Ferrari Mailing List: (OT!) Scott Adams (Dilbert) on how economists speed

[Dennis Liu (bigheaddennis]

Thought this blog piece by Scott Adams, the author of Dilbert, was frakkin'
hilarious.  And true!  I've thought the same things for years...

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From: The Dilbert Blog 
Sent: Tuesday, October 02, 2007 9:46 AM
Subject: Mild Super Power

When you have a working knowledge of economics, it's like having a mild
super power. For example, I use my knowledge of economics to avoid speeding
tickets. I assume the local law enforcement agencies have limited funding
and can't be everywhere at the same time. That tells me, fairly reliably,
when I can speed without detection and when I can't.

For example, if I get up before the crack of dawn to go to the airport, I
can speed all I want. No police force is going to pay an employee to sit on
a road at 5 AM with virtually no traffic and a low accident rate and wait
for a speeder. That would be bad economics.

You also never see speed traps on the freeway during rush hour. One reason
is probably because it's more dangerous to pull over people in that much
traffic. But the bigger factor is that it would slow traffic during rush
hour. That's a huge economic impact on society for not much return in the
way of making society safer. All it would do is make the police less
popular, and make people think the police don't need the funding they
already have.

Around here, the police have little portable trailers with radar and a
display sign. They leave it unattended on side streets. The radar tracks
your car and the display tells you how fast you are going. They've
discovered that motorists slow down when they realize the device is tracking
their speed. This doesn't work on me. When I see that trailer, I speed up
because I know the police won't put both the trailer and a real policeman in
the same neighborhood. It would be a waste of money to have both, since the
trailer with the radar slows down everyone but economists.

You can also speed on the Fourth of July if you are nowhere near the
celebration areas. All the police will be where the crowds are. No other
arrangement would make economic sense. That tip is my little gift to you,
until you run over someone because you were speeding.

If you plan to speed, it also pays to be a middle-aged male. For years I
have been observing who the police pull over for speeding and who they
don't. A police officer (usually male) has lots of choices for who to ticket
for speeding. If he is heterosexual, and stops a heterosexual male, he has
no chance of getting sex, and a non-zero chance of getting killed. If he
stops a female, he has some chance of being offered sex (or at least some
flirting) to get out of the ticket, and not much risk of violence. Cops are
rational and make the correct economic decision most of the time. Where I
live, about 80% of all motorists who are stopped for speeding are women, and
it has been that way since I can remember. Economics tells me it will stay
that way, at least as long as the opportunity for getting head is more
valuable than the opportunity of getting punched in the head. (If it's
different where you live, your cops are either gay or irrational.)

<snip>

My reason for majoring in economics in college was to understand how the
world works, so I would be more equipped to navigate in it. I think it was a
good choice. Has your college major given you any mild super powers?

Scott_Adams Tue, 02 Oct 2007 06:29:10 -0700

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Source:
http://dilbertblog.typepad.com/the_dilbert_blog/2007/10/mild-super-powe.html