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The auction begins
I thank Paul Sherman and Loren Poulsen and Eliot Williams for the pointer; a related link is here.
Posted by Tyler Cowen on March 4, 2010 at 01:39 PM in Economics | Permalink
Comments
That is hilarious!
Posted by: Yancey Ward at Mar 4, 2010 2:04:52 PM
If the people in the area are generally decent and willing to do the right thing despite financial incentives, a thinking person would put a $40 reward sign right next to those.
Posted by: libert at Mar 4, 2010 2:11:03 PM
i find it funny how they blurred out the phone numbers but not the silhouette of th epicture take in the window
Posted by: bk at Mar 4, 2010 2:28:53 PM
If they're different ipods with different identifying features, then all they're bidding on is getting the finder to call them *first*.
Posted by: PeterW at Mar 4, 2010 2:46:46 PM
'both' Paul Sherman AND Loren Poulsen AND Eliot Williams?????
error! noes not compute!
Posted by: jimibulgin at Mar 4, 2010 2:55:05 PM
Hello! I'm Troy MacClure. You might remember me from such iPhone apps as "Fart" and "Fart 2".
Posted by: Troy MacClure at Mar 4, 2010 3:10:44 PM
Sounds like a behavior economics experiment: leave some not-too-expensive item "lost" on campus, and post three signs with reward offers: $40, $50, $60. See which sign gets the most calls.
Hard to tease apart what respondents would be thinking -- maximize the reward, go with the middle, return to rightful owner, etc. -- since price differences alone wouldn't distinguish among the modes of thought. But there's bound to be a good experimentalist who could design it right.
Or maybe put up a single sign and vary its characteristics. Low monetary reward plus a picture of the lost item and a heartfelt plea, high monetary reward with minimal sterile text and no picture, and something in between. That would probably tell us which trait people respond to most (I'd guess the picture and plea, but who knows).
Posted by: agnostic at Mar 4, 2010 5:03:14 PM
It takes a Mac Lure to catch an iPod thief!
Posted by: Sed at Mar 4, 2010 5:07:25 PM
That's how we do it in my home state. Especially in and around B-mo. Honestly, it was almost certainly done out of jackass sarcasm. It's our best export and my only redeeming trait.
Sev.
Posted by: Severus at Mar 4, 2010 7:31:04 PM
Or, you could be ambiguous, and either be a fence or a victim, and post:
Wanted: Stolen IPod Touch
Posted by: Bill at Mar 4, 2010 8:52:24 PM
Anyone read the comments on the original post?
"The REAL genius would be if the $51 offer was the real (and first offer), and the $50 was an attempt to APPEAR as the real offer by being overbid by the other offer!"
But then, wise economists would dismiss that silly notion, being fully aware that money prices are the only things that matter to rational beings.
Posted by: Matthew at Mar 5, 2010 1:02:03 PM
Clearly, 1 extra dollar is not enough money to justify the loss of integrity of calling the second number. It must be at LEAST $25 more. lol
Posted by: schmallison at Mar 6, 2010 12:53:49 PM
Nice dude.
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