Comments on: Economists as agony aunts

By: spacewaitress

spacewaitress — Tue, 14 Oct 2003 19:24:11 +0000

Is there any way to view this article without entering a credit card number?

By: William Sjostrom

William Sjostrom — Mon, 13 Oct 2003 12:49:36 +0000

Lighten up, folks. The piece was primarily tongue in cheek. I used to work with Tim Harford, and he is one of the funnier people I know (I was going to say “one of the funnier economists”, but that would not carry much weight). On the other hand, I have never worked on suicide hotline, and would make a point of not recommending me for the job, but it would be interesting to see how much of the advice offered is implicitly option value reasoning.

By: Laertes

Laertes — Sun, 12 Oct 2003 20:14:43 +0000

Economics geeks have a weird sense of humor.

By: andrew

andrew — Sun, 12 Oct 2003 07:58:01 +0000

Acute exogenous shocks have sunk many a profitable enterprise. Your life could stay irrational longer than you can stand to stick around. Perhaps an emergency loan program of love, attention and sex should be created, charging most of their future earnings. They were gonna die anyway, so it’s win-win.

By: Walt Pohl

Walt Pohl — Sun, 12 Oct 2003 03:29:51 +0000

The FT column is a joke, right? It reads like a joke to me.

By: brayden

brayden — Sat, 11 Oct 2003 22:24:54 +0000

Dear God, never let Tim Hartford volunteer for the suicide hotline. The number of jumpers would double overnight. Now, why would we assume people attempting suicide are acting rationally?

By: Fabian Delecto

Fabian Delecto — Sat, 11 Oct 2003 17:40:19 +0000

More ego-centric economic utilitarian hogwash. The ego is not a bank or a stock investor. It doesn’t enjoy or profit from life, it IS life. Life is ebbing out of that man; tragedy has robbed him of his capacity to connect with things and thus experience the flow of life within him. Life is not his option, he is LIFE’s option, and life has had done with him, that’s it. The only pleasure left to him is the ultimate pleasure: death, ultimate alleviation of tensions, final non-sexual orgasm, yes, I call to you, gorgeous mistress, unparalleled conquest which destroys the conquistador, may you bless us with a beautiful seduction.

By: dippy

dippy — Sat, 11 Oct 2003 13:43:21 +0000

but surely there is a cost to holding onto an option that, in the wake of the updated information about the expected utility the would-be suicidee has about his future, makes him consider cashing it in?