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Wednesday, February 14, 2018

St Valentine’s Day and Understanding the Price System

Today is Valentine's Day - or, as Bondi Icebergers and Bra Boys like to call it, Extortion Day! 




All you need is love. But a little chocolate now and then doesn't hurt as Valentinus becomes Malchkeountinus ... 

The minute I heard my first love story, I started looking for you, not knowing how blind that was. Lovers don't finally meet somewhere. They're in each other all along.

Just in time for Valentine’s Day, the ABC has kicked off its new program The Economistswith a session on the economics of love.  Peter Martin discusses the economics of loyalty – to one’s companion, friends, children, country.  Such loyalty may not align with the “rational” economics of self-interest, but it has huge evolutionary advantages.



Literature's 30 Worst Couples: For Valentine's Day, a list of the worst lovers in all of literature. (Oedipus and Jocasta, shocking approximately no one, make the cut.)


Have A Look At Three Centuries’ Worth Of Valentines


Eve M. Kahn brings us some examples from the collection of some 12,000 paper valentines, dating as far back as the late 17th century, assembled by historian Nancy Rosin and recently donated to the Huntington Library in Los Angeles. … Read More


 

Doubt thou the stars are fire, 
 Doubt that the sun doth move.  
  Doubt truth to be a liar, 
      But never doubt I love
 .~ By Bill S


The hours I spend with you I look upon as sort of a perfumed herb garden, a dim twilight, and a fountain singing to it. You and you alone make me feel that I am alive. Other men it is said have seen angels, but I have seen thee and thou art enough. 
~ George Edward Moore


"I'd rather have roses on my table than diamonds on my neck." The one who must not be disobeyed observed once ;-) 
I Can't Afford A Valentine's Day Gift, So Instead I'm Planning An Adorable Surprise For My SO 

In the seminal film The Making-Up, there is a scene where Jennifer Aniston, who is, bizarrely, dating Vince Vaughn, yells at him, exasperated, “I don’t want you to do the dishes. I want you to want to do the dishes.” Of course he answers: “Why would I want to do dishes?”


Some historians
date Valentine's Day all the way back to the Roman festival of Lupercalia. Back then it was more about people drinking too much and pairing off than it was about love. That's until Pope Gelasius I made Lupercalia a Christian holiday and he made everyone put some pants on for it too Catholics keen to spoil their loved ones on St Valentine's Day tomorrow face a dilemma. For the first time since 1945 it falls on the same day as Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent and a day when Catholics fast and abstain from meat - requirements which could leave their romantic plans in jeopardy. We need love for fruitful co-existence

The strange history of StValentine's Day via Cold Water
Valentine’s Day is coming up so here’s a reminder to get your loved one a present! Valentine’s is also a great time to teach your students about globalization, the signaling and incentive role of prices, and the power of the price system–all key aspects of Chapter 7 in our textbook Modern Principles of Economics. We have two superb videos to encourage understanding and discussion of the price system, I, Rose and A Price is a Signal Wrapped up in an Incentive (see below).
In addition, we have created a lesson plan with discussion prompts, exercises, practice questions, and pre- and post-class assignments. Finally, we provide supplementary resources such as additional data sources, relevant news articles and blog posts, and an episode of Planet Money. You can find all of this material in one convenient location here. Enjoy!

Saint Valentine
14 things you didn't know about Valentine's Day


Photo Gothic Quarters, Barcelona de Frank van Haalen (via 500px)
Note that General Motors, with both a direct incentive to closely monitor water quality and the capacity to do something about it, ceased using Flint River water at its engine plant in that city in October 2014.
The author of the book is Evan Osborne and the subtitle is How Society Gains When We Govern Less

Sans titre 1931 Raoul Hausmann
"When one door of happiness closes, another opens, but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one that has been opened for us."
-- Helen Keller







Quincy Jones on dating Ivanka, knowing who killed Kennedy, and the tech billionaire who can play like Hendrix.