Scrivener.net

Wednesday, February 02, 2005


Now we get some idea of why Canada has a stripper shortage.

Canada's special visa program for foreign born exotic dancers, some political complications that ensued, and laments in the land of the north along the lines of "What's lacking in our national character that we cannot turn out enough people who can figure out how to take off their clothes?", were noted here previously.

We speculated then that this might simply be a normal case of comparative advantage in international trade: Canada exports Molson, imports strippers, and everyone is the better for it.

But new evidence may indicate sub-optimal incentives in play...

A stripper mauled by a tiger in an Ontario safari park has won $800,000 in damages because her scars meant she could no longer work, Canadian media said on Friday. Jennifer-Anne Cowles was driving through the park nearly nine years ago with her then boyfriend when a tiger jumped into their car and tried to drag them away...

[The court] awarded Cowles some $800,000 in damages, almost half of it to compensate for income she would have made as a stripper.

Her musician boyfriend, David Balac, won $1.7 million, because his injuries left him unable to work as an accordion player. [Reuters]

$400k versus $1.7 million...

Canadians value accordian players more than four times as much as strippers.

I'd say that's a market failure.