« Assorted | Main | Implications of a zero discount rate »
Tim Harford on long-distance relationships
In today's FT:
Economist Tyler Cowen, a professor at George Mason University, has pointed out that the Alchian-Allen theorem applies to any long-distance relationship.
The theorem, briefly, implies that Australians drink higher-quality Californian wine than Californians, and vice-versa, because it is only worth the transportation costs for the most expensive wine. Similarly, there is no point in travelling to see your boyfriend for a take-away Indian meal and an evening in front of the telly. To justify the trip’s fixed costs, you will require champagne, sparkling conversation and energetic sex. Insist on it.
Meanwhile, optimal-experimentation theory suggests that at this tender stage of life you are highly likely to meet someone even better. Socialise a lot while your boyfriend is not around.
Here is Trudie on that same topic. By the way, here are two clips from Tim's BBC Econ TV show, on YouTube.
Posted by Tyler Cowen on November 25, 2006 at 07:48 AM in Education | Permalink
Comments
I can't say anything about Californian wine in Australia, but in the places where I do have some long-distance wine experience I can say this doesn't hold. In Russia, for example, now that one cannot get any decent wines from Georgia or Moldova there is a fair amount of Chilean wine. But, it's both of lower quality and higher price than in the US, which is of course closer. And, the rare Georgian wine one can find in the US is almost always of lower quality (and again higher price) than in Russia. Similarly while you can find really quite nice Russian champaign (if you know what brand to look for) in Russia at a decent price, it's almost impossible to find decent stuff like that here in the US. So, consider me a bit skepical about the wine part.
Posted by: Matt at Nov 25, 2006 9:14:32 AM
Then why does Britain import masses of foreign apples which are almost universally inferior to her own? Or am I an apple snob?
Posted by: dearieme at Nov 25, 2006 10:53:52 AM
As an Australian in New York my wine experience is in line with Matt's - while you can get the better Australian wines here, for the most part the Australian wines available in the US are less good and more expensive than those available in Australia. Presumable the ability to pass off a poor wine as a good wine in a market with less experience of that wine (with a corresponding mark-up) is worth more than the long-distance transportation costs.
Posted by: Edgil at Nov 25, 2006 11:06:31 AM
I'm afraid that Matt and Edgil have missed the point. It's not that Australians prefer California wine to their local variety, or that people prefer long-distance relationships to local romance. What the study suggests is that--now pay attention here--when Australians do in fact buy California wine, they tend to buy higher quality California wine than Californians do; when paramours are separated by distance, they are more likely to order filet mignon on a date than they would be if they lived in the same area code.
Posted by: Tree at Nov 25, 2006 1:28:03 PM
No, I got the point. My observation was that the Chilean wine in Russia is much worse than that in the US (and, I suspect, Chile, and people do in fact buy that. The same goes for Georgian wine in the US- it's a small amount sold here but what it sold is generally of much lower quality than in Georgia (or Russia, back when you could get it here). And, the Russian champaign you can buy here is much worse than that you can buy in Russia. I'd not said anything about the preference of people, just that, whatever might be true of Californian wine in Australia it's certainly not true in general.
Posted by: Matt at Nov 25, 2006 2:32:30 PM
The transportation costs of apples to the UK is probably less than the real estate and labor costs of growing apples in the UK itself.
Posted by: Josh at Nov 25, 2006 3:34:34 PM
Whereas a wine merchant in San Francisco once lamented to me that foreigners (e.g. me, or more specifically my French wine snob brother for whom I was buying a gift at the time) have an unfairly dim view of American wine because the locals drink the best stuff and only the mass produced and inferior gets exported.
Posted by: Alan Little at Nov 26, 2006 4:25:39 AM
The very fact you link to a BBC show is a great example. We get all the detective shows, news broadcasts and Britcoms without having to sit through the documentaries on the Debryshire cheese industry.
Posted by: Ted Craig at Nov 27, 2006 9:02:11 AM
Building on Alan's comment then, one should expect especially appealing individuals find the most satisfaction locally and without traveling?
Posted by: Bill at Nov 28, 2006 12:41:57 PM
liqingchao 07年8月21日
google排名
google排名
wow gold
wow gold
powerleveling
powerleveling
wow gold
wow gold
powerleveling
powerleveling
wow powerleveling
wow powerleveling
wow power leveling
wow power leveling
wow power level
wow power level
world of warcraft powerleveling
world of warcraft powerleveling
world of warcraft power leveling
world of warcraft power leveling
china tour
china tour
hongkong hotel
hongkong hotel
beijing tour
beijing tour
翻译公司
翻译公司
上海翻译公司
上海翻译公司
北京翻译公司
北京翻译公司
北京搬家公司
北京搬家公司
鼓风机
风机
风机
货架
光盘刻录
光盘刻录
光盘制作
光盘制作
光盘印刷
光盘印刷
红外测温仪
红外测温仪
超声波测厚仪
超声波测厚仪
超声波探伤仪
超声波探伤仪
频闪仪
频闪仪
涂层测厚仪
涂层测厚仪
电火花检测仪
电火花检测仪
google排名
仓库
仓库
仓库出租
仓库出租
物流园区
物流园区
集团电话
集团电话
四环素牙
口腔常识
口腔常识
口腔医生
口腔医生
网站设计
网站设计
多媒体
监控
监控
监控系统
监控系统
门禁
门禁
门禁系统
门禁系统
搬家公司
搬家公司
条码打印机
条码打印机
牙周炎
牙周炎
Posted by: wslmwps at Aug 21, 2007 2:28:03 AM
I recently ended my long distance relationship of 1 year. My boyfriend was deployed for the second half of our relationship. Throughout his deployment he only communicated with me about once a month. I tried to be as understanding as possible and never complained about that. Even then, I would still send letters weekly (through the internet), and emails. He never wrote me one letter.
Anyway, when he came back, and for the last half of the relationship he was pushing me away. What hurt the most is he never invited me to his Homecoming! I could believe it, but I still tried to stay positive. When we did see each other (1 week after he was back) things changed. For example, he never told me thank you (for standing by him while he was gone), I missed you, etc....
After we saw each other he did not call me for an entire week, which I talked to him about. He said he "could" work on calling more, but no promises were made on his part. A few days later he still did not call so this when I ended the relationship. When I talked to him about ending the relationship he said he sort of agreed. I feel I had to end it because my needs were going unmet and my boyfriend was only doing the bear minimum to keep me happy. I also knew I didnt want to be treated like a doormat.
Anyway I was just wondering if you all think I gave up on my relationship too soon, or if this guy is a just being a jerk and ending it was the right choice?
Posted by: Long Distance Relationships at Jan 25, 2008 11:09:22 PM
資金を増やそうとするのに不動産投資をするのが手っ取り早い。日本で不動産で東京 賃貸をさがすのはきわめて難しくシステム開発は日本の会社が良い。
Posted by: 不動産投資 at Jul 19, 2008 12:36:17 AM
Posted by: masinn at Aug 28, 2008 8:25:59 AM
Posted by: at Oct 13, 2008 10:57:04 PM
水虫スカルプ育毛シャンプー育毛岩尾シャンプー宮迫シャンプー発毛シャンプー抜け毛シャンプー薬用シャンプー包茎包茎治療包茎手術冷え性むくみ蟹毛蟹ズワイ蟹タラバ蟹産後わきが
Posted by: likaida at Mar 16, 2009 9:34:34 PM
出会い堺出会い仙台出会い横浜出会い横須賀出会い札幌出会い千代田区出会い中央区出会い港区出会い新宿区出会い文京区出会い台東区出会い墨田区出会い江東区出会い品川区出会い目黒区出会い大田区出会い世田谷区出会い渋谷区出会い中野区出会い杉並区
Posted by: likaida at Mar 16, 2009 9:35:18 PM
出会い豊島区出会い北区出会い荒川区出会い板橋区出会い練馬区出会い足立区出会い葛飾区出会い江戸川区出会い神戸出会い久留米出会い水戸出会い名古屋出会い大牟田出会いさいたま
Posted by: likaida at Mar 16, 2009 9:37:48 PM
長野市出会い長野出会い新潟出会い新潟市出会いさいたま出会い川越出会い埼玉県出会い埼玉出会い千葉出会い銚子出会い千葉県出会い横浜出会い川崎出会い横須賀出会い神奈川出会い名古屋出会い豊橋出会い愛知県出会い愛知出会い石川出会い
Posted by: likaida at Mar 16, 2009 9:43:44 PM
住吉出会い平野出会い堺出会い貝塚出会い冨田林出会い箕面出会い東大阪出会い出会い系出会い無料出会い系の攻略について出会いカフェ出会いパーティー優良出会い系サイト
Posted by: likaida at Mar 16, 2009 9:48:34 PM
出会い熊本出会い京都出会い三重出会い宮城出会い宮崎出会い長野出会い長崎出会い奈良出会い新潟出会い大分出会い岡山出会い沖縄出会い大阪出会い佐賀出会い埼玉出会い滋賀出会い島根出会い静岡出会い栃木出会い徳島
Posted by: likaida at Mar 16, 2009 9:49:40 PM
出会い東京出会い鳥取出会い富山出会い和歌山出会い山形出会い山口出会い山梨在宅ワーク内職在宅アルバイト乾燥肌ダイエット 食事サプリメント無料占い
Posted by: likaida at Mar 16, 2009 9:50:10 PM
Last chaos Gold
Buy Last Chaos Gold
Cheap Last Chaos Gold
Posted by: aion kina at Mar 20, 2009 10:23:42 PM
