Is Economics the subject of LOVE?
I had my interesting Economics tutorial again today. And yes you guessed it, I did not touch my tutorials, nor did I even gave them a glance prior to the tutorial lesson. Hey, I'm just a normal guy, okay? So cut me some slack~
Anyway, back to the lesson. The tutorial today was on the lesson of utility, which means level of satisfaction (happiness) to those who have taken econs before. When explaining the Law of Diminishing Marginal Utility (LODMU) to us, our tutor used a very good example of relationship to help us visualise the concept of the LODMU. Let me try to repeat what she had said during the lesson.
I quote:" Okay, visualise you have a date with someone you like for the first time. You will comb your hair, dress nicely, put on makeup/perfume and plan the place to have dinner. To summarise the point, you will do your best for the date and you will enjoy the date immensely if nothing screws up. (Okay, I added the 'nothing screws up' part). This means that the marginal utility is high. Marginal utility (MU) is the rate of change of utility, which means the change in the amount of satisfaction or happiness that you experienced now compared to your last date. And total utility (TU) is the total amount of satisfaction/happiness that you have accumulated so far. So lets say if utility can be measured in units, and we assume that the MU of the first date is 100. So after the first date, the TU is now 100."
Okay, I admit, up to this point, I was like staring at her with a very blank look, unable to understand the connection of economics and the intricate structure of relationship. Struggle as I might, but I, how shall I put it, still catch no ball. Anyway, she fires on without even noticing my blank look.
I quote again:" With the current TU at 100, you go on a second date with your dream guy/gal once again. This time you still dress nicely, comb your hair and put on makeup/perfume but maybe just forgetting to plan the date. Once again you enjoyed the date greatly and this time the MU is 99 instead of 100. As you can see the MU drops, but that doesn't mean that you don't enjoy the date as the TU increases to 199. It is just that you do not enjoy your second date as much as the first date. So as time goes by, the MU will drop steady as TU keeps increasing. What this mean is that you still enjoy going out, but you won't dress nicely, won't put on makeup/perfume, etc. So with this analogy, do you all understand the concept of Marginal Utility?"
At that moment, it was like a lightbulb went berserk in my head! "I understood!", I nearly shouted out. "So it is normal for guys to slacken in a relationship ah? Since it is defined in the Law of Diminishing Marginal Utility, it should not be wrong lah", I thought. Apparently, this is the case in relationships. It is not the LODMU at work, but our own sense of comfort doing the evil coercing that since together for so long already, no need to put in so much effort anymore. That, I think, is more possibly the case as compared the the Law defined in the world of economics. But then again, considering the relationship between love and money, maybe economics does have some ground when it comes to proving the solidity of relationships yet. I can't wait for my tutor to explain the supply and demand curve using relationships! Maybe with a short supply of girls in engineering school would mean the high demand of engineering guys wanting a girlfriend? Maybe not.
Anyway, back to the lesson. The tutorial today was on the lesson of utility, which means level of satisfaction (happiness) to those who have taken econs before. When explaining the Law of Diminishing Marginal Utility (LODMU) to us, our tutor used a very good example of relationship to help us visualise the concept of the LODMU. Let me try to repeat what she had said during the lesson.
I quote:" Okay, visualise you have a date with someone you like for the first time. You will comb your hair, dress nicely, put on makeup/perfume and plan the place to have dinner. To summarise the point, you will do your best for the date and you will enjoy the date immensely if nothing screws up. (Okay, I added the 'nothing screws up' part). This means that the marginal utility is high. Marginal utility (MU) is the rate of change of utility, which means the change in the amount of satisfaction or happiness that you experienced now compared to your last date. And total utility (TU) is the total amount of satisfaction/happiness that you have accumulated so far. So lets say if utility can be measured in units, and we assume that the MU of the first date is 100. So after the first date, the TU is now 100."
Okay, I admit, up to this point, I was like staring at her with a very blank look, unable to understand the connection of economics and the intricate structure of relationship. Struggle as I might, but I, how shall I put it, still catch no ball. Anyway, she fires on without even noticing my blank look.
I quote again:" With the current TU at 100, you go on a second date with your dream guy/gal once again. This time you still dress nicely, comb your hair and put on makeup/perfume but maybe just forgetting to plan the date. Once again you enjoyed the date greatly and this time the MU is 99 instead of 100. As you can see the MU drops, but that doesn't mean that you don't enjoy the date as the TU increases to 199. It is just that you do not enjoy your second date as much as the first date. So as time goes by, the MU will drop steady as TU keeps increasing. What this mean is that you still enjoy going out, but you won't dress nicely, won't put on makeup/perfume, etc. So with this analogy, do you all understand the concept of Marginal Utility?"
At that moment, it was like a lightbulb went berserk in my head! "I understood!", I nearly shouted out. "So it is normal for guys to slacken in a relationship ah? Since it is defined in the Law of Diminishing Marginal Utility, it should not be wrong lah", I thought. Apparently, this is the case in relationships. It is not the LODMU at work, but our own sense of comfort doing the evil coercing that since together for so long already, no need to put in so much effort anymore. That, I think, is more possibly the case as compared the the Law defined in the world of economics. But then again, considering the relationship between love and money, maybe economics does have some ground when it comes to proving the solidity of relationships yet. I can't wait for my tutor to explain the supply and demand curve using relationships! Maybe with a short supply of girls in engineering school would mean the high demand of engineering guys wanting a girlfriend? Maybe not.
posted by Peter at
5:05 PM
4 Comments:
Hahaha~ that story quite funny leh...
wow! a really creative way to illustrate LODMU. haha.. so what happens when MU drops to constant 0? tat means the excitment has reached saturation (TU max) and both are damn happy forever or the excitment has died totally (MU = 0) and the r/s is on the rocks? keke.. enlighten me, i'm an econs idiot. =D
haha.. wy! you and your econ theory. ok not talking abt r/s anymore. what if bubble tea suddenly got famous again? so LODMU doesn't apply here anymore? haha..
just quoting what i heard mah, not much theory involved lah. but wat i feel is that the LODMU applies differently to different ppl bah. some ppl will haf their MU decreased until 0, which means they are no longer interested in the other party, hence breaking up is only a matter of time. some ppl will have their MU go into negative region, which means that 爱变成恨了, and that will definitely result in a unhappy breakup. There will also be some ppl having their MU like a log graph, MU approaches zero but never does touch zero. I guess this type of relationship lasts longest bah. and finally there is those with the sine curve type MU. Goes up and down then up again and down again, unstable lah, but i guess some ppl finds it fun bah? no me tho~ ;)
QF
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