Because it’s all wrong, and detrimental to understanding how real humans actually navigate the world. The demand curve is true for robots, not people. In fact, every concept in traditional economics is true for robots instead of people. Start teaching behavioural economics instead of traditional economics. Indeed, any teaching that assumes rational behaviour by humans should be treated as extremely suspect.
When you say yes to something, you say no to a hundred other things. Often, those things are hidden, half-realised or unplanned. If you choose to go out with friends on an afternoon with no other scheduled activities, it’s not immediately clear what you said no to. It might be Netflix, writing another blog post, cleaning the house, or playing candy crush for 4 hours straight without blinking. Without knowing, it’s easy to say yes....
Think on how to optimise for outsized gain without outsized risk exposure. The premise is that there is a non-linear relation between risk of failure and potential gain in any set of choices. It’s not always true that one must take on more risk to create the possibility of greater gain – and it’s not always true that aiming for X increase in potential gain increases risk by some equivalent factor of X...
If you have cost drivers, you’re doing it wrong. When considering whether to accept a marginal cost, it’s only a sustainable business choice if it creates a larger marginal profit. The marginal profit might be paid off instantly, or in several years, but for it to be a sustainable business choice, it definitely has to pay off. This isn’t just sometimes-true. It’s always true. The ONLY time it’s a good idea for a business to take on a marginal cost, is in expectation of a larger marginal profit as a result....
I spent the evening picking up trash. Literally picking trash out of the gutter. There are many reasons to do this. Trash needs to be removed, not left dirtying the streets. By making completely clean spaces, all the social proof that says “it’s OK to litter here, everybody does it” goes away. Without social proof, it’s a lot harder to be the first person to drop something. By showing up and picking up trash – being seen by people – it becomes clear that someone actually has to pick up trash....