Archive for August, 2007
Wednesday, August 22nd, 2007
A sunk cost is an expense that you cannot recover. Accordingly, economic theory says a sunk cost should not affect your decision making. Psychologically, it is hard to ignore sunk costs. Here are a few examples where sunk costs come into play.
Example 1: Attending an NFL game with already purchased ...
Posted in Saving | 8 Comments »
Tuesday, August 21st, 2007
Every Tuesday is a Game Theory article at Mind Your Decisions.
A word of caution: I write this article about threats not to make you a Machiavellian prince, but rather to arm you, as an honest person, with weapons against people ready to take advantage of you.
There are two kinds ...
Posted in Game Theory, Threats | 2 Comments »
Tuesday, August 21st, 2007
Every Tuesday is a Game Theory article at Mind Your Decisions.
I gave a brief history of game theory in my introductory post. Game theory is about making actions based on what you think others might do, taking into account that other people are acting based on what you might do. ...
Posted in Game Theory | 1 Comment »
Monday, August 20th, 2007
I’ve always felt being friendly gives results than being a jerk. On that note, I enjoyed reading Robert Sutton’s book The No Asshole Rule, which argues that businesses can be more successful if they avoid hiring assholes.
Sutton defines assholes in the first chapter as people who (1) make a target ...
Posted in Books | 9 Comments »
Friday, August 17th, 2007
I'm almost always thinking numbers. Yes, even when shopping for beer.
Recently, I was choosing between the Red and Blue Chimay varieties. I have a slight preference for the Blue, but the Red was a couple dollars cheaper and figured I'd give it a try. But I wondered why it was ...
Posted in Tangents | 8 Comments »
