How go get a nobel prize...
So, as we college students know (or are told if you are as geeky as me), college bars hold wet t-shirt and jello wrestling contests. At these contests, girls drink a lot of beer and eventually, if things go as planned, show their breasts. They may even touch another girl's breast (once again, so I am told). So, here is where the problem comes in:
1. The girls are not paid, per se. Alcohol is usually free, and there is sometimes a small prize for "winning," but the financial gain seems small. If I am wrong about this, please let me know.
2. The men there get a lot of value. They would get more value if they could take pictures and look at them later. Maybe sell them, but at least share them with friends and look at them.
3. Camera phones have made it possible to do this quite easily. Just look at collegehumor.com.
So, here is the problem. Does the spread of these pictures deter girls from showing off in the future? If so, then it would seem sub-optimal to allow camera phones into the bars, but I don't know of this happening. What if a bar was to have a "camera phone photographer" who took pictures, then sold them to the men at the bar that night, then distribute the money to the girls. Would this increase the displays (supply slope up) or decrease (changes the good to prostitution)? How about this: is it possible that the promise of becoming an internet "star" brings out MORE girls? Maybe the exhibitionists are drawn out so that the proportion of ex-ante "breast revealers" increases?
I tell you this: the person who solves this problem will win the Nobel Prize in economics, maybe even the peace prize, in thirty years!
1. The girls are not paid, per se. Alcohol is usually free, and there is sometimes a small prize for "winning," but the financial gain seems small. If I am wrong about this, please let me know.
2. The men there get a lot of value. They would get more value if they could take pictures and look at them later. Maybe sell them, but at least share them with friends and look at them.
3. Camera phones have made it possible to do this quite easily. Just look at collegehumor.com.
So, here is the problem. Does the spread of these pictures deter girls from showing off in the future? If so, then it would seem sub-optimal to allow camera phones into the bars, but I don't know of this happening. What if a bar was to have a "camera phone photographer" who took pictures, then sold them to the men at the bar that night, then distribute the money to the girls. Would this increase the displays (supply slope up) or decrease (changes the good to prostitution)? How about this: is it possible that the promise of becoming an internet "star" brings out MORE girls? Maybe the exhibitionists are drawn out so that the proportion of ex-ante "breast revealers" increases?
I tell you this: the person who solves this problem will win the Nobel Prize in economics, maybe even the peace prize, in thirty years!
posted by Andy at 3:45 PM
2 Comments:
When I was on my honeymoon on the Mayan Riviera there was a talent contest at the resort where risky behavior was actively encouraged. Cameras and Camera Phones were expressly prohibited. This certainly increased the comfoprt level of those not eager to have a lifetime record of the activities that occured that night. My mental photographs were more then worth the loss of potential digital photographs.
http://www.chrissilvey.com/weblog
Chris Silvey
You've been wrestling with this concept for a couple months now, haven't you?
ha, wrestling. Applies to both mental processes and jello.
Good luck with the classes, rock on, come up to Ann Arbor some time.
Paul
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