Interesting People mailing list archives
. Allocating scarce resources
From: "David Farber" <dave () farber net>
Date: Fri, 7 Oct 2005 13:30:02 -0500
_______________ Forward Header _______________ Subject: Allocating scarce resources Author: Roland Cole <cole () spi org> Date: 7th October 2005 11:20:51 am I believe someone wrote a book on the subject of time as the new scarce resource and how the "elite" got to save more of it than the rest of us. The actual title and author escape me at the moment. But to me (an Economics major as an undergrad), the issue depends on the "coin" used to allocate the scarce resource. Is it one that the truly energetic and committed can obtain, or is it not? If the "coin" is obtainable, the society is less pressured than if not. Thus using money is usually more flexible than using "heredity", "social class," "government position", etc. The city of Ann Arbor Michigan even used time itself the case of slots in its public alternative high school - people would stand in line for more than a week in February to get a slot in the school. (That was for something like half the slots; the others were allocated by a lottery.) The resources will be allocated one way or another, evenly or unevenly; the issue is how even or uneven and what "coin" will be involved. Rollie Cole Roland J. Cole, J.D., Ph.D. Executive Director Software Patent Institute 5315 Washington Blvd INDIANAPOLIS IN 46220-3062 317-727-8940; cole () spi org; www.spi.org ------------------------------------- You are subscribed as lists-ip () insecure org To manage your subscription, go to http://v2.listbox.com/member/?listname=ip Archives at: http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting-people/
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- . Allocating scarce resources David Farber (Oct 07)