “free cheese only happens in a mousetrap”. She emphasizes that any action advertised as providing someone with any good is free of charge, in fact, necessarily has negative side effects for the recipient of the desired good or for other entities, and usually somehow brings benefits to the organizer [2] [3] .
Content
Origin
In the 19th century, in the western United States, many bars offered visitors a free snack for a dollar or more if the visitor bought a drink at 15 cents . Rudyard Kipling wrote in 1891 [4] :
It turned out that I ended up in an institution called “Free lunch” (you pay only for alcohol and you get plenty of food). Even if you go bankrupt, a little less than a rupee in San Francisco can be perfectly saturated for a whole day. Remember this - suddenly get aground in these parts.
Original textIt was the institution of the 'free lunch' I had struck. You paid for a drink and got as much as you wanted to eat. For something less than a rupee a day a man can feed himself sumptuously in San Francisco, even though he be a bankrupt. Remember this if ever you are stranded in these parts.
The calculation was that the visitor would not be limited to one portion of the drink [5] [6] .
The expression itself was used by the American publicist in the book The Sophisticated Investor, 1959 [7] . There are several earlier examples of the use of the phrase by other authors since 1949 [5] .
The acronym TANSTAAFL was popularized in 1966 in Robert Heinlein ’s science fiction novel “The Moon is a Harsh Mistress ” [1] [5] . In the Russian translation of the novel, it was called “Darzaneba” [6] (in another translation - LDNB, “lunch does not happen for nothing”):
DARZANEBES. This means - "there is no free snack." It really doesn’t happen, ”I pointed to the poster“ Gourmet Appetizer ”hanging on the opposite wall,“ otherwise this drink would cost half as much. ” (...) One way or another, but you have to pay for everything you get.
The expression became especially popular after the publication in 1975 of the book of the same name by the American economist, Nobel Prize winner Milton Friedman [1] [7] [8] .
Economic meaning
The meaning of the expression is that “free” goods do not exist; everything “free” is paid in one way or another - either, in a hidden form, by the recipient himself, or by someone else [7] [8] .
The same applies to a particular economic policy. For example, the introduction of customs tariffs benefits some national producers (since it allows them to raise domestic prices for their goods and, consequently, increases their profits), but it harms consumers (who as a result are forced to buy goods at inflated prices) and the economy as a whole (as artificial maintaining profitability reduces incentives to increase production efficiency to reduce production costs) [2] . In a world where resources are limited, everything has a price [9] .
Professor Abbas Grammy of the University of California states that in economics this argument was made in the post-war years in response to a proposal by US Vice President Henry Wallace to provide free minimum consumption for all people in the world. Journalist Paul Mallon replied that Wallace is ignoring the fact: “such a thing as a“ free “breakfast never existed,” and anyone should pay for it anyway. As a modern example, the Grammy considers “free” school education and food in the USA, which costs taxpayers $ 494 and $ 12 billion a year, respectively [8] .
However, the government tends to spend taxpayers' money on creating “free benefits." In this case, the argument is used that such expenses lead to an increase in overall well-being due to the multiplier effect: it is assumed that this stimulates the economy by an amount significantly greater than was originally spent. However, one of the most influential modern economists Robert Barro of Harvard University challenged the concept of the animator. According to his research, no additional incentives are created, the money spent by the government in any industry is previously pumped out of other sectors of the economy and oppressed [8] .
Professor Gregory Mankyu of Harvard University uses TANSTAAFL to illustrate the concept of opportunity cost : in order to get a thing that we like, we usually have to give up another thing that we also like [8] . Similarly, the economic meaning of TANSTAAFL is described by Stanford University researcher David Henderson [10] . The author of one of the most popular economic textbooks [11] Campbell McConell believes that this idea underlies all economic thinking: there are no free breakfasts, someone will still have to pay for it [12] .
Notes
- ↑ 1 2 3 Chrysti M. Smith. Verbivore's Feast: Second Course: More Word & Phrase Origins. - Farcountry Press, 2006 .-- P. 245. - 352 p. - ISBN 9781560374022 .
- ↑ 1 2 Free breakfast / Free cheese // Economics. Explanatory Dictionary / J. Black. General Edition: Doctor of Economics Precipitating. - M .: "INFRA-M", Publishing House "All World"., 2000.
- ↑ School Dictionary of Living Russian Proverbs
- ↑ Rudyard Kipling . American Notes Archived September 11, 2013 on Wayback Machine
- ↑ 1 2 3 William Safire. ON LANGUAGE; Words Out in the Cold // New York Times. - February 14, 1993.
- ↑ 1 2 Dushenko K. There are no free breakfasts // Read together. - 2008. - No. 11 .
- ↑ 1 2 3 Vadim Serov. Free breakfast does not happen // Encyclopedic Dictionary of winged words and expressions . - M .: Lokid-Press, 2003.
- ↑ 1 2 3 4 5 Abbas P. Grammy. There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch . California State University, Bakersfield . Date of treatment June 23, 2013. Archived June 28, 2013.
- ↑ Bryan Caplan. TANSTAAFL (There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch) - A Libertarian Perspective on Environmental Policy . Amazon.com (September 15, 2011). - Book Description. Date of treatment June 23, 2013. Archived June 28, 2013.
- ↑ TANSTAAFL, There Ain't No Such Thing as a Free Lunch
- ↑ Economics . Ozone Date of treatment July 3, 2014.
- ↑ McConnell, Campbell R. Economics: principles, problems, and policies. - New York: McGraw-Hill Irwin, 2009 .-- P. 4. - ISBN 978-0-07-337569-4 .
Literature
- Vadim Serov. Free breakfast does not happen // Encyclopedic Dictionary of winged words and expressions . - M .: Lokid-Press, 2003.
- Edwin G. Dolan. TANSTAAFL (There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch) - A Libertarian Perspective on Environmental Policy. - Searching Finance Ltd, 2011. - 240 p. - ISBN 978-1907720260 .
See also
- Who does not work shall not eat
Links
- Milton Friedman - The Free Lunch Myth on YouTube