Issue 8, Fall 1994

William A. McEachern, Editor

The Evidence File

• The average retail price of breakfast cereals has climbed about 70% over the last decade, nearly twice the average increase for all prices. Cereal prices have increased the least where generic products are close substitutes for brand names, such as with corn flakes. Thus, the closer the substitutes, the greater the price elasticity of demand.

• The last issue of The Teaching Economist provided lecture fees for some leading economists. Here are lecture fees for other notables. According to a special issue of Forbes called FYI, the following charge $25,000 per lecture:
  
  
  
  • Barbara Walters
  • Jimmy Carter
  • Bobby Knight
  • Alan Dershowitz
  • "Adam Smith"
  • Louis Rukeyeser (who insists on speaking for two hours)
  
  According to The New Yorker (9/12/94, p.41), Sam Donaldson charges $30,000 per lecture, and Cokie Roberts and William Safire each charge $20,000. The three network news anchors say they don't charge or they donate their fees to charity. Others who do not accept speaking fees include Ted Koppel, Jim Lehrer, Bob Schieffer, and C-SPAN's Brian Lamb.

• According to Forbes (9/26/94), the top-earning entertainers this year are
  
  
  • Steven Spielberg: $165M
  • Pink Floyd: $56M
  • Oprah Winfrey $53M
  • Barbra Streisand ($52M)
  • The Eagles ($52M)
  • Rolling Stones ($50M)

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