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Robert Frank is among the most brilliant economists currently working today, with a terrific grasp of how emotion plays into decision-making; his book Luxury Fever does a great job, for example, of explaining why envy often makes a lot of sense. Today he wrote a column for the New York Times talking about some intriguing experiments testing the attitudes of economists — and how they compare to non-economists. As Frank writes:
In an experimental study of private contributions to a common project, two sociologists from the University of Wisconsin, Gerald Marwell and Ruth Ames, found that first-year graduate students in economics contributed an average of less than half the amount contributed by students from other disciplines.
Other studies have found that repeated exposure to the self-interest model makes selfish behavior more likely. In one experiment, for example, the cooperation rates of economics majors fell short of those of nonmajors, and the difference grew the longer the students had been in their respective majors.
Economists are, in short, more likely than you or I to be selfish creeps. Or to put it another way: The problem with economists is that they actually believe economic theory. For Frank, this is a problem because it’s part of why so much economic theory does such a spectacularly bad job of explaining our everyday lives, and also why governments that try to craft policy according to rational-actor thought tend to screw things up.
Of course, it’s still theoretically possible to defend rational-actor thought. You could argue that sure, maybe people on an individual level do not make careful, rational money decisions — but in the agregate, the ur-decision of the masses is rational. In this formulation, rationality arises as a form of emergent behavior, out of the zillions of seemingly irrational decisions of everyday folks. Like a recessive gene, the rationality of buying stock in BagofRocks.com or springing for a pair of $300 Nikes or voting for George Bush’s hallucinogenic tax cuts was present, but merely latent or deeply buried. If you really believe that, though, I got a bridge here in Brooklyn you wanna look at.
I'm Clive Thompson, a writer on science, technology, and culture. This blog collects bits of offbeat research I'm running into, and musings thereon.
Currently, I'm a contributing writer for the New York Times Magazine and a columnist for Wired magazine. I also write for Fast Company and Wired magazine's web site, among other places. Email or AOL IM me (pomeranian99) to say hi or send in something strange!
The “Milky Way Transit Authority” map
Should automobile software be open-sourced?
My Bookforum review of Jaron Lanier’s “You Are Not A Gadget”
Molecular secrets of the “iron-plated snail”
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January 31, 2010 » 07:29 PM
V. A. To me death seems to be an evil.
M. What, to those who are already dead? or to those who must die?
A. To both.
M. It is a misery, then, because an evil?
A. Certainly.
M. Then those who have already died, and those who have still got to die, are both miserable?
A. So it appears to me.
M. Then all are miserable?
A. Every one.
January 24, 2010 » 03:22 PM
One of the more interesting trends is family, which came in at number five. Specifically, discussion about family, moms, dads, daughters, etc. jumped during 2009. With Facebook users getting older, this isn’t a big surprise. However, the fact that the mention of “kids” jumped by a factor of five this year is rather dramatic. It’s tough to know what this means, though. (via Facebook Unveils Most-Mentioned Topics of 2009
)
January 15, 2010 » 01:36 PM
BEYOND AWESOME. They are announcing a recall of the Plush Uterus “due to a potential choking hazard for children”. To apply for it, “Please send an email to the address below with the subject line, ‘UTERUS OPT OUT’”.
January 14, 2010 » 10:04 PM
“To order, please TYPE “YES” IN CHECKBOX BELOW TO AGREE YOU UNDERSTAND THIS PLUSH MUST BE KEPT AWAY FROM KIDS (it is a sex organ, after all). If it is not checked, WE WILL NOT SEND THE UTERUS.” (via @ibogost)
January 11, 2010 » 01:45 PM
I watched Space: 1999 back in the day, but I swear to god I do not remember this scene.
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