By Gamal Hennessy
Conventional economic wisdom suggests that people will cut back on non essential purchases when money gets tight. Conventional bar wisdom suggests that people drink just as much, if not more, when times are hard. Does mean that wine and beer are as essential to modern living as a place to live and gasoline or are we just delusional? What do our choices about nightlife and money say about what we consider important?
We know that the housing slump, gas prices and stagflation have tag teamed on the economy. We’ve talked about how these conditions have impacted the dating scene. You know that when you have a limited amount of money, you sometimes have to make hard choices on what to spend money on. You have to choose between paying rent and going on vacation. Under normal conditions, the more essential the item or service to your life, the more likely you’ll keep paying for it instead of something else. You pay rent instead of going on vacation because you don’t want to come back from the beach and be homeless.
Recreational drinking doesn’t seem like an essential purchase at first glance. But Nielsen estimates state that liquor sales are increasing in the midst of the economic downturn. This might be because people turn to liquor in times of stress. It could be that although drinking is an indulgence, we’re not willing to give it up as easily to other extravagances. It might be because it’s not an all or nothing proposition. When people are thinking about the price of gas, their options are buying gas, not buying gas or buying less gas. But people have a wide range of choices to alter what they drink based on their income. Now you might not be drinking Johnnie Walker Blue every night, but you can still buy a Budweiser and not be homeless.
Nightlife is a way to connect, relieve stress and counter balance other areas of life. Some of us might feel we need that release more than we need gym memberships, vacations or Fresh Direct. Drinking and nightlife are part of the reason we are in New York in the first place. Quite a few people I know have cut back on the amount of drinking they do at bars, but these same people were going out several nights a week and their monthly bar tab could have paid for an apartment in the Village. Like other New Yorkers struggling with the economy, their behavior has changed but the integral role that nightlife plays in it has not. In some respects, its more important than ever before.
Source: Associated Press/ MSNBC
Conventional economic wisdom suggests that people will cut back on non essential purchases when money gets tight. Conventional bar wisdom suggests that people drink just as much, if not more, when times are hard. Does mean that wine and beer are as essential to modern living as a place to live and gasoline or are we just delusional? What do our choices about nightlife and money say about what we consider important?
We know that the housing slump, gas prices and stagflation have tag teamed on the economy. We’ve talked about how these conditions have impacted the dating scene. You know that when you have a limited amount of money, you sometimes have to make hard choices on what to spend money on. You have to choose between paying rent and going on vacation. Under normal conditions, the more essential the item or service to your life, the more likely you’ll keep paying for it instead of something else. You pay rent instead of going on vacation because you don’t want to come back from the beach and be homeless.
Recreational drinking doesn’t seem like an essential purchase at first glance. But Nielsen estimates state that liquor sales are increasing in the midst of the economic downturn. This might be because people turn to liquor in times of stress. It could be that although drinking is an indulgence, we’re not willing to give it up as easily to other extravagances. It might be because it’s not an all or nothing proposition. When people are thinking about the price of gas, their options are buying gas, not buying gas or buying less gas. But people have a wide range of choices to alter what they drink based on their income. Now you might not be drinking Johnnie Walker Blue every night, but you can still buy a Budweiser and not be homeless.
Nightlife is a way to connect, relieve stress and counter balance other areas of life. Some of us might feel we need that release more than we need gym memberships, vacations or Fresh Direct. Drinking and nightlife are part of the reason we are in New York in the first place. Quite a few people I know have cut back on the amount of drinking they do at bars, but these same people were going out several nights a week and their monthly bar tab could have paid for an apartment in the Village. Like other New Yorkers struggling with the economy, their behavior has changed but the integral role that nightlife plays in it has not. In some respects, its more important than ever before.
Source: Associated Press/ MSNBC
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