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"The phenomenon was described by William J. Baumol and William G. Bowen in the 1960s."

I imagine streaming services were not a thing back then.

Also you make fair points in your comments but you confuse the example for the argument. Replace 'String Quartet' by 'waiter' or 'child minder' if you prefer.

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I think the issue is that you measure productivity as in quantitative physical output instead of in value as driven by supply and demand. Absolute value increases due to inflation even though the supply/demand ratio is the same.

> Absolute value increases due to inflation

For a meaningless definition of absolute, where it coïncides with “nominal,” yes.

Well, there was a fairly huge streaming service called FM Radio that had a huge audience at the time.

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