EconGoneCountry

Supply and demand with a twang

Title: Scarecrow in the Garden

​Artist: Chris Stapleton

Economic Concepts: Environment; Climate change; Economic Growth and Development; Immigration; Production Possibilities Frontier (PPF); Resources  

Details: The poem on the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty reads, "...Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breath free…"  The story of America is that of industrious people, with little material wealth, coming to build a better life in the Land of the Free.  This can be a great way to discuss resources and the Production Possibilities Frontier (PPF), and what happens to the PPF when there is an increase in labor.  The United States is home to vast amounts of productive agricultural land, and the federal government was able to put this resource to good use with the Homestead Act (https://www.nps.gov/home/learn/historyculture/abouthomesteadactlaw.htm).  Homesteaders were granted up to 160 acres of land but had to live on the property and make improvements to it, such as building a home.  The first claim under the Homestead Act occurred on January 1, 1863 near Beatrice, Nebraska.  In the song, the immigrant from Northern Ireland came "searching for the free man's ground and he came to bet his fortune on a West Virginia plow.  He built a house of timber…"

Another interesting aspect of the song deals with Environmental Economics and climate change.  Many farmers, both domestically and abroad, are having to deal with the effects of climate change on their operations.  For some, this might be extreme heat and drought, while for others it might be excessive precipitation and subsequent flooding.  The family farm in West Virginia is passed down, generation to generation, and is mainly successful.  "And the fields were green as dollars 'cause the dirt was black as night".  However, in more recent times, the family has struggled on the farm because
"the fields ain't what they once were, the rains just seem to flood".  

​ 

Lyrics: 
Well, he came from Northern Ireland
Searching for the free man's ground
And he came to bet his fortune
On a West Virginia plow
He built a house of timber
And raised a redhead son
Then they worked the land together
And prayed the rain would come

There's a scarecrow in the garden
That looks like Lucifer
And I've been reading Revelations
With my bare feet in the river

Well, the redhead son got older
And took a brown-eyed wife
And the fields were green as dollars
'Cause the dirt was black as night
I came in late September
The youngest one of three
And my sisters off and married
So the land was left to me

There's a scarecrow in the garden
That looks like Lucifer
And I've been reading Revelations
With my bare feet in the river

I know every single fence-post
Every rock that goes around
I've been staring at the red oak
Where I know they'll lay me down

The fields ain't what they once were
The rains just seem to flood
And I've been thinking about that river
Wondering how it turns to blood

I've been sitting here all morning
I was sitting here all night
There's a bible in my left hand
And a pistol in my right    ​​​​