404

Luckily, an FT Labs project explored this very situation, asking some leading economists ...

Why wasn't this page found?

Stagflation

The cost of pages rose drastically, while the page production rate slowed down.

General economics

There was no market for it.

Liquidity traps

We injected some extra money into the technology team but there was little or no interest so they simply kept it, thus failing to stimulate the page economy.

Pareto inefficiency

There exists another page that will make everyone better off without making anyone worse off.

Supply and demand

Demand increased and a shortage occurred.

Classical economics

There is no such page. We are not going to interfere.

Keynesian economics

Aggregate demand for this page did not necessarily equal the productive capacity of the website.

Malthusianism

Unchecked, exponential page growth outstripped the pixel supply. There was a catastrophe, and now the population is at a lower, more sustainable level.

Neo-Malthusianism

To avoid unchecked, exponential page growth outstripping the pixel supply and leading to an inevitable catastrophe, we prevented this page from being conceived.

Marxism

The failure of this page to load is a consequence of the inherent contradictions in the capitalist mode of production.

Laissez Faire Capitalism

We know this page is needed, but we can't force anyone to make it.

Monetarism

The government has limited the number of pages in circulation.

Efficient Markets Hypothesis

If you had paid enough for the page, it would have appeared.

Moral Hazard

Showing you this page would only encourage you to want more pages.

Tragedy of the Commons

Too many people tried to view this page.

Game theory

By not viewing this page you help everyone else get better pages.

Mercantilism

The page is hosted by a foreign web server and is therefore banned to ensure the supremacy of our own software.

Trickle-down

High taxes on content publishers prevented them hiring the person who would have written this page.

Speculative bubble

The page never actually existed and was fundamentally impossible, but everyone bought into it in a frenzy and it's all now ending in tears.

Socialism

If you were to get the page you wanted you might get a better page than someone else, which would be unfair. This way at least everyone gets the same.

Behavioural economics

The influence of psychological factors caused you to act in a manner that would not be expected of a purely rational actor.

Theory of the second best

The best outcome was unachievable, so you have arrived here instead.