4 ms·

Need a City quant PhD to invent a mathematical analog of Black-Scholes [1] for pricing and trading the irreplaceable value of culturally significant physical sp

Need a City quant PhD to invent a mathematical analog of Black-Scholes [1] for pricing and trading the irreplaceable value of culturally significant physical spaces to future generations. Then City-like [2] institutions can compete financially for ongoing preservation rights, rather than a one-time chop shop auction. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black%E2%80%93Scholes_model https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black%E2%80%93Scholes_model [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_of_London https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_of_London

sdwr 2y ago
"Preserving the irreplaceable value of ..." works great as a personal motivation or a mission statement, but terribly as an explicit rule. It's the same problem as carbon offsets - if there's a formula for converting intangible values into cold hard cash, people will exploit the definition of the intangibles to make money.
- roughly 2y ago
  This is largely because we’ve built a philosophy that eschews any concept of a collective or a people or a culture or a future.
  - lobsterthief 2y ago
    Not every country is like this
    - yyuugg 2y ago
      [dead]
  - contravariant 2y ago
    People keep forgetting that money is just a set of rules we've created for ourselves and not a goal on its own.
- walterbell 2y ago
  Which legal and financial instruments have defended the City of London itself from being auctioned for parts? Subsets of culture are preserved, packetized & traded daily. Even StubHub has a "food festival" category.
  - metaphor 2y ago
    Before learning that this[1] was a thing, I honestly would have interpreted your remark in passing as figurative rhetoric. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_Bridge_(Lake_Havasu_City) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_Bridge_(Lake_Havasu_Cit...
  - mr_toad 2y ago
    > Which legal and financial instruments have defended the City of London itself from being auctioned for parts? Currently, the Magna Carta. Clause 9, dating from 1297: THE City of London shall have all the old Liberties and Customs which it hath been used to have. Moreover We will and grant, that all other Cities, Boroughs, Towns, and the Barons of the Five Ports, and all other Ports, shall have all their Liberties and free Customs. This clause has never been repealed. But there were other forms of royal charter at least as far back as the Norman conquest, and probably before.
cactusfrog 2y ago
This is a gamblers ruin problem action.
tempusalaria 2y ago
The reality is that these are not culturally significant institutions and most people in London don’t care. Ordinary Londoners rarely use these markets, and they mostly sell to restaurants, and require major financial support. Not everything from the past is good. We don’t still run coal power plants in London just to get that historic smog. They were already planning to move both markets way out of central London (to a place no-one but a local would ever go) this is just changing it to not providing a new site.
- throw0101a 2y ago
  > The reality is that these are not culturally significant institutions and most people in London don’t care. Ordinary Londoners rarely use these markets, and they mostly sell to restaurants […] Just because most Londoners don't care doesn't make them unimportant. They can provide a useful 'infrastructure' role for allowing this specific sector to run more smoothly. There's a similar thing in Toronto, the Ontario Food Terminal, that allows various local businesses (restaurants, local grocers / veg stands, (neighbourhood) florists, etc) buy directly from producers without having to go through a middle-man: * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ontario_Food_Terminal https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ontario_Food_Terminal There was some worry that the facility would be retired and the land (e.g.) used for housing, but there are no plans to get rid of or relocate it: * https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/ontario-food-terminal-stay-hardeman-ford-1.5203623 https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/ontario-food-terminal... * https://farmtario.com/news/ontario-food-terminal-distributes-local-produce-on-a-national-scale/ https://farmtario.com/news/ontario-food-terminal-distributes... Given that Toronto is the largest city in Canada, it allows for a somewhat convenient location for producers to sell to a large amount of buyers in a concentrated space. > […] and require major financial support. Running a modern society requires major financial support. The question is: what are the benefits to society of the infrastructure in question? Are the vendors not charged rent? Are the buyers perhaps not charged a membership fee? At least when it comes to OpEx do annual fees not cover expenses? The above mentioned Ontario Food Terminal is self-sufficient from fees (perhaps the government helps out every so often with CapEx?).
  - walterbell 2y ago

sdwr 2y ago

"Preserving the irreplaceable value of ..." works great as a personal motivation or a mission statement, but terribly as an explicit rule. It's the same problem as carbon offsets - if there's a formula for converting intangible values into cold hard cash, people will exploit the definition of the intangibles to make money.

roughly 2y ago
This is largely because we’ve built a philosophy that eschews any concept of a collective or a people or a culture or a future.
- lobsterthief 2y ago
  Not every country is like this
  - yyuugg 2y ago
    [dead]
- contravariant 2y ago
  People keep forgetting that money is just a set of rules we've created for ourselves and not a goal on its own.
walterbell 2y ago
Which legal and financial instruments have defended the City of London itself from being auctioned for parts? Subsets of culture are preserved, packetized & traded daily. Even StubHub has a "food festival" category.
- metaphor 2y ago
  Before learning that this[1] was a thing, I honestly would have interpreted your remark in passing as figurative rhetoric. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_Bridge_(Lake_Havasu_City) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_Bridge_(Lake_Havasu_Cit...
- mr_toad 2y ago
  > Which legal and financial instruments have defended the City of London itself from being auctioned for parts? Currently, the Magna Carta. Clause 9, dating from 1297: THE City of London shall have all the old Liberties and Customs which it hath been used to have. Moreover We will and grant, that all other Cities, Boroughs, Towns, and the Barons of the Five Ports, and all other Ports, shall have all their Liberties and free Customs. This clause has never been repealed. But there were other forms of royal charter at least as far back as the Norman conquest, and probably before.

cactusfrog 2y ago

This is a gamblers ruin problem action.

tempusalaria 2y ago

The reality is that these are not culturally significant institutions and most people in London don’t care. Ordinary Londoners rarely use these markets, and they mostly sell to restaurants, and require major financial support. Not everything from the past is good. We don’t still run coal power plants in London just to get that historic smog. They were already planning to move both markets way out of central London (to a place no-one but a local would ever go) this is just changing it to not providing a new site.

throw0101a 2y ago
> The reality is that these are not culturally significant institutions and most people in London don’t care. Ordinary Londoners rarely use these markets, and they mostly sell to restaurants […] Just because most Londoners don't care doesn't make them unimportant. They can provide a useful 'infrastructure' role for allowing this specific sector to run more smoothly. There's a similar thing in Toronto, the Ontario Food Terminal, that allows various local businesses (restaurants, local grocers / veg stands, (neighbourhood) florists, etc) buy directly from producers without having to go through a middle-man: * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ontario_Food_Terminal https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ontario_Food_Terminal There was some worry that the facility would be retired and the land (e.g.) used for housing, but there are no plans to get rid of or relocate it: * https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/ontario-food-terminal-stay-hardeman-ford-1.5203623 https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/ontario-food-terminal... * https://farmtario.com/news/ontario-food-terminal-distributes-local-produce-on-a-national-scale/ https://farmtario.com/news/ontario-food-terminal-distributes... Given that Toronto is the largest city in Canada, it allows for a somewhat convenient location for producers to sell to a large amount of buyers in a concentrated space. > […] and require major financial support. Running a modern society requires major financial support. The question is: what are the benefits to society of the infrastructure in question? Are the vendors not charged rent? Are the buyers perhaps not charged a membership fee? At least when it comes to OpEx do annual fees not cover expenses? The above mentioned Ontario Food Terminal is self-sufficient from fees (perhaps the government helps out every so often with CapEx?).
- walterbell 2y ago