I'm supposed to be revising and charting Market Equilibrium. Y'know, the idea that if supply of say, apples, outweighs demand, the price of apples is driven down until demand picks up and the surplus is eliminated. Equilibrium, balance.
Not so much with human relationships, though. Take the average wedding. There are bridesmaids, maids of honour, other female relatives and friends, all weeping into tissues at a ratio of 3/1 to the men who flock there to catch one. There are too many women at a wedding, full stop. So instead of the price going down, the average woman works twice as hard.
She applies her make-up twice as carefully. She works out twice as much. She checks every last crinkle and crevice for stray hairs and blemishes. In addition, she spends twice as much on her outfit. She spends twice as much on her shoes. She's twice as angry at everybody she knows for having great hair, twice as likely to crash her car on the way home from work because of her anger, and twice as likely to fall into the nearest guy's arms because of the insecurity this insane routine leaves her saddled with.
In short, the quality of the average woman in that room goes up, not down. The market floods with supply, and men are left struggling to fulfill their own demand; there's simply too much choice. In the end, men often go for two in one night, or they arrive with one girl, leave with another. They try to have their damn cake and eat it. There's no balance. No equilibrium. Both rise without constraint.
It's not just weddings, either. Apply it to nightclubs, to restaurants, to the workplace. Look down the street at night; two gorgeous girls fighting over one rather manky guy. Supply is flooding the market and demand can't keep up with it. It can't bring the price down. It simply can't swallow the surplus. Economics argues that if both supply and demand rise simultaneously, then both price and quantity sold at this price also rise. Like so; men just take, and take, and take, because there's nothing else for them to do.
I suppose the solution to the problem on a human level is lesbianism, but funnily enough, my textbook doesn't have anything on that. This is, I suppose, reason #45968384585874 that I loathe economics. I want it to be practical on a human level, and it so rarely seems to be.
(Yes, I've been hanging out with some very bitter female friends today. Why do you ask.)
Anyway, in other news, want. Want. Has economics found a way of making us all filthy rich yet? No, no it has not. Maybe I could go to a wedding, dress up as a fine young thing and swipe a millionaire.
Here's to dreaming.
Not so much with human relationships, though. Take the average wedding. There are bridesmaids, maids of honour, other female relatives and friends, all weeping into tissues at a ratio of 3/1 to the men who flock there to catch one. There are too many women at a wedding, full stop. So instead of the price going down, the average woman works twice as hard.
She applies her make-up twice as carefully. She works out twice as much. She checks every last crinkle and crevice for stray hairs and blemishes. In addition, she spends twice as much on her outfit. She spends twice as much on her shoes. She's twice as angry at everybody she knows for having great hair, twice as likely to crash her car on the way home from work because of her anger, and twice as likely to fall into the nearest guy's arms because of the insecurity this insane routine leaves her saddled with.
In short, the quality of the average woman in that room goes up, not down. The market floods with supply, and men are left struggling to fulfill their own demand; there's simply too much choice. In the end, men often go for two in one night, or they arrive with one girl, leave with another. They try to have their damn cake and eat it. There's no balance. No equilibrium. Both rise without constraint.
It's not just weddings, either. Apply it to nightclubs, to restaurants, to the workplace. Look down the street at night; two gorgeous girls fighting over one rather manky guy. Supply is flooding the market and demand can't keep up with it. It can't bring the price down. It simply can't swallow the surplus. Economics argues that if both supply and demand rise simultaneously, then both price and quantity sold at this price also rise. Like so; men just take, and take, and take, because there's nothing else for them to do.
I suppose the solution to the problem on a human level is lesbianism, but funnily enough, my textbook doesn't have anything on that. This is, I suppose, reason #45968384585874 that I loathe economics. I want it to be practical on a human level, and it so rarely seems to be.
(Yes, I've been hanging out with some very bitter female friends today. Why do you ask.)
Anyway, in other news, want. Want. Has economics found a way of making us all filthy rich yet? No, no it has not. Maybe I could go to a wedding, dress up as a fine young thing and swipe a millionaire.
Here's to dreaming.
feeling: discontent
singing: Brandi Carlisle, What Can I Say
kissed me goodbye