Imagination and Economics

Dr. Sally Livingston, professor of literature at Ohio Wesleyan University, studies how the imagination can become economic or how economics is imaginative.

Livingston reveals, "The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines economics as, "The production, distribution and consumption of goods and services. Among many meanings, imagination is defined as, "creative ability, ability to confront and deal with a problem." Combining the two words creates a dynamic that reveals economics discovers meaning through the problem-solving nature of imagination. 

Livingston includes the turnip's tale, Repularius, in her book, Subversive Narratives: Fairy tales, Fables and Frame Stories. Written in the 1200s, the tale tells of two brothers. The elder has inherited family land as a result of a new practice where the oldest receives the family riches.

Forced into a peasant class, the younger brother works as a farmer. He grows a huge turnip and asks his wife what to do with such a wonder. She advises to give to the king. The king is pleased and gives the poor brother riches.

When the young man returns to the village, his brother is furious because his brother is now richer. The elder brother thinks that if a lowly turnip could generate such wealth, his own worth will become multiplied. This brother has already begun to think in the new economic paradigm in which wealth multiplies wealth. He decides to give his riches to the King as an investment strategy.

When the king asks his wife what to give as a return gift, she says, the turnip.

The fairy tale focuses on how medieval society used literature to work out the dangers of the new economy with its greed. It reflects anxieties of the time and helps us understand how human beings reacted to the economic changes.

The fable has evolved through time.

In the 19th century, the Brothers Grimm rewrote the tale to create a sense of German national identity. The poor brother becomes a farmer not as a last resort, but so that he might prosper.

Even today the turnip's tale exists in various forms in several counties. In one story, the turnip is pulled from the ground where everyone from the father to the field mouse helps. It is later eaten in a community meal.

Livingston feels,"fairy tales do absorb a society's concerns where they are re-created."  She leaves it open for us to wonder how a contemporary version reflects our own economic imagination.

Examples of the turnip tale:

http://russian-crafts.com/tales/turnip.html

http://jimandnancyforest.com/2005/01/the-tale-of-the-turnip/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJdRZBzLzxE