The Mystery of the Bobbleheads:
Can someone explain to me why people seem to be willing to pay several hundred dollars a piece for plastic dolls given away for free by a magazine? I am referring, of course, to the Supreme Court bobblehead dolls distrubuted by The Green Bag. I'm a subscriber to and a big fan of The Green Bag, and I can see why a lawyer might want to pay $20 or even $30 for a bobblehead doll of a famous judge. It's an amusing conversation piece, and that's worth twenty bucks. But why are people paying over $300 for these dolls? What am I missing?
You ask. I answer.
"Of course the justices do realize there is no inherent right of privacy in the Constitution?"
(9 Bobbleheads nodding yes)
"I thought so."
theDA
I always assumed that Orin Kerr--much like the rest of the Conspirators--is a libertarian. Libertarians should not be asking questions of this sort--they know the answers to them in advance or they know that there is no reason for them to know the answer (in other words, the answer is unimportant). Does that make Kerr a wavering libertarian?
existing markets for sports collectibles, and expectation of scarcity. Look how much those rare Thurgood Marshall bobbleheads are worth.
The answer to the question is, because they can.
"Why does a free-market guy ask questions in puzzlement over the direction a free market is taking?"
Buck, I assume you feel the same way about David Bernstein's many posts about 'irrational' housing prices in Arlington, Virginia?
A price is dictated, as best as poor little uneducated-in-economics me can understand, by SUPPLY and DEMAND.
These are not "just" bobbleheads, which aren't the cheapest toys on Earth but don't cost $200 to make or buy usually. These are limited edition, highly detailed, extremely specifically individual bobbleheads of supreme court justices, put out by a reputable manufacturer. There's only a few of them; they're hard to get. The supply is limited, although knockoffs are possible, but my guess it that a knockoff would be easily identified (the number is small, they're not fungible, a small detail wrong makes it instantly obvious, the typical purchasers are familiar with counterfeiting and unlikely to engage in it).
In a scarcity situation, with lots of "friendly interest" from people including both poverty-stricken professors and high-powered appellate litigators- think Judge Roberts has one yet?- the price is quite likely to skyrocket, especially on EBay where speculators will see a trend (increasing sales, fanned on by Howard's incessant fixation on them) and jump on said bandwagon.
It would be irrational in a scarcity situation, with a hot collectible commodity (not a beverage or an otherwise quickly-used-and-replaced product, mind you, but a Toy, a Shelf Item for display among one of the most intensely status-oriented professions anywhere), for the price NOT to head north.
People asked me why I was spending time and energy collecting mine (I'm a new subscriber to the Bag). Answer: It's cute, it's mine, I've got it coming to me, and it'll shortly be worth upwards of $200.
I think you're missing the question. I'm not asking a metaphysical question of what value Bobblehead dolls have in the abstract. Rather, I am asking why a decent number of people would rather have a bobblehead doll than $300. Commenters have mentioned several reasons: the people who are buying the dolls have tons of money, the dolls are a limited edition and demand is high, etc. All plausible possibilities.
The two-prong answer is: scarcity and novelty. To law nerds like me, the bobbleheads are just plain cool. Some people get their jollies collecting Hummel figurines, some people blow a few hundred bucks on throwback jerseys, and some people like law-related nicknacks. As for the price, it's no more irrational than the price people pay for baseball cards or figurines like Beanie Babies (or Snow Babies or whatever baby is today's hot collectible); it's simple as supply and demand.
"I am asking why a decent number of people would rather have a bobblehead doll than $300."
Let me put it like this:
"There is no accounting for some peoples' tastes."
It's an old saw, but it's true. There are some things like this that nobody will ever know.
Thank you.
I say buy'em and store'em. I and, for god's sake, resist the urge to actually bobble them. No one want's to see Justice Scalia lose his head...
And even though I have no desire to sell my Raffy bobble, I wonder if his value will go up or down with the outcome of this case.