The Economics of Diversity

Freakonomics points the way to an interesting post on the economics of acting, particularly the day players (having one or two scenes in a TV episode sort of thing). Because it's harder and more costly to get actors with more unique qualities, the tendency is to go with more generic characters, which makes it harder for unique actors to get jobs, which drives them out of the business, which makes it more costly to get such actors. It's your classic vicious circle.