Relationship Economics

I read with great interest in Marina Mahathir's blog about the Economics of Love. Allow me to first congratulate Mr Ben Stein for applying Economics in a lighter sense and allowing us to view relationship from the perspective of Economics. For those who have not read it, go try and understand it here.

Actually, Economics is not all about supply and demand only. If that is the case, I would have graduated in my first year or perhaps even in my college days. Haha. Economics is indeed a broad perspective where there exists many branches such as Financial Economics, Political Economics, Game Theory, Micro and Macro Theory etc. There are also many types of Economic models out there for us to learn, grasp and apply in daily lives.

Never has it crossed my mind to think about Economics of Love given the seriousness of the contents of my lectures and courses although Dr Jane Golley did recommend us to read this book Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything when we were just in Microeconomics 1.

For those who want to know more about this Freakonomics book, I believe you can check it out the review in Wikipedia here.

The partial text : (by Ben Stein)

1. In general, and with rare exceptions, the returns in love situations are roughly proportional to the amount of time and devotion invested. The amount of love you get from an investment in love is correlated, if only roughly, to the amount of yourself you invest in the relationship.


2. If you invest caring, patience and unselfishness, you get those things back. (This assumes, of course, that you are having a relationship with someone who loves you, and not a one-sided love affair with someone who isn’t interested.)


3. High-quality bonds consistently yield more return than junk, and so it is with high-quality love.


4. Stay with high-quality human beings.


5. Research pays off. The most appealing and seductive (that word again) exterior can hide the most danger and chance of loss. For most of us, diversification in love, at least beyond a very small number, is impossible, so it’s necessary to do a lot of research on the choice you make. It is a rare man or woman who can resist the outward and the surface. But exteriors can hide far too much.


6. In every long-term romantic situation, returns are greater when there is a monopoly. If you have to share your love with others, if you have to compete even after a brief while with others, forget the whole thing. You want to have monopoly bonds with your long-term lover. At least most situations work out better this way.

My crappy model : (crazy Kah Meng and I played around with it)

Haha. This is just for fun. But yeah. Ben Stein's article really made some sense. The above mathematical derivation I had is a simple, dumb and crappy one. Just didn't want to do any of my serious work tonight. Hmm. It is after all, a celebration day today. A friend's birthday.

Note :

Well, sorry pals that I didnt notify about my sudden change of my personal blog link address. Used to be ... (you know ..). So anyway, I have made it available with a link in APOMM. My Life Story. It comes with a new blog address. Yeah. I sincerely apologize if I had made APOMM some what unprofessional in the past also.

Things have gotten better with me a little bit and I am coming back to my senses a little. Nevertheless, I have a few words to say about my principles. I will always want what I have lost, and I hate to be challenged (haha... saya pantang dicabar... kinda famous words these days). Challenge me and we shall engage in war unless the payoffs of peace is better. So it depends. Haha. I am kinda getting the fun and entertainment of Economics. Yeah. But that is me.

I hope it is all uphill for me now after I had some setbacks some time ago. I realised that some of my readers are not at all happy with my thinking, my analysis, my opinions, my words and my style of writing on socio - political matters.

Let me say this. I am still just a young chap. If you have a different view, and you believe I am wrong, then share it with me. I am more than willing to learn from you and see from your side. After all, one can never stop acquiring knowledge for knowledge has no limits.

Allow me to be your student, to be your friend and to be your listener. I thank all my readers in advance. I welcome all criticisms, arguments, opinions and perhaps a pat on my back (once in a while). Haha. But please. No personal attacks. We are all learned mature individuals. So let us behave like an adult.

Sincerely,
Wei Liang.