That’s the column this week. No ad hoc economic theory, no deep insight into the profession. No silly sports talk. Just a recommendation to watch a beautiful looking and sounding movie. Allow yourself to get invested in the world they are building. Reward their willingness to be sufficiently faithful to a masterpiece while also having the maturity to know that much of the intrigue, as designed in the book, wouldn’t translate to the screen.
They’re building a world where a single commodity is so valuable, and it’s supply so inelastic, that it serves as the fulcrum for an entire galaxy. Worries about peak oil feel like fretting about a possible shortage of student selfies when compared to the economics of spice. The political economy is coming, don’t you worry. For the moment though, just take in a cool movie.
Go watch Dune.
Economist Writing Every Day 
The mother-son connection helped give viewers an emotional connection for the entire show (since the mother does not die, hope that’s not a spoiler). By contrast, I tried to watch Foundation and did not get very far. The prodigy young hero in Foundation is similar to Paul in some ways, but she is immediately ripped away from her parents. In Foundation, it’s seems like they are counting on you caring about human civilization for it’s own sake instead of relying on a single relationship to care about. I admit that as a casual viewer, it can be hard to care enough about civilization!
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Extremely well put. I agree completely.
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