Urine :: Markets in everything

Urine tests are given to test whether you are a drug user. That's resulted in a variety market responses. Church-going folks get together and sell their drug-free urine to drug users looking for jobs with that test employees for drugs. The Whizzanator is invented and marketed.

But here's the latest. You can extract meth from the urine of users. As you crack down on the manufacture of meth you encourage an increase in this sort of recycling. Here's the news report. Here's what farkers are commenting.

Gives a whole new meaning to circular flow.

Does size matter? - Economists take a look

Reuters:

They calculated that for every inch taller a man is than his speed-dating rivals, the number of women who want to meet him goes up by about five percent.

Reducing the magical chemistry of love at first sight to a set of complicated equations, researchers Michele Belot and Marco Francesconi analysed the choices made by 1,800 men and 1,800 women at 84 speed-dating events across Britain.

Each hopeful pays about 20 pounds and has just three minutes to convince a possible partner of the opposite sex.

The conclusion of the University of Essex study was blunt and to the point: "Women prefer men who are young and tall, while men are more attracted to women who are young and thin."
. . .
But, in the unforgiving numbers game of love, age is crucial.

Each extra year, in comparison with others in the speed-dating group, reduces a man's chance of finding a partner by four percent. For women it is five percent.
. . .
"We also found that an overweight woman is 16 per cent less likely to receive a proposal from men. Men, on the other hand do not seem to be penalised for being overweight," Belot said.

The survey explodes the myth that blondes always have more fun -- hair colour was not a major issue when speed-dating.

Here's the paper: Can Anyone Be “The” One, Evidence on Mate Selection from Speed Dating.

Here's what Farkers are saying about the study.

Related: Assortative mating may explain growing income inequality in the US.

UPDATE: Via Mankiw comes this - WaPo reports today's men find women with graduate degrees more attractive according to empirical research by economist Elaine Rose.

Markets in Everything :: Hiring the homeless to buy Play Stations

Quote:

Thomas Rosatti and his buddies were first in line at the store. But shortly after they pitched their tent, they got company.

"A truck rolls up, one of those U-Haul type trucks, and seriously, 50 people rolled out, and he says they got them from the homeless shelter," Rosatti said.

While WRAL was there, the truck used to transport the men from the homeless shelter returned with food for the men. Abdul Salem said he and a friend came up with the idea. They said they plan to pay the men $100 a day to stand in line for a ticket to purchase a PS3 unit that costs around $600.

"It's got to be the eBay incentive," Salem said.

The eBay incentive is all about money. The going price on the site for a PS3 unit is approaching $2,000. Salem called his arrangement with the men from Raleigh's homeless community a win/win proposition.

Which leaves the question: why don't the homeless buy the PS3's for themselves? Lack of liquidity? Desire to have the money now rather than later? Poor access to resale market or lack of reputation in that market? Some of all these I suspect.

The link comes from Fark. See the Farkers' comments.

And there's more. Look who's getting in line: John "I was against Wal-Mart before I was for it" Edwards.

"Markets in everything" is a conception of Marginal Revolution.

TAGS: farkonomics, markets in everything

UPDATE: Wal-Mart manager comes up with way to save folks time waiting in line. What could possibly go wrong? Farkers explain.

Farkonomics Watch

British man engages in DIY dentistry. I'm not surprised, and only partly because this is a story about socialized medicine.

Here's what they're saying about this story over at Fark.

Study: Muslims, Arabs saw pay drop after 9/11

Quote:

Post-9/11 anti-Islamic and anti-Middle Eastern sentiment hasn't just taken an emotional toll on Muslim and Arab men living in the United States. It has also put a dent in their checkbooks, a study indicates.

Arab and Muslim men saw their wages and weekly earnings drop by 10 percent after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the research reveals.

The largest decreases, according to the data collected from over 4,000 men between 1997 and 2005, occurred in locations that reported higher rates of ethnic and religious-based hate crimes.

Part of the reason pay fell is that these men, mostly from predominantly Islamic countries such as Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Algeria, found fewer opportunities and had to find work in different industries that paid less than the jobs they used to be employed in after 9/11, said the study's co-author, Robert Kaestner, a University of Illinois at Chicago economics professor.

In addition, Kaestner said, most Muslim and Arab men, possibly wary of the reception they might receive in another state, curbed their travel within the country after 9/11, which may have kept them from seeking better jobs.
. . .
The good news, according to Kaestner, is that the reduction in wages may be short-lived, since the most recent statistics taken in 2005 indicate a "significant rebound" in earnings for Muslim and Arab men.

The study compares wage changes of first- and second-generation immigrants from countries with large Muslim and Arab populations to wage changes from first- and second-generation immigrants with similar skills from countries such as the Philippines and China.
. . .
The study will be published in the January 2007 edition of the Journal of Human Resources.

Via Fark.

TAGS: farkonomics profiling

Rhode Island rebate law responsible for Pepsi shortage :: TurnTo10

Quote:

A Sunday advertising circular is promoting free Pepsi 12-packs and 2-liter bottles, if you mail in a rebate form.
However, a new Rhode Island law is limiting how stores handle rebates in advertisements such as the circular Pepsi distributed.

According to the law, if the ad includes a net price that is based on a rebate, then the rebate must be given at the time of purchase.
. . .
As soon as a Pepsi truck driver delivered a shipment of 12-packs, they were flying off the shelves.

At a Stop & Shop in Cranston, the Consumer Unit noticed that all of the shelves were empty of 2-liter Pepsi bottles.

A Pepsi spokesperson told NBC 10 that, "By the time the company became aware of the new law, it was too late to change two ads that our customers had planned to run this week. All future ads have been revised."

The spokesperson also said the Rhode Island production facility is working at capacity to try and produce enough soda to meet the demand.

This story comes to us from Fark, of course.

These two chains are, in effect, setting their price for Pepsi at zero. That was not their intent, but it seems that they are attempting, to keep up with the increased sales. I wonder if they have a rain check policy in place that promises the customer who finds the item is sold out to purchase it later when it becomes available. Or whether they have a policy that limits the quantity any single buyer can purchase.

Here's some of things economically insightful Farkers had to say:

2006-08-22 11:06:36 PM TechnoHead

Thank you, Rhode Island, for ruining it for all the people who actually mail the rebates like me.

The mail-in rebates are based on the fact that only a portion of the people actually claim it (someone in this thread quoted 40%, it sounds about right) so the company can offer a $100 rebate because they know it really means $40 on average.

Now that they have passed this stupid law to protect the lazy ass idiots that can't even fill in a form properly let alone walk to a mailbox, the rebates are going to be substantially reduced.

On the plus side, I am glad all the important problems in the world have been solved that we can now legislate to protect the terminally lazy.
. . .

2006-08-22 11:42:39 PM radiojunkie2878

Two things that they failed to mention:

1. The Pepsi isn't actually free, you still need to pay the sales tax which is 7% on 10 bucks (before the "rebate") so it's 70 cents for four 12 packs... still not a bad deal... Can't expect the state to not take their cut...

2. Local news is reporting that several fights have broken out at supermarkets around Rhode Island tonight... Mostly around the times that the stores get new deliveries of Pepsi... All over free soda... gotta love Rhode Island...
. . .

2006-08-22 11:53:21 PM mtrac

I like rebates. Never had a problem with them. People who don't remit them subsidize those that do.

2006-08-22 11:53:52 PM relaxitsjustme

Let me add my voice to the group that has done everything correctly, mailed it off on time and still ended up having to fight for my rebate. I refuse to buy based on rebates anymore.
. . .

2006-08-23 12:18:18 AM kmmarasco

I live in RI.

I have seen the hordes of obese middle class white people fighting and clawing over cases of bubbly goodness, the whites of their eyes so large at the very thought of free soda.

I just want my damn soda and all these fat bastards are taking it from me.

I still have a $100 rebate that has mysteriously been postponed because "we're updating our systems so everything needs to be reprocessed." More like "we're packing our stuff and moving to Taipei."

TAGS: farkonomics, rebates

Facial Profiling :: Farkonomics

Today we resume the irregular farkonomics feature at The Emirates Economist. Our subject, racial profiling.

From yesterday's The Sunday Times of London:

Cameras set racial poser on car crime
Dipesh Gadher, Transport Correspondent

BRITAIN’S most senior policeman Sir Ian Blair is facing a race relations dilemma after the release of figures that reveal almost half the number of people arrested in relation to car crime in London are black.

Blair, the Metropolitan police commissioner, has signed off a report by his force’s traffic unit which shows that black people account for 46% of all arrests generated by new automatic numberplate recognition (ANPR) cameras.

Dear Reader, one of my blogging secrets is that I am regular reader of Fark. Sometimes credited, sometimes not, Fark is often my source for stuff that interests me and shows up on this blog.

Fark works like this. A reader submits a news article for listing in Fark, giving it an amusing headline. Next, moderators at Fark decide whether to accept the submission - to post the link and headline. Once an item is posted anyone can also comment on it. Comments are also moderated. Fark steers me to interesting articles I would often otherwise miss, and it attracts commenters who add value to the media's product. Probably Fark attracts folks that have similar tastes to mine which is why it works for me and might not work for you. But if you are a regular reader of this blog that says something about your tastes.

In the case before us, the media's product is the Times article quoted above. One might expect such an article to attract comments by farkers that are ignorant or racist. Not so. At least under the Fark system comments are witty, ironic, and intelligent - all of which will mean that those ready to be offended will be, but avoiding offense often leads to avoiding the question.

The comments on the Times article certainly add value to the article. Here is a great comment written by Godwin which he opens with a quote from the article:

The report tacitly appears to address concerns among ethnic minority communities who believe they are unfairly targeted by the police through stop and search powers. Black people are up to six times more likely to be stopped than whites.

Let's assume the cameras are truly non-partial. According to the article, 45.6% of crimes caught through the camera system are perpetrated by blacks, while 36% come from white backgrounds. According to the most recent census, 11% of London is black and 71% is white. The relative crime rate between black and white Britons (again, assuming the cameras are impartial) is then given by the ratio of the percentage of crimes perpetrated by blacks times the percentage of whites to the percentage of crimes perpetrated by whites times the percentage of blacks (the math's pretty easy, work it out yourself).

If you plug in these numbers, then black Britons are 9 times more likely to commit a crime than white Britons. Meanwhile, blacks are "up to" only six times more likely to be stopped by police. Therefore, British cops are more likely to pull over a white suspect than a black suspect when the relative crime rates between the two groups are normlized out. QED

The flaw in this analysis is that the cameras are concentrated in Southwark and Lewisham. If you plug in the numbers for Southwark, blacks appear to be only 5 times more likely to commit a crime. If you plug in the numbers for Lewisham, blacks appear to be only 4 times more likely. Therefore the rate of blacks being stopped by British police is closer to what it should be considering relative crime rates (keeping in mind that the figure was "up to" six times).

That was pretty pointless, but hey, I was curious.

(All formating is Godwin's.)

The Times headline refers to a "racial poser." A poser is a baffling question or problem. I like the word and how it has been used by the Times writer. In the article the writer goes on to talk about feelings that exist, feelings that could be legitimate as long as we remain in a state of bafflement. And fail to present some facts. But there's not much in the way of making sense of those facts.

If analysis like Godwin's was in the article itself, then you'd have some powerful journalism. Sometimes we have to do the analysis for ourselves, as Godwin did. Sometimes we can find the answer at places like Fark, or even at a humble blog. The article is now much more useful. Once Godwin's analysis is out there others may find a flaw in his reasoning, but at least now we are reasoning about what the numbers mean and not expressing how we feel.

Bloggers may often work in their flannels, but that is immaterial. What matters is that the good ones are not merely cutting pasting and ranting. They are taking the mainstream media's product and adding value. You are the beneficiary.

TAGS: farkonomics, racial profiling, statistical discrimination

Victims of hyperinflation: beggars :: The Zimbabwean
No coins to jangle

Quote:

Zimbabwe, in its sixth year of a severe economic meltdown which has seen inflation shooting beyond 900 percent, has virtually phased out the use of coins as legal tender.But the disappearance of coins from public circulation has also presented new challenges to street beggars who are on the increase due to the economic crisis.“It used to be easier just to rattle the begging bowl containing a few coins. Now I have devised a way of attracting the sympathy and benevolence of the public - I sing as loud as I can,” Mhlope says.

"Economic meltdown" has a double meaning perhaps. The metal in the coins is worth more melted - even accounting for the melting costs - than as tender.

Brother can you spare a dime? I'd like to melt it down.

(Via our friends at fark.com)

TAGS: farkonomics, hyperinflation

Peak oil? Whether you're worried or not, the OilPoster.org is worth giving a gander.

Giving credit where credit is due, I must confess that I found this from my number one source of news, fark.com.

TAGS: peak oil, farkonomics

The Produce of Polygyny

What does polygyny produce? Is it bare branches or is it low-hanging fruit?

Jonathan Rauch writing in Reason, "One Man, Many Wives, Big Problems: The social consequences of polygamy are bigger than you think", puts himself in the shoes of the man who can't find a wife because some men have several wives. That man is classified as a bare branch: no fruit of his loins.

Rauch even suggests, darkly, that polygyny produces bitter lonelyboys who ripen into Jihadists. Perhaps. Perhaps he should wonder what he is implying about the rage of black women in the U.S. whose most likelies are behind bars.

As we have posted on before, Tim Harford (Undercover Economist) takes a look at polygyny from the perspective of the woman. When one guy can marry several Anna Nicole Smiths, that leaves lots of marriageable guys for the remaining women. Looked at through the lens of supply and demand, polygyny is good for the disstaff side.

Can what is good for half of humankind be bad for society as a whole? I suggest Rauch at least give this some thought.

Probably what polygynous societies do produce on the male side is the same thing single gender prisons produce. Seed that falls on fallow ground.

Via: Fark, of course.

TAGS: farkonomics, polygyny, bare branches, Big Love

Islamardos' demand for raw sewage :: keynoter-dot-com
Markets in Everything*

It all sounds plausible enough:

The problem is that not enough residents of north Plantation Key - the area covered by the project - have hooked into the sewer system to get the system “operating and stabilized.”

“It's a brand-new plant,” Sante said. “When it first gets on line is the hardest time because there's no flow.”

In a worst-case scenario, he cautioned, Islamorada could wind up paying to import sewage so operators can hit the plant's “on” switch.

Wait a minute. Islamorada? No kidding, Islamorada, Florida does exist. But is the name of the councilman - Van Cadenhead? - a hint that this is a spoof. No, Mr. Cadenhead is a real guy.

Maybe we should take this seriously. Okay, so let's go back to the economics:

Sante urged Islamorada to come up with a rebate or group-discount incentive to encourage residents to complete the hookup to their residences “so we don't have to buy sewage.”

“If we wind up buying sewage, residents as well as Mr. Cadenhead, are going to tear us up,” Councilman Michael Reckwerdt said. “I don't want to do that.”

Councilwoman Patty Schmidt worried that any system to offer discounts should be available to all property owners mandated to hook into the sewer system.

Village Manager Gary Word expressed “reservations” about the village getting involved in a connection program that “can be handled by the private sector.”

In public comment, Deb Gillis said the delay in connecting to the network was caused by significantly higher than expected costs - a problem that can be expected elsewhere as Islamorada tries to meet the 2010 deadline for wastewater treatment.

For the deeply demented professor of intermediate microeconomic theory here's a nice exam question: Assuming Islamorada is not a village of idiots, what connection pricing rule will the council adopt?

Being deeply demented, I've not fully, erm, flushed out the answer - which is par for the course for any good intermediate micro prof.

As always, the comments section is open for your responses.

Link via the friendly folks at Fark, of course. The submitter's headline ain't bad.

- - -
*With apologies to the good guys at Marginal Revolution.

TAGS: farkonomics, Florida

Policymakers one step ahead of economists

If we ban smoking at work and in stores, and we ban smoking in outdoors, then substitution possibilities being what they are, won't smokers just smoke more in confined places like their private cars. Economists say so.

But, not so fast say New South Wales policymakers. You economists are one day late (literally) and an Australian dollar short. We've anticipated your objection:

Authorities in Australia's most populous state, New South Wales, are to consider banning smoking in cars. A parliamentary inquiry will look at the effects of passive smoking on passengers, particularly children.

Supporters of the proposal have admitted, however, that enforcing such a ban would be difficult.

Smokers in Australia have already been squeezed out of bars and restaurants, as well as some beaches and most other public places.

Now Fred Nile from the Christian Democratic Party has drawn up a private member's bill that makes cars the next target.

His idea will be investigated by a parliamentary committee.

The plan appears to have the support of the state government.

A spokesman said that tough action should be implemented to stop the small number of irresponsible people who smoked around youngsters in their cars.

It's my blog and I get the last word (unless you comment): If you give smokers no other choice, then they will smoke at home with the windows closed. Heaven help the child with asthma.

- - - -
TAGS: passive smoking, farkonomics

'Running tap' artist to try again :: BBC

HE: Water is too precious. No one should own water.

ME: Allowing prices to balance demand and supply of water will encourage conservation of water. Something as simple as fixing a leaky tag will save a lot of water. You have more incentive to fix the leak if price increases. Unfortunately, many publicly owned utilities price water below cost.

HE: To prove my point I "left a tap running in a south London gallery, but bowed to pressure to turn it off after a month. That stunt used 800,000 litres of water, and angered many Thames Water customers and gallery visitors - some of whom turned off the tap themselves. This time [I] intends [heh] to keep the taps running at secret London addresses, sending an estimated 100 million litres down the drain."

ME: I rest my case.

Can you say publicity whore?

McGowan has previously made a name for himself by rolling a monkey nut across London with his nose to highlight student debt, and pulling a bus with his big toe in protest against bus lanes and mayor Ken Livingstone's "ridiculous traffic strategy".

You can attract a lot of attention by ridiculing markets. But you'd still be wrong.

Via Fark, of course. The comments there (after you get past the confusion between "six taps" and "sex tapes") demonstrates the public, or at least the farkpublic sees this guy as clown but agree with him that water should not be privatized. Farkonomists have a long way to go in convincing our public.

- - -
TAGS: farkonomics, performance art, sex tapes, privatization, water rationing

Policy prescription made easy :: Canadian Econoview

Quote of the day (yes, that makes two quotes of the day in just one day):

It's much clearer if you start from the premise that whatever markets do must be bad. Policy making is so much easier when you simply assume your conclusion, isn't it?

- Brian Ferguson

Via The EclectEcon, proud member of the Farkonomics Academy since 2006.

Strippers win right to meal breaks, OT
Gives a whole new meaning to mandated benefits

Quote:

In the past, other strippers have criticized the union, saying its demands for better pay and conditions could lead to job losses.

Give that stripper a B.A. in Economics.

TAGS: farkonomics of labor

Craig Newmark joins Faculty of Farkonomics

Long-time readers of The Emirates Economist will know that we have long had our eye on Craig Newmark of Newmark's Door.* As we've often stated, Newmark is our number 1 favorite human browser. He's not a shabby economist either.

Thus, it comes as a great pleasure to announce that Prof. Newmark has accepted an appointment to the faculty of farkonomics. To quote from his letter of acceptance "I'd be pleased to have an adjunct appointment." Don't worry, Betsy, he's not giving up his day job.

Prof. Newmark has already made his mark in the young field of farkonomics. See a sample of his early work in the area here. Space and time limitations do not allow us to give a comprehensive list of his contributions to the area. (Google or Technorati would be likely sources for those interested to find out more his work - phrases like "via fark, of course" may produce acceptable search results.)

Prospectively it is anticipated that Prof. Newmark will participate in an occasional series tentatively titled carnival of farkonomics.

TAGS: Craig Newmark, farkonomics
- - -
*Not to be confused with the other Craig Newmark.

Let's correlate Cartoons and Ports: Lessons in Farkometrics

Posts that contain Dubai Ports per day for the last 60 days.


Posts that contain Cartoons per day for the last 60 days.


TAGS: farkonomics, cartoons, Dubai ports

The Orkney Springs School of Farkonomics

-- advertisement --

Catalog
Farkonomics 101
Farkonomics 202 - Intermediate Macrofarkonomics 202
Farkonomics 701 - Advanced Microfarkonomic Theory I

Current course offerings

Virtual Faculty
The Emirates Economist,
MarketPower Guy,
The EclectEcon

- - - -
TAGS: Fark.com, farkonomics*

*Technorati says: "There are no posts tagged farkonomics in English yet. Search all languages or search all blogs for farkonomics. If you think you've reached this page in error, try this search again." I modestly claim I brought the world the word "farkonomics" and the concept for "The World of Economics According to Fark."

News of the Day that you can use in the Economics classroom, and elsewhere - 12Mar06:

Thrift Store gets what it pays for: no-charge waste disposal - comments here. Free disposal is only an assumption.*

Workaholic tax proposed by University of Michigan economist - comments here. Some countries would have seemed to have already solved this problem. Next up - cure for cancer.

Rice has a coca problem - comments here.

Number of employed people increases, causing unemployment rate to increase and incomes to rise. And people wonder why economists drink

---
TAGS: The world of economics according to Fark.com farkonomics
---

*Virginia says: the salvation army here has refused a lot of my stuff
John of the Emirates says: heh
Virginia says: and they have signs saying you can't leave stuff after hours, and barbed wire fences around the place at night
John of the Emirates says: heh
Virginia says: they won't take any furniture with any stain
John of the Emirates says: heh
Virginia says: I had a perfectly good couch that had one rip in it or something. it wasn't fatal for the couch, but they wouldn't take it anyway.
Virginia says: and they don't take any games.
Virginia says: board games.
John of the Emirates says: So you take your old sofas up the back ridge and dump down the ravine with Sadie's old fridge?
Virginia says: ha... no, we took them to the dump eventually
John of the Emirates says: Free disposal or did they charge you?
Virginia says: but there is a road here that winds behind fontaine research park- a gravel woodsy road- that is lined with desks, mattresses, couches.
Virginia says: they charge.
John of the Emirates says: heh
Virginia says: I did some spring cleaning this week so I'd have less stuff to throw away when I move out
John of the Emirates says: Good.
Virginia says: I hope I don't have to help Elmo move out. you wouldn't believe the junk.
John of the Emirates says: Heh.