The world's funniest economics stories

Chapter 35 Happiness is not built with money (2)
Transaction cost economics [TCE] is the only field in the new institutional economics that has been empirically tested successfully.Williamson has made outstanding contributions to the development of transaction cost economics, a novel fringe discipline that combines law, economics, and organization.

5. Why sometimes the third party makes the marriage sweeter - the catfish effect
Let us revisit the fable of the catfish effect together.

Norwegians are very good at fishing. When their fishing boats return to the harbor, fishmongers rush to buy fresh fish, but most of the sardines caught by fishermen are already dead and can only be disposed of at a low price.

"God, we are so unfortunate." The fishermen lamented.

However, there was a man named Hans, the sardines he caught were still alive and kicking, and the merchants flocked to Hans one after another: "I offer a high price, sell it to me!" "Sell it to me, I will offer a higher price! "So Hans' fish sold well.

The curious businessman couldn't help asking: "How do you keep the sardines alive?"

Hans said, "Go and see my fish tank!"

It turned out that there was a lively catfish in Hans's fish tank, and it ran around, which made the sardines in the whole fish tank very nervous, and they tried to swim faster, so that they survived.

The catfish effect is to take a means or measure to stimulate some enterprises to become active and enter the market to actively participate in competition, thereby activating the same industry enterprises in the market.Its essence is a kind of negative incentive and the secret to activate the workforce.

When a "foreign visitor" catfish appeared among the quiet sardines, they responded out of fear, but their potential vitality was stimulated, so the sardines lived more actively and better.In the same way, if there is a "third party" in the marriage, we might as well treat it as a "catfish" that arrives suddenly, and deal with it properly, maybe what we can improve is not just the intimacy between lovers up.

When married life is flat and without twists and turns, we seldom think of anything to improve or repair our relationship with our dear ones, because we think everything is safe and sound, very much like those sardines in a fish tank: Content with the status quo, without any passion, even lost vitality, slowly waiting for the established destiny.However, at this time, a "catfish" - the third party turned out, and we couldn't help but feel the crisis.As a result, our buried vitality was finally stimulated.

In married life, everything can happen. No one can guarantee that marriage will always be as perfect as we imagined. When you feel boring or tired about marriage, emotional wandering is most likely to happen. Not only him, but also you Inevitably.Then, when the "catfish" as an external competitor appears quietly, what you need to do is to re-examine your married life with stronger vitality, get rid of slack and negligence, and learn how to inject freshness into your marriage blood and passion.

Facts have proved that many marriages with "catfish" and a smooth transition will actually make the marriage closer. It is very simple, thanks to the "catfish effect" that we are all familiar with, it makes us more mature and happy in marriage.

Not all "catfish" are menacing, and not all marriages are fragile. First of all, you must have confidence in your marriage and lover, and more importantly, you must have confidence in yourself.Once the troubles of the so-called "catfish" are discovered, mutual sincere trust is the most important thing.When a person fully feels your trust and love, he will usually not let you down easily, and he will only stand by your side to resist the "catfish" together.

Depression effect, just like water flows downhill, more resources are always gathered in depressions, for example, there is a lot of oil in the Middle East.This is a natural phenomenon, but in the field of economics, there is a similar phenomenon in both capital and talent - gathering in depressions. "Talents fly southeast" is a good example.Due to the better economic development and higher quality of life in the southeast coast, talents are naturally willing to develop there.

6. Marriage of the right family--rational choice
Li Hua and Wang Ming were lovers when they were in college.Li Hua, who is cheerful by nature, has lived in the city since he was a child, and his family conditions are excellent.The introverted Wang Ming's family lives in the countryside. His family life is very poor, and he has younger brothers and sisters at home.

After graduating from university, Li Hua married Wang Ming regardless of the opposition of his family and friends.When they first got married, they really lived a very happy life.But after a long time, dealing with daily necessities, the conflicts between the husband and wife gradually increased.

The very different living habits, hobbies, and concepts make them almost have no common language. In severe cases, they can't even agree on how to entertain guests, what price to buy clothes, and what kind of food to eat.Perhaps it was because the living standards and family circumstances of the two people were too different in the past, and their vision and concepts were also very different.Blind calculations led to their constant quarrels, and their feelings were exhausted in such quarrels.

In the days that followed, they became sadder every day. In the end, their relationship for several years could not withstand the test of reality. In desperation, they chose to break up.

What Li Hua couldn't figure out was, why did two people who love each other become parallel lines in reality?
In the previous story, due to the huge gap between Li Hua and Wang Ming in various aspects such as living habits, hobbies, etc., they have irreconcilable conflicts between them, and finally come to the end of the work and the swallow.In fact, this is caused by improper households.

Because of this, when people are looking for a partner, they will always form their own criteria for choosing a spouse.Such as height, appearance, occupation, income, education level, family background, etc.From an economic point of view, everyone must make a rational choice according to their own requirements when looking for a partner.

Rational choice, like behaviorism, observes and analyzes political phenomena from the individual, but does not adopt an inductive method, but assumes an individual seeking to maximize his own interests, and then calculates and deduces in various situations, according to Individuals who act on the principle of maximizing utility may take actions to meet their greatest needs with the least sacrifice, and rational choices are often realized through transactions.Don't think that rational choice is very simple. In fact, this is a very complicated logical recognition.

Rational choice is generally objective and fair.Rational choice theory originates from public choice theory.Includes James Buchanan's public choice model, Anthony Downs' bureaucratic economics, Olson's theory of collective action, and Reich's theory of political alliances.Afterwards, theoretical forms such as alliance theory, transaction theory, game theory, voting analysis and decision-making at various levels were gradually developed.Rational choice is a concept in macroeconomics.

The famous economist Becker said in his book "On Marriage" that marriage is a rational choice to maximize benefits.In fact, Becker expresses the reality that people are unwilling to accept or admit in the most rational terms.From an economic point of view, marriage is two free men and women forming a family limited liability company.If the two parties have similar family backgrounds and living environments, and have similar levels of education, under this kind of "good family match", a solid foundation for each other's common life will be laid, and the uncertain factors in marriage will also be reduced to a certain extent.On the contrary, if the two parties have certain differences in various aspects, then living together will inevitably lead to crisis due to unaccustomed.

In today's society where the divorce rate is getting higher and higher, the most important factor leading to divorce is economic problems.Some economists say that the economy determines everything.For example, if both parties in a marriage have a certain inferiority complex because they have no money, they will inevitably bear heavy pressure and neglect the family while desperately making money.

(End of this chapter)