Transcript - Izzit.org

MAN: Not really. Mrs. Shepherd just happens to be partial to carrots…that’s all. It’s another example of
a market giving people information. It tells you what people want, and it tells you what people don’t
want.
WOMAN: Same thing happened with those shawls I used to take to market. People seemed to get tired
of the old favorite designs. Then as soon as I started to take some of our jazzy new designs they went like
hot cakes, even though I was asking twice as much in exchange for them.
MAN: Variety. That’s what people want and that’s what the market gave them: Choice.
WOMAN: And that’s where the trouble began. The more choice people had, the more complicated the
market became.
MAN: Complicated. I’ll say it was complicated! Do you remember the time when we needed a dozen
eggs
WOMAN: Oh, yes, do I not It seemed the simplest thing in the world, didn’t it We’d just made a
lovely new red cloak.
MAN: Nothing seemed simpler than to take it along to Mrs. Farmer’s stall in the market, and swap it for
her eggs.
WOMAN: I know. But Mrs. Farmer didn’t want our nice new cloak that day. “No, thank you very
much,” she said, “I don’t need a new cloak. What I want in exchange for my dozen eggs is something for
our supper, like a nice fat salmon.”
MAN: Well, the Fishers have a nice fat salmon, so we go along to the Fishers with our lovely red cloak.
“Very nice indeed,” says Mr. Fisher, “but what I actually want is butter.”
WOMAN: But of course it’s the Cowherds who have butter, and do they want our red cloak in exchange
for it
MAN: Not on your life. What they need is a beautiful kitchen stool…and who makes stools
WOMAN: Mr. Carpenter.
MAN: Ah.
WOMAN: And does he want our beautiful red cloak in exchange for it
MAN: Of course he doesn’t want our beautiful red…he does He does He really does want our
beautiful red cloak in exchange for his rotten old stool…quick!
WOMAN: So, by swapping our cloak for the stool, the stool for the butter, the butter for the salmon and
the salmon for the eggs, we got what we wanted in the first place.
MAN: What a hassle for just a few eggs! Whoops! Oh, oh…more hassle.
WOMAN: I know. I’m worn out. Sometimes you spend most of the day just finding out who wants
what. It’s such a waste of…
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