Month: January 2007

The Utility of Suffering

The question of the utility of suffering has been asked for as long as sentient beings have walked the earth, I suppose. And it is unlikely that it would be answered any time soon — an answer that does not insult the head nor outrage the heart, that is.
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Zen and the Art of Development

I was asked recently to ask a quotable question. My facetious response was that I only ask quotable questions. But I did consider the request seriously for a bit, and among the numerous questions that I wish people would ask themselves, I selected one that I think is particularly worthy in the context of development and economic growth. The question is this—and you may quote me freely—is there any instance of a technological development that was specifically created for the poor? The same question in the policy arena would translate into: is there any instance of a policy which was ostensibly pro-poor which actually helped the poor?
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A Trivial Economics Question — Part 2

Yesterday I posed a couple of trivial economics questions. The first was: “I have an object X that I wish to assign (gift or give away) to one of three: A, B, or C. How do I determine whom to give it to if I am concerned about allocative efficiency? Assume that A, B, and C have different preferences and abilities to pay.”
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A Trivial Economics Question

Here is the story. I have an object X that I wish to assign (gift or give away) to one of three: A, B, or C. How do I determine whom to give it to if I am concerned about allocative efficiency? Assume that A, B, and C have different preferences and abilities to pay.

To put a nice twist to the story, what if I am also concerned about equity? That is, although I have only one object X, I don’t want to be unfair to the other two who will not get the object X. What is the best way—the mechanism—to resolve this issue?

Of course, the answer changes if I don’t wish to give more than just the object X, as opposed to the case where I am willing to give more than X just for the sake of being fair to all three.

Finally, a real world situation. My siblings and I have inherited our parents’ property. The eldest occupies it, but the other three (including me), are waiting for our share. What is the most economically efficient way to distribute the value of the property if the property itself is indivisible?

Your views are solicited. Let’s see if we can find answers to the questions that we find satisfactory. And if we do, perhaps we will understand a little more about the question of how economies work. That is the beauty of economics. From seemingly trivial—though interesting—questions, one can gain insight into larger questions.

POST SCRIPT: I made the mistake of putting two entirely different scenarios on the same post. So there is much confusion. I wish to clarify that the “efficient allocation of an object X” is a seperate matter from the “fair and efficient distribution of an indivisible inherited property.” Conflating the two was not my intention.

IIT-Inspire, Invovle, and Transform — 2

[Continued from Part 1 of this series.]

Made Up Stuff

Naturally, I was not part of the organizing committee and so I can’t know how they chose the keynote speakers of Dec 23rd at the Pan IIT 2006 meet. Therefore, I give in to wild conjecture. Consider this a sort of “reverse process engineering.”

“We need to choose a keynote speaker.”

“Yes, but to attract a wide range of audience, we must have more than one. Let’s set the parameters first. How about someone who appeals to technologists, as we are all techies. At the other end of the scale we have to have someone who widely regarded as a spiritual leader. Most of all, we must have famous personalities.”

“I guess that is a great strategy. We must have complete and comprehensive coverage of the entire spectrum. We need the commies as well as the capitalists amongst us satisfied. So, we must get a money bag to be a keynote speaker. Married speakers as well as bachelors.” Continue reading “IIT-Inspire, Invovle, and Transform — 2”