Coz one nipple is just right

A philippine version of Playboy will be coming out. From its editor:

Dolor said Playboy Philippines would feature Filipino women as “playmates” in the centerfold, but won’t show full frontal nudity or genitalia because that would run counter to Philippine business and cultural considerations.

“Maybe one nipple,” he said.

Because two nipples are just awful.

Bargains and Rip-offs, continuum of types

Let us suppose consumers have imperfect information about prices. A consumer can pay s to learn where the deals are. But consumers are heterogenous in their cost to learn information. This Heterogeneity is captured in a CDF, F(s), which is defined as the proportion of consumers with cost less than s.

In addition, we have additional simplifying assumptions such as homogeneity in willingness to pay, and unit demands on the demand side. On the supply side, we have zero profit and a U shaped average cost curve.

The models gives us the possibility of price dispersion. Zero profit and profit maximization tells us that there are two prices possible, the efficient monopoly price and the low price, which is equal to average cost of minimum efficient scale.

The equilibrium features s*,  consumers with F(s*) will choose to pay, i.e. choose to be informed about the ‘bargains’ out there. The bargain hunters get the low price, while all the others, the ‘uninformed’, pay the highest they are willing to pay.

There are three possibilities.

1. smallest s >maximum net consumer surplus. the proportion of consumers that would find it worthwhile to be informed is zero (i.e., the smallest s would make utility negative). No one becomes informed, and the price is the highest possible.
2. s*=0. Here, the proportion of people who might be informed is high enough such that everyone wants to get informed so there is only one price in equilibrium, the low price.
3. Price dispersion. Some stores set a low price, attracts F(s*) proportion of consumers. The rest of the consumers stay, decide not to be informed.

Euthanasia

An interesting article on a particular woman’s struggle to die. Warning — the pictures via the link are not for the faint of heart.

Apart from the aesthetic issues, she is also in ‘terrible pain’.  The article continues that we usually kill pets with conditions much less severe than this. As a society, what do we do for this woman, this woman who wants to die. As believers in a religion where life is very important, what do we do for her?

Disapproval and Approval

Pulse Asia reports that PGMA has a 51% disapproval rate and a 23% approval rate. this gives us a net approval of -28%.

President GW Bush has similar or worse numbers. This site has them some of the latest ones.

My question is, given that PGMA’s numbers are no worse than President Bush’s, why is it the call to impeachment and open revolution so much stronger than in the US? I’m curious as to President Estrada’s polling numbers in the run-up to EDSA II. I would expect similar numbers as with PGMA’s.

The Phlippines is just so much more willing to play the revolution card, and even the impeachment card than the US is.

Is this a symptom that there is something wrong with Philippine (presidential government) institutions? I am nursing the view that this is evidence that the presidential system isn’t working in the philippines. Shouldn’t impeachment be a weapon of last resort in the presidential system; never to be used lightly? And we’re not even talking about revolution. I’m not saying this is an argument for another system. All i’m saying is the the institution of the presidency isn’t how it ought to be.

Meanwhile in the US, the movement to impeach of George W Bush died without even a whimper. Here is a wiki entry about it.

Perverse Incentives

States are over-reporting (allegedly) HS graduation rates to rank better for No Child Left Behind. See here.

Why “The Return of Jezebel James” isn’t good

“The Return of Jezebel James” premiered last week. I saw it, and i thought it was bad. I checked the interwebs; reviews are mostly bad. Metacritic aggregates reviews and gives it a 29, one of the worst reviewed TV show in the Fall 2007/2008 midseason, beat only by the super-short lived “Cavemen”. There are many complaints. Alot of people, myself included, hate the laughtrack. But i believe that the uncomfortable laugh track is only a symptom of the true problem with the show.

Great Advertising

From Ads of the World, comes this great camera ad. Being sexist never served such a funny purpose.

Distinctions between Pornography and Prostitution

Civilized life is full of distinctions, but many times, enforcers of the law have imperfect information to help them determine under which ‘bin’ a certain act falls.

The recent scandal involving Eliot Spitzer and a prostitution ring has brought out alot of debate about sexuality in america: legality of prostitution, the trafficking of women, the age of consent, and now, i’ve been reading about the distinction between Pornography and Prostitution here and here.

As i understand it, the distinction is clear in theory, but it still leaves the reader uncomfortable. Why?

Pornography is paying two people to have sex, while someone watches/films for profit. Prostitution is where one participant in the act itself pays the other to gratify himself/herself.

Pornography, on the other hand, is legal, and is protected under free speech. The reason is the free speech is about the impact of the filmed act on the viewer, who is not a direct participant.

Hence, we must as: where does the final demand come from? Is it from the guy paying for sex? Or is it some viewer who pays for the movie with the sex act in it? [i originally wanted to create a distinction about net surplus, but its not true -- all members of this transaction benefit, the porn actors and the viewer. In any given transaction, any participant can benefit more than another, The surplus is determined largely by market structure/elasticities].

Why does this bother me? This distinction seems solominic, but i don’t think its completely incentive compatible. For this to trully work, you really need to know who the final demander is, that is mostly unobserved.

Imagine, what if jerry hires june to have sex with him, and invites frank the filmaker along for fun. Here, the film is only the side product of prostitution. But the mere possibility of outside demand [people buying the film] is enough to ‘legalize’ the prostitution. In effect, all prostitution can be legal, as long as you film it and intend to sell it.

What remains incentive compatible is the filming part. Many people (including Ex-Gov Spitzer) would not want to be filmed while obtaining the services of a prostitute. However, for some, it would be acceptable to film while doing the act, and hence, prostitution would then be legal.

This is an imperfect system, but its the best system available to balance conflicting interests, on the assumption that prostitution is illegal.

failure is great

I read an article today on happiness. A french psychologist wrote that one of the common factors linking unhappy people is an excessive concern about the past and/or the future. Not that the future or the past is unimportant, but that happy people are bothered less by the uncertainty of future outcomes and the sunk nature of the past.

A happy person must be in the ‘now’, and actively experience ‘now’, instead of constantly thinking about the future or the past.

One can see a relationship between happiness and other variables like religion. Religion helps us manage the uncertainties of the future (i.e. reaching heaven is the most important thing), and our past mistakes (God will forgive us). This is also potentially the reason why income is positively related to happiness– it is the psychological security of money.Of course, in rich countries, this effect is largely negated by a consumerist culture that demands more and more things, which by and large creates more anxiety about the future.

Still so Far away

a long ways to go…