Valentine's Day and Economists

A repost from February 14, 2008.

Teresa Lo brings us
How to Succeed in Love (and the Market)

On the occasion of Valentine’s Day, here is a bit of advice from Amir D. Aczel, author of Chance:

A mathematical theorem has been developed that gives us the best sampling and stopping rule for all these situations. It can be found and further explained in books on probability. But the strategy is as follows:

You will maximize your probability of finding the best spouse if you date about thirty-seven percent of the available candidates in your life, and then choose to stay with the next candidate who is better than all previous ones....MORE

Uh huh.
From Wharton via Notre Dame:

TOP TEN ECONOMIST VALENTINES
8. WHAT DO YOU SAY WE RE-MEASURE OUR CROSS-ELASTICITY
5. FURTHER STIMULUS COULD RESULT IN UNCONTROLLED EXPANSION
4. TELL ME WHETHER MY EXPECTATIONS ARE RATIONAL
3. LET'S ASSUME A RITZY HOTEL ROOM AND A BOTTLE OF DOM

This tale is said to be told by John Kenneth Galbraith on himself. As a boy he lived on a farm in Canada. On the adjoining farm, lived a girl he was fond of. One day as they sat together on the top rail of the cattle pen they watched a bull servicing a cow. Galbraith turned to the girl, with what he hoped was a suggestive look, saying, "That looks like it would be fun." She replied, "Well.... She’s your cow."

And, a non Valentine's Day economist joke:

When Albert Einstein died, he met three New Zealanders in the queue outside the Pearly Gates. To pass the time, he asked what were their IQs. The first replied 190. "Wonderful," exclaimed Einstein. "We can discuss the contribution made by Ernest Rutherford to atomic physics and my theory of general relativity". The second answered 150. "Good," said Einstein. "I look forward to discussing the role of New Zealand's nuclear-free legislation in the quest for world peace". The third New Zealander mumbled 50. Einstein paused, and then asked, "So what is your forecast for the budget deficit next year?" (Adapted from Economist June 13th 1992, p. 71).

Finally from  February 14, 2019

Happy Valentine's Day! Let's Talk Scams

Back in the 1990's I read about a mafia associated brokerage firm that had decided the real money wasn't in pump-n-dumps but in using "Know Your Customer" information gathered by the brokerage—primitive as it might have been pre-9/11, pre-WorldWideWeb—to set up a dating service used to gather even more information about potential marks.
Now, with the internet, it has to be even easier.

From FT Alphaville:
Romance scams are on the rise

On this Valentine's Day, some heartbreaking news.

According to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), romance scams are on the rise. In 2018, the FTC's online database of consumer complaints, the Consumer Sentinel, recorded over 20,000 reports of romance scams, which cost the hoodwinked $143m. That's up from 8,500 reports in 2015, which amounted to $33m in losses, as the FTC's chart shows:...

...MORE