Schoonmaker and Economics (long)

[gergery]

I find it kind of amusing that an article railing against oversimplification is itself grossly oversimplified.

There are principle in each of these areas which are almost by definition true:

--As price goes up fewer people will want something.
--When you have the best of it you want more money in the pot
--Rest will help you if you are sick
--Understanding your best alternative will help you negotiate more effectively

Then there are specifics to each situation which are completely situationally dependent. But even then there are almost always applications of the principles that make one decision path more correct than another. And understanding the principles enables you to understand when they don't apply.

--sometimes higher prices make things more valued as when they're proxies for value in luxury goods like perfume.
--sometimes you don't want more money in if you can't handle the variance
--sometimes light exercise is better than rest


So I don't really agree with a bunch of the examples in the article.

--Greg