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Escalation games markets in everything
Dick Thaler writes:
Swoopo has even sold cash using this format — specifically, checks for $1,000. My colleague Emir Kamenica and I looked at 26 such auctions we found in a data set posted on the Swoopo Web site. For each of these, the average revenue to Swoopo was $2,452. Winning bidders also did well: Of the winners, all but two made money even after accounting for the cost of their bids, with an average profit of $658. Still, the important point to remember is that, collectively, bidders are losing money. Only the lucky last bidder is a winner.
At the end of the column Thaler adds:
In my previous column, I tried to nudge Steve Jobs to have an app written for the Apple iPhone that would allow users to sign up easily to become organ donors.
Mr. Jobs can relax. Raymond Cheung from Serenity Integration read the column and made it happen. IPhone users can download the free Donate Lives app and sign up directly on their phones.
Posted by Tyler Cowen on November 14, 2009 at 05:39 PM in Economics | Permalink
Comments
The organ donor app is more useful than those with wine reviews.
I just finished reading your last book and then read 'A hint of hype' (WSJ, Nov 14). I ended up writing Wine Reviews...Are we Hyped, Framed or Looking at a Mirage
In the process, I discovered that Frederic Brochet was now a winemaker of all things.
Bon week-end
Serge
'The French Guy from New Jersey'
Posted by: Serge Lescouarnec at Nov 14, 2009 7:38:49 PM
DOJ subpoenas popular news site for visitors' ip addresses, emails, credit card info and more:
http://joshfulton.blogspot.com/2009/11/doj-are-dirty-fascistic-bastards-they.html
Posted by: Josh Fulton at Nov 14, 2009 9:06:08 PM
One wishes he would use his clout to "nudge" policymakers to experiment with some form of legalized organ markets. But no, cant expect that.
Posted by: Contemplationist at Nov 14, 2009 9:42:41 PM
But I bet that "winning biddrer" has, on average, lost much more than he gained on a check. It's Vegas, but the house comes out much further ahead.
Posted by: mw at Nov 15, 2009 12:29:24 AM
If you can read spanish, here's a pretty good explanation of how Swoopo works and why it sucks (for you, anyway).
http://av-pag.com/plataformas/swoopo-la-supuesta-ganga-de-las-subastas/
Posted by: Melvin at Nov 15, 2009 10:14:56 AM
It's almost needless to say, but apparently it's escaped everyone's notice: The organ donation thing only applies over a limited area. Namely one country, the one south of Canada.
Posted by: doctorpat at Nov 15, 2009 9:19:31 PM
