Tyler Cowen has urged all bloggers to give Mozart his props this week. Here goes:

Dear Wolfgang:

I am very sorry I didn’t get the chance to meet you. But you’ll be happy to know that I have probably heard more of your music than any of your contemporaries. In fact, I have probably heard more of your music than you have! It’s all thanks to the magic of recorded music, one of the many fruits of the economic growth since your tragic early death.

It’s also too bad that you didn’t live long enough to meet a brilliant American economist who also died before his time, Julian Simon. Simon called the creative human mind “the ultimate resource,” and you’re a perfect example. I shudder when I think how much great music would never have been if the world’s population were half of what it’s been. And I grow wistful when I think about how much more great music there would have been if only there had been more people.

Oh, and special thanks for The Magic Flute!

Sincerely,

Bryan