[lbo-talk] the gains from variety

[Carl Remick]

>These "search efforts" represent a serious cost.  John Helliwell, an 
>economist
>who has studied the relationship between economics and happiness, noted:
>"psychological studies show that increasing the range of product choice 
>becomes
>costly to buyers at a fairly early stage:  they find it harder to make 
>decisions
>when faced with many alternatives, take longer to reach their decisions, 
>and are
>more likely to later regret their decisions" (Helliwell 2002, p. 34)....
>Think of the
>intense study required to select the best HMO plan.

Yes, or the intense study required to select the best PC, phone plan, mutual 
fund, etc. at the best price -- pure agony.  The fog of battle is nothing 
compared to the fog of the marketplace, where systematic misrepresentations 
due to marketing and advertising make it almost impossible to make 
apples-to-apples comparisons on major purchases.

The fact is that decision-making of any sort is a wearying activity.  As I 
recall, the agony of decision-making was a recurrent theme in the novels of 
John Barth (Lost in the Funhouse, The Sot-Weed Factor, etc.).  And the 
choices you're called on to make as a consumer pose the worst 
decision-making effort of all because you know your choice is almost always 
based on bogus information.  Caveat effing emptor.

Carl

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