Economics in the Milagro Beanfield War
New Mexico is a great place to play some golf; also a good place to grow beans. The “Milagro Beanfield War” is about a group of New Mexicans trying to save their homes from being bought by Devine Development Corporation who wants to turn it into a resort. Joe Mondragon is the only person in Milagro who doesn’t sell his land to Devine because of his dead fathers dried up beanfield. Joe gets mad at the fact that everybody in Milagro sells their land to Devine Corporation offering good jobs when the resort is up, Joe diverts water from Devines’ land and begins growing beans; thus begins the “Beanfield War.”
Market Economic system was used the most in this film, meaning the individuals own the factors of production and set their own prices while the government does not get in the way. In the film Joe, a young entrepreneur who started to grow beans, showed this. In the end of the movie the beans were all his and he had a choice of what to do with them. The capital for Devine was much greater than Joe’s beanfield. This meant Joe had more to pay; involvement, with the government; (Command economy) than Devine Corporation did because Ladd Devine (owner of Devine Corporation) was very good friends with Sammy Canto (mayor of Milagro) making the government very angry with Joe and tries to find something stupid to arrest him for it. Since the Devine Corporation had more things to offer than Joe’s beanfield, like more people visiting when the resort went up then the economic system in Milagro would increase also. The government was very excited that Devine was there and wanted no mistakes. Traditional economic system was shown very little in this film other than religious bits here and there and Joe’s beanfield that was passed down to him from his father. Read more…
