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You know, this reminds me of one of the few Economist Jokes I know, where the economist hears of a previously-unknown real world phenomenon: "That's interestin
by AlbertCory 4y ago
You know, this reminds me of one of the few Economist Jokes I know, where the economist hears of a previously-unknown real world phenomenon:
"That's interesting. It works in practice, but will it work in theory?"
the other one, since you wondered, is:
Two economists are walking on the sidewalk and spot a $100 bill. One bends down to pick it up, but the other stops him and says, "That can't be a $100 bill. If it were, someone would have picked it up already."
- Vecr 4y agoI'm a $100 bill picker-upper. The efficient market hypothesis is false.
- Vecr 4y agoActually, to be a bit more clear, let's say you are well compensated and a $100 bill is worth 99 USD to pick up excluding outside factors. You would calculate in USD 99 - (expected loss from ambush|picked up + expected loss from arrest|picked up + expected loss from police harassment|picked up + expected loss from mob|picked up + expected loss from lawsuit|picked up + expected loss from stress|picked up + ...). I guess at that point the stress from doing the situational analysis and calculation is sunk, so you should pick up the bill if the previous calculation gives a dollar value above 0. I personally would just quickly put on gloves and check for possible ambush scenarios, and then just pick it up. If you do the full calculation at the time, someone else might get it before you. If you do most of it ahead of time, you can commit to the likely optimal decision. You need to calculate the value of your time and the value of your life in US dollars, taking into account that inflation may not work how you intuitively think it does.
- AlbertCory 4y agoway to ruin a joke.