Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Stefan Bartl
“From De Beers’s 1940s slogan ‘A Diamond Is Forever,’ to ‘Every Kiss Begins with Kay’ and ‘He Went to Jared,’ the diamond industry had already done its most important work before anyone chose a ring. It had written the rules of romance: what love looked like, what it cost, and what it said about someone who spent less. Those rules were not ancient traditions. The industry manufactured not diamonds, but desire. Even in popular culture, Rihanna gave us the song ‘Diamonds.’ The more interesting economic story, however, is not the diamonds in the sky, but the diamonds in the lab. Desire has not gone anywhere. For the first time, it has a better offer.” (07/21/26)