I hate to start sounding like a technical economist, but indeed, "a bird in hand is worth two in the bush," is not opportunity cost at all, but what is now coming to be called the "endowment effect," which itself is a discovery of the behavioral economists that goes against the grain of standard neoclassical economists. If you have something you really do not want to give it up, but if you don't have it, then it is not such a big deal. This was discovered in contingent valuation studies of the environment. People will demand to be paid much more for a 10% decline in enviro quality than they are willing to pay for a 10% increase in enviro quality. An average of the by now voluminous studies would suggest that the ratio is likely to be about 3 to 1, although some have it as high as 10 to 1, easily. This violates standard economic theory, although not most peoples' common sense. Barkley Rosser ----- Original Message ----- From: "Wojtek Sokolowski" <sokol at jhu.edu> To: <lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org> Sent: Monday, June 09, 2003 4:00 PM Subject: RE: [lbo-talk] Economics drivel
> Doug:
> >
> > Actually "opportunity cost" is one of the few concepts I'm grateful
> > to formal economics study for. It's not the same as bird in hand. I
> > can't think of any colloquial equivalent for it.
> >
>
> It depends how you count those birds. If you have to give up one that
> you already have for the two that you might catch on the bush (which is
> how I read the saying) - you will get a gist of "opportunity cost" - no?
>
> But again, my problem is not with economic modeling but with economic
> modeling turned into ruling class ideology. It is the same as
> "marxism-lenininsm" in fSU, or geo-centrism in the middle ages.
>
> Wojtek
>
>
>
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