12-28-2018, 11:00 PM
Economists Wonder
Economists have long observed
that homo economicus
spends more on things he buys as gifts
than on like goods bought for himself.
Some claim it’s self-aggrandizement:
a Big Man’s potlatch showing he
can throw away things better than
his guests could ever hope to have.
But that’s economists, who can’t
conceive their calculating man
would place a higher value on
another’s pleasure than his own.
(Inspired by, and on, Christmas. Now to respond to some critics, Boxing Day being past...)
Economists have long observed
that homo economicus
spends more on things he buys as gifts
than on like goods bought for himself.
Some claim it’s self-aggrandizement:
a Big Man’s potlatch showing he
can throw away things better than
his guests could ever hope to have.
But that’s economists, who can’t
conceive their calculating man
would place a higher value on
another’s pleasure than his own.
(Inspired by, and on, Christmas. Now to respond to some critics, Boxing Day being past...)
Non-practicing atheist