Tim Harford on The Logic of Life

[JamesBuddha]

Ye I seen that porno too

far out man

[psikeyhackr]

Double-entry accounting is 700 years old and we have had cheap computers for years. Why haven't economists been advocating the LOGIC of mandatory accounting in the schools for years?

How much do consumers lose on the depreciation of automobiles world wide every year? There have been 200,000,000+ cars in the US since 1995. At $1,500 in depreciation per car per year that is $300,000,000,000 per year. Milton Friedman never said anything about that.

LOL

[willhunt205]

Wow ! Stephen Merchant's really a marginal thinker. :-p

[darkmannin]

Awesome intro for your book, sir. I'll be looking for it.

[simplicio87]

The book is very good. It talks about interesting and serious thing in a very casual easily understandable way. Politicans must read it:-).

[lobomau08]

I'm still reading "The Undercover Economist".

When I bought it I didn't know if it was a "peach" or a "lemon".

It's a Peach, all right.

[mocarro]

Did you have a bad experience with an automobile purchase? You realise that you can't blame economists for depreciation, right?

In any case just google Karl Storchmann if you wanna see stats for automobile depreciation.

Also, it's useful to remember that economics is a SOCIAL science - we can't take anything for granted because humans, unlike atoms for example, are unpredictable and frankly quite strange...

Anyway check Storchmann out, you might be pleasantly surprised :)

[psikeyhackr]

{{ Did you have a bad experience with an automobile purchase? You realise that you can't blame economists for depreciation, right? }}

I know economists don't design the cars. They don't have the brains for that.

But they add the cars to GDP but don't subtract them from NDP. They treat cars like bananas. But the same applies to TVs and refrigerators. I just pick on cars because they are so expensive.

Economists can't do algebra.

NDP = GDP - Depreciation

Depreciation == Capital Goods ONLY

[picapauengracado]

I'm not sure what your point is, but I think cars like houses may actually be considered as part of a nation's capital stock and thus counted in that depreciation measure.

[psikeyhackr]

My point is that economists are not doing what you think.

Get an economics book and look up NET DOMESTIC PRODUCT. Look up their definition of DEPRECIATION.

They are ignoring the depreciation of Durable Consumer Goods, including automobiles.

Those nitwits have been running the planet on bad algebra for 60 years.

[melanierFR]

Tim is very charming. His column on FT always makes me smile.

[psikeyhackr]

It's 38 years after the moon landing.

If economists are LOGICAL and economics is a SCIENCE, then why don't economists compute and tell us the total depreciation of automobiles each year?

Regardless of whether it is logical for consumers to want different cars every year wouldn't the scientific analysis of the economy require economists to track that?

[figocooldude]

why don't physicists compute the orgin of the universe?

[psikeyhackr]

The physicists are working on it.

The trouble with computers is that they have to be programmed with correct equations first so the physicists have to figure out approximately what is going on first.

watch?v=gCgTJ6ID6ZA

Cars are man made so they are already understood. Economists are just too dumb to think about all of that depreciation.

Or maybe they don't want to admit to LYING FOR THE LAST 50 YEARS.

[DancingSpiderman]

Economics is mainly a science involving statistics instead of hard numbers. And the numberical value of those hard numbers keep changing moment to moment. If economics were a "single-value number+-value based topic, it would stop being a science, and would become a religion (based in belief, instead of deduction). I hope that helps.

[psikeyhackr]

The number of automobiles that American consumers have thrown on the junk heap since 1945 is a HARD NUMBER. Auto manufacturers deal with what is called the scrapage rate.

Now why can't economists come up with STATISTICS on the depreciation of automobiles every year? Why don't economists suggest that 700 year old accounting be mandatory in the schools? Why don't they try to increase the DEMAND for accounting?

[psikeyhackr]

This is cool.

I get 3 thumbs down but no one claims that cars purchased by computers don't depreciate or say that economists compute and report that depreciation.

So economics depends on consumers being DUMBER than economists who are technological morons. They just need to keep people convinced that they know what they are talking about.