Truck and Barter: T&B Takes Cues from Wonkette-ish Area of Blogistan

May 31, 2004

T&B Takes Cues from Wonkette-ish Area of Blogistan

By Ian

The Calico Cat has some really interesting thoughts about the market for blogs.

It even kindly mentions this humble corner of the econ-focused part of the blog world. At issue for T&B is that scandals and ribald sites such as the Jessica Cutler/Washingtonienne "event" (personally, I consider it a silly cry for attention from someone who has yet to find a modicum of respect for herself, but "skin" does, sadly, sell) generates a great deal more hits than, say, a more niche player like T&B. (Oh, if only more of the world concerned itself with economics and economics education...).

But don't let it be said that we here at T&B can't learn by example (ok, well, I can only speak for myself, but the rest of the crew appears able in numerous areas well beyond my own meager skills). In that vein, I'd like to point you to one of the more interesting applications of economic analysis I've seen recently: The Economics of Ecstasy. (NB: PDF file, large.)

As the title might imply, it's an economic analysis of the dynamics surrounding orgasms, both honest and...the When Harry Met Sally variety. It's an interesting paper, not simply for the subject at hand. Here's Slate's take on it: The Economics of Faking Orgasm:

The obvious reason to fake is to please your partner. But what about a woman who doesn't particularly care about her partner? Might she still fake? Mialon concocts a scenario—though a contrived one—where the answer is yes. Suppose Adam is very insecure and always suspects Eve of faking. Suppose the one thing Eve really hates is having a partner who's always wrong. Then since Adam always thinks she's faking, she has to fake to make him right. Eve's fakery reinforces Adam's skepticism and Adam's skepticism reinforces Eve's fakery, so we have what economists call equilibrium.

Fair warning however -- especially for Mr. Antler -- the analysis is largely centered around a game-theoretic construct. Signalling games, to be precise.

Orgasms, sex games, and econometrics. The dismal science no more?

Posted at May 31, 2004 09:20 PM

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