60 Second Economist

Okay it’s not really an “art” more of an “economics”; well of course it would be or else it wouldn’t have made it into this blog.

Let’s think about this for a moment; the best gifts are given to you by your significant other (a boyfriend or a girlfriend)- alot of thought goes into these presents. It’s the gift from grandma that tends to be hopeless – and that’s because grandma doesn’t see you very much.

If you buy a present and the present is unwanted, those are real resources that have been wasted – energy, hard work, time and materials.

That’s why the best present from grandma is cash and we economists believe that the best present anyone should  ever give or recieve should be cash.

Most people tend not to give cash because it signals to the recipient the value we put on our relationship with them & this can be very embarrassing. So if you must give a gift instead of money…

Your gifts should be as inexpensive as possible, because the waste from poorly chosen gifts is far smaller if the gift itself is small.

Have a wonderful Christmas!

Christmas day is over and now the boxing day sales start.

Loads of people are rushing to get their hands on that special item at hugley discounted prices. But the 60 Second Economist cannot help but wonder..whats the cost to all this madness.

Queues!

That’s right we pay for all these cheap items by spending hours in queues. So the next question to ask ourselves is what is the optimal strategy for standing in queues to minimise waiting times.

Here are a few suggestions:

• Operate queues like a market- demand, supply and competition. People pay to jump a space in a queue.
• Reverse queuing: Steven Landsburg suggests that we might change the convention and have arrivals to queues go to the front rather than the back! (Mad or what!) It would be those at the back of the queue jumping around to see if they should join a longer queue; assessing the speed of the checkout etc.
• One queue- have one long queue which leads to several checkouts. Queueing theory tells us that this is much more efficient.
•  Take a child with you- there’s nothing worse than standing in a queue when you ahve a crying child. So take your kids lollipop away or soemthing to make them cry and the people in front of you will be willing to let you get to the front- because its just too irritating.
•  Ask- That’s right, just ask nicely to the person in front.

 ”If you don’t ask you don’t get”

Why bother buying them, putting them up, wasting time and then taking them down again?

After all, the economist wonders, what’s in it for you?

The very same non-economic contribution is going on online, every single day. More and more of the content we consume was made by our peers, for free.

People like the way it feels to live in a community filled with decorated houses. They enjoy the drive or the walk through town, seeing the lights and decorations, and they want to be part of it. It brings about a sense of community.

Humans like to feel loved and feel a belonging (Maslow’s hierarchy of needs)

The internet is giving more and more people an inexpensive way to share and contribute. It doesn’t cost money, it just takes time and kindness.

The marginal private cost is out weighed by the marginal social benefits.

No wonder most people don’t insist on getting paid for their tweets, posts and comments.

Adapted from Seth Godin’s Blog (he doesn’t use Tumblr though!))