A Christmas rat, perhaps?

It's Christmas Eve and the family has already broken through the Xmas goodies. The Doctor called it Xmas because we are having "fake Christmas," or December 24th Christmas. The next order of business: to exit the premises by 3:30 pm for Florida. A few quotes:


"How will we wake up the Diva and the DJ? Let's get Pepper (one of the three guinea pigs). She's the scurriest!" What a precious awakening.


"No, Tweenie, you cannot bring all your Christmas presents to Florida. They will rip off the wrapping paper and we [are too cheap] to pay for more baggage."


"Ah, yes, a Christmas hound." The beagles enjoyed a good frolic through the wrapping paper before they headed off to the kennel. That was not their best Christmas surprise, to be sure. Poor babies.


In my rushing around the local strip mall for essentials such as medication, Timothy hay (we also own three guinea pigs), and gluten-free goodies, I stopped by the small animal cages at PetCo. Unlike those of us who have a plane to catch rather than a Christmas eve service to stumble into half an hour late, much of the western world is taking advantage of one last shopping day. With regard to pets, 'tis the season to find a furry little friend under the Christmas tree or the Hanukkah bush. In other words, domesticated animals are in very high demand. This is taking into account that birthdays and animal feedings occur at an equal rate undifferentiated from other times of the year. Of all the animals to be found under the tree, the common white rat, Rattus norvegicus, is not one of them. Regardless of the high demand for pets, the supply of rats exceeds the demand for the beasts. This is what we call a surplus. There's your principles of microeconomics lesson of the day, a "simple gift" from me to you.


On a brief personal note, I gave myself a fantastic Christmas present. It is probably the best so far in my brief adult life. I gave myself the gift of fitness. Since being home, I went to the JCC-happy Hanukkah!-and worked up to running/jogging/continuously moving more than six miles! This is a most appropriate gift before a beach trip. I built up my willpower, pushed my boundaries, and held off gratification. Excellent.


Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays, everyone!

Don't Cry Over Spilled Milk or Wasted Concert Tickets

The other day, the FutureDJ and I were threatened with the negative consequences of our inaction. MBAMama had purchased four tickets to an indie band as per the request of the little broski and myself, with the anticipation that he and I would be bringing a couple friends. Broski's friend bailed and I very quickly discovered that my friends would be back from finals the following week.

Thursday afternoon:
"I'm not really feelin' it," commented Broski.
"Me neither," I answered, hoping first to side with my brother and second to leverage the cumulative past 21 years of semi-responsible oldest sibling cred.
"WHAT? Are you serious? I paid $12 apiece for you to go see this concert and you aren't going? No. You are going and you are paying me back for not following through."

Another day, another economics lesson! Though paid for with a credit card (I'm not opening that can of beans, thank you very much!), the concert tickets were paid for as soon as Mommy dearest clicked the "purchase" button on ticketmaster. At that point, we were technically owners of the tickets, free to use or not use them as we please. This phenomenon is called a sunk cost in economics.

It's also associated with a fallacious perception of waste. I'm sure you've encountered it. Grandma, child of the Great Depression force-feeds the grandkids the last of the leftover mac and cheese to the tune of "waste not, want not." Although Grandma clearly has the agenda of fattening us up, the validity of which I am certain, you don't have to eat the last crusts of mac and cheese. It's already made. It's your choice as to whether you will actually eat it. And don't you bring the "starving children in Africa" into this. We are rational people, here!

Though MBAMama knows about sunk costs, she also knows that self-interested kids can have the propensity to introduce unnecessary spending into the family budget. She knows that when we feel a lightening of our own wallets, incentives really start kicking in. And that corresponds to real internal emotional responses that deepens the brain-grooves of convincing, cajoling, punishing, encouraging, and all the rest that is parenting.

If you want a more in-depth example of sunk costs, check out The Sunk Cost Fallacy by You're Not So Smart. Good stuff.