George Stigler Econ 490 fall 2019

This is an interesting situation to analyze, and I had the opportunity to witness (albeit in a minor form) a minor version of a triangle relationship during my internship this summer. It may not fit the mold exactly, but the relationship provides similar actions to the standard triangle-agent relationship we have discussed. I worked as an intern for a major institutional investor in Chicago. The office is run by the CIO, who has an obligation to manage the portfolio in the best of her ability. She also had to abide by recommendations by the institution’s board of directors, and it was possible that the two parties wouldn’t see eye to eye. So the CIO acts as the agent, and the two principals being the external fund managers in the portfolio and the board of directors of the employing institution. The CIO and the rest of the senior staff met regularly with external fund managers, prospective or current, and then would (less frequently) meet with the board of directors to present the st...

This conflict occurred in a work situation, although this time it was not between myself and a co-worker. Back working at the pool (the place I have been talking about in previous posts), I also was a swim coach. The club I worked at competed in a small, semi-competitive swim league that consisted of five other clubs from around the northern/western suburbs. I say semi-competitive because ultimately, we don’t care about winning and just want the kids to have fun, but there are two competitive championship meets at the end of the season where awards are given out. Some clubs (us, for example) didn’t really care about winning any of these awards, while others (usually those who have the better swimmers) will actively try to win these championship meets. Anyway, just for some background before I describe the conflict, I was the oldest coach (besides the head coach, who was also the club manager Matt), so I was viewed as the “senior” coach since I was the oldest and had been coaching...

It may be true that “draconian” punishments harden an individual. Those kinds of punishments, in most cases, tend to make the individual more severe and less sympathetic afterwards. When I think of these kinds of punishments, I immediately think of sports coaches. In that context, they have the goal of strengthening individuals, more so mentally than physically, and they (the coaches) gain from having the individuals (the players) having less sympathy as it helps them reach their objective – winning the game/contest/whatever they’re competing in. But in most contexts (work, group activities, etc), especially if the main goal is to strengthen the relationship and increase productivity, harsh punishments may not be the way to go. I’m thinking that draconian punishments are more of a short-term band aid to increase imminent production, but long-term it probably does more harm than help in terms of strengthening relationships and building mutual productivity and respect. I think that p...

I was immediately fascinated by the experiments that were done to assess the mindset of society when it comes to egalitarianism and general moral well-being. I was shocked at how these qualities are developed so early, and that they persist and are still present in most (if not all) adults today. The experiments in the first article made sense. Without altering the experiment, there was a strong sense of an egalitarian attitude, as they equalized the wealth 75% of the time. But when the conditions were altered, that mentality dwindled and the children didn’t feel any sense of collaboration. I found the collaboration aspect interesting, and the question of “Do Americans view the economy as a collaborative project” was interesting to think about. I have a feeling that when times were more adverse and the country (as a whole) faced some level of threat (the great depression, either world war, the cold war, etc.), society viewed the economy and the fiscal world as more of a group effort....