How To Doomsday Prep Like An Economist.

    The New York times had a story recently about growing popularity of preppers, or the “swelling class of weekend paranoiacs of affluent means who are starting to mull fantasies of urban escape following the endless headlines about disasters”, as they put it. Let me be clear up front: I’m not a prepper. I don’t think social and economic collapse is imminent. But for the preppers and would-be preppers out there I thought it might be useful to consider how an economist would doomsday prep.

    Let’s get right to the gold. People really like to imagine that owning gold, silver, and other precious metals is a hedge against an economic and social calamity. For some reason, goldbuggery and doomsday prepping are two flavors that go great together. The argument is that precious metals have been used for currency in earlier societies, and so when paper currencies become worthless as governments crumble, we’ll revert back to using precious metals. That's the argument, but part of the appeal is surely that it’s just fun to own gold and precious metals. It makes you feel like an explorer, pirate, king, or some other literary figure. Here’s the thing though: consider the income effects.

CLICK HERE to read entire article