Wednesday, November 22, 2006  Santa Claus Entrepreneurship
Santa Claus seems to be very popular in Germany. Not only is he
popular he is also in high demand, enough for a Santa to make 55
Euros for 20 minutes of improvisation with kids on Christmas
Eve. Why the short supply? I am guessing that is what keeps the
wages so high. Even accounting for high opportunity costs of
spending time away from family and loved ones for 6 hours on
Christmas Eve these wages seem high to me. Other jobs (store
counter, waiting tables or at parties) apparently pay less than
half of the above mentioned per hour. Is it any specific skills?
Well, women can't apply, so can't alcoholics. The Santas
currently employed seem to be University students, and they need
to be willing to work with kids and big groups, that would
disqualify a few more people. They also need to be willing to
spend time away from their family Christmas Eve which would
clear out a few more people from applying. Alexander's
explanation is that the families that re