The theme of a recent NPR podcast was applying Economic to regular day-to-day problems.
The guest star and guru of this sort of applied economics to the everyday problems was Tim Hartford who has a regular "Dear Economist" column in the FT. He is also the author of "The Undercover Economist":
Tim Harford is a member of the Financial Times editorial board. His column, “The Undercover Economist”, which reveals the economic ideas behind everyday experiences, is published in the Financial Times and syndicated around the world. He is also the only economist in the world to run a problem page, “Dear Economist”, in which FT readers’ personal problems are answered tongue-in-cheek with the latest economic theory.
http://timharford.com/etc/biography/
He clearly has a stellar CV:
He presented the BBC television series “Trust Me, I’m an Economist” and now presents the BBC radio series “More or Less”. He is a frequent contributor to other radio and TV programs, including the Colbert Report, Marketplace, Morning Edition, Today, and Newsnight. He has been published by the leading magazines and newspapers on both sides of the Atlantic, including Esquire, Forbes, Wired, New York Magazine, the Guardian, the London Times, the Washington Post and the New York Times. He won the 2006 Bastiat Prize for economic journalism.
Before becoming a writer, Tim worked for Shell, the World Bank and as a tutor at Oxford University, from where he earned an M.Phil in economics in 1998. He is a senior visiting fellow at Cass Business School, and he lives in London with his wife and two daughters.
Back to the podcast... we nearly all enjoy a certain amount of salacious gossip ;-) and in the word's of the NPR presenter "Let's get to the sizzler"
"It's about terribly deep conflicts between ones heart and ones value system"
Mark Stanford (South Carolina Governor)
Yes another high profile politician who has been caught red-handed, pants-down and is now "grovelling for forgiveness..."
Now apparently Ray C. Fair (Yale University) has created a model for the economic costs (time) of whether to have an affair or not? Forget the risk factors, in this model we focus on the time costs (another economist with another model can build in the risk and fear factors into their model):
In this paper a model is developed that explains the allocation OF an individual’s tirne among work and two types of leisure activities: time spent with spouse, and time spent with paramour. Data from two recent magazine surveys are available that can be used to test the predictions of the model regarding the determining of time spent with paramour.
In terms of economic theory, the question for the South Carolina Governor was: Do I stay at home with my wife and job or do I fly to Argentina to see my mistress? Under Ray's model view purely in terms of time constraints. Which is you believe that Governor's Stanfords is an attention seeking egotist very on a psychopathic scale, then the cost of public humiliation, having to grovel and messing up the private lives of his family might not be that be significant cost? I don't know many politicians but they have a very bad reputation and from what I can tell it is sometimes justified.
Personally I'm convinced you can really understand affairs in such a crude reductionist way, I think psychology and literature would be a better place to start; maybe "How to use game theory to catch you cheating spouse?" is an interesting to Tim Hartford but I'm not convinced it is not a distraction from the real issues.
However their was one idea which I did think was useful. When studying the best number of supplier relationships which you should maintain, economists who have studied this important business question in detail, believe the most common answer is two. You have the commitment and dedication to you but if there is a major problem then you have a fall back position.
sizzle |ˈsizəl|
verb [ intrans. ]
(of food) make a hissing sound when frying or cooking : the bacon began to sizzle in the pan.
• [often as adj. ] ( sizzling) informal be very hot : the sizzling summer temperatures.
• [often as adj. ] ( sizzling) informal be very exciting or passionate, esp. sexually : that was the start of a sizzling affair.
noun [in sing. ]
a hissing sound, as of food frying or cooking : the sizzle of hot dogs.
• informal a state or quality of great excitement or passion : a dance routine with lots of sizzle.
ORIGIN early 17th cent.: imitative.
stellar |ˈstelər|
adjective
of or relating to a star or stars : stellar structure and evolution.
• informal featuring or having the quality of a star performer or performers : a stellar cast had been assembled.
• informal exceptionally good; outstanding : his restaurant has received stellar ratings in the guides.
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