Participation Inflation

Source: The Wall Street Journal

The article treats this as a cultural curiosity. That’s true but it’s an economic signal, too.

When something that used to be free quietly becomes costly, inflation has already arrived — just not yet in the CPI.

When Participation Gets Expensive

The dance barrier isn’t legal or financial. It’s more social. People are afraid they’ll look goofy. Here’s the WSJ piece:

Although New Year’s Eve is typically a time of uninhibited revelry, more young partyers are wary of getting down. “There’s a feeling that, if you do something stupid, there’s a chance that you’re going to become a big joke or the next meme,” said Marcos Sandoval-Ramirez, a 21-year-old living in Santa Ana, Calif.

“Spend a little time on social media, and you will see a video of some guy doing something stupid,” he added. “You laugh, but there’s always that small part of your subconscious that goes, ‘you know that could be me, right?’”

This is the paradox of dancing in the age of short-form video: Even as slick choreographed routines proliferate on TikTok and Instagram and YouTube, spawning mimics and viral trends, more concertgoers are standing still. 

Prominent artists have started to complain. Kaytranada, a Grammy-winning DJ, has called out stationary crowds. Tyler, the Creator, the rapper who has released four straight No. 1 albums, lamented in July that the threat of constant surveillance was killing dance for his generation.

“I asked some friends why they don’t dance in public and some said because of the fear of being filmed,” he wrote on Instagram. “I thought damn, a natural form of expression and a certain connection they have with music is now a ghost.”

Notice what’s happening. This “good” that was once inexpensive and widely available now has a much higher “price.”

While inflation is too much money chasing too few goods, it shows up first where prices aren’t posted. Or where the price isn’t financial.

Participation is one of those places. Dancing was a zero-price activity. Now it carries new costs:

• reputational risk

• visibility risk

• comparison risk

• opportunity cost

No laws changed. Nothing was banned. The price just went up. In any other context, we would call that inflation.

Economists watch price signals — but they focus on the ones denominated in dollars. Social behaviors provide earlier warnings because they respond faster to rising friction.

When people stop:

• dancing

• lingering

• participating casually

• moving their bodies freely

… it means the system has become high-cost for low-return behavior.

That’s exactly what inflation does. Inflation doesn’t only raise prices. It raises thresholds.

Why This Matters for the Inflation Outlook

This is where the social signal connects to macro outcomes. When participation becomes expensive:

• people substitute toward monetized experiences

• free sources vanish

• demand flows toward paid channels

That substitution process is inflationary.

An economy that makes ordinary behavior costly pushes people toward consumption that shows up in GDP — and in price indices.

This isn’t cultural decline. It’s demand reallocation under rising friction.

The Indicator Hiding in Plain Sight

When people stop dancing, it isn’t because music disappeared. It’s because the price of participation exceeded its return.

That same logic applies across the economy.

Inflation doesn’t start when prices rise. Prices rise when inflation has already spread everywhere else. By the time inflation reaches the grocery store, it’s too late to argue about whether it exists.

Inflation is a monetary phenomenon, but it’s not only a monetary phenomenon. It’s also a friction phenomenon.

When everyday acts require justification, confidence, optimization, or protection, the system is already inflating — socially first, financially second.

The Wall Street Journal noticed the higher “price” of dancing. Investors should notice what it implies.

See you at the top,