I don't watch Lost but apparently I should.
This site claims that there is a wealth of economics portrayed on the series. Not only do the characters have revealing names they also act out major types of economic philosophies.
Like all economies, the Losties must decide as a community what they will produce, who will produce it, and how much will be produced. A number of solutions to this problem exist:
The socialist approach relies upon a single person, a group of persons or an agency to allocate resources among members of a community.
The capitalist approach relies upon self-interested agents interacting through exchange to allocate resources.
The tribal approach suggests that small communities lack the infrastructure to manage a system of exchange and law enforcement, and thus relies on small-scale exchanges and community resources (as demonstrated by Ana Lucia with the Tailies).
If you watch Lost you may want to comment on the accuracy of this site. I am off to the video store so I can catch up on Lost. Just what I needed, another excuse to watch TV.
