Candy and capitalism

On bad jokes, free candy, and the faint shadows of an economics lesson that children can learn from trick-or-treating

Whether it takes place on Halloween proper, on the Saturday before Halloween, or on Beggars' Night, the annual practice of children's trick-or-treating is one of our best secular rituals. Neighbors share treats with young people and children get to spread a little joy. It's all quite wholesome and a good reminder just before Election Day that we all have to live within our communities no matter who wins office.

■ Even though the ritual looks a little like a sugar-welfare program (except in special places like Des Moines, where children are expected to earn their candy with bad joke-telling), it can actually be a wonderful lesson in capitalism.

■ On the first round of trick-or-treating, kids don't have a lot of say in what they get: It's simply whatever the neighbors choose to give away. But the economics lesson comes when the bags and buckets are overturned and kids start to compare what they hauled home. Then the great bartering period begins, as one child trades whatever they can in exchange for more chocolate, while another trades to maximize fruity candies. One might be willing to give away their Almond Joy bars, while another might treat Reese's Peanut Butter Cups like gold.

■ Subtly, the Halloween candy exchange teaches kids that different people place different values on the same things. Not only that, they learn that trading with others (when there's no coercion involved) leaves everyone better off than when they started. They might even pick up the clues that things work even more smoothly when people start to put prices on things they want -- three miniature Snickers bars for one bag of Skittles, perhaps?

■ Nobody has to be hit over the head with a lesson in market economics while they're enjoying a momentary sugar rush. But the exchanges often linger for a few days after the treats have been collected, as kids go to school and soccer practice and Cub Scout meetings where they continue to trade loot with one another. And it can't hurt for parents to gently help their little ghosts and goblins recognize the virtue in a little bit of free trade, even if it's only spilled across the kitchen table.