He is an extremely successful businessman, but he is so unwise in understanding that the national policy of "buy American goods and hire Americans" will never revive the American economy. Like a good horse that has won many races, it knows nothing about the design of the track.
This book will help you build up your economic thinking and cultivate your taste in economic vocabulary. Weighing a viewpoint, especially a well-thought-out viewpoint, is often not right or wrong, but high or low, light or heavy; You can increase your knowledge, self-confidence and appreciation of theories, no matter what level you think they are.
This book will make you more rational. This book will help you build up your economic thinking and cultivate your taste in economic vocabulary. Weighing a viewpoint, especially a well-thought-out viewpoint, is often not right or wrong, but high or low, light or heavy; You can increase your knowledge, self-confidence and appreciation of theories, no matter what level you think they are.
This book will make you more rational, receptive and enterprising. You will find that human beings face four basic constraints: lack of things, limited life, interdependence and coordination.
About the author: Xue Zhaofeng, a former professor at the National Development Research Institute of Peking University, a postdoctoral fellow at Northwestern University Law School, and a doctor of economics at George Mei Sen University. He is the author of Regular Learning and General Education, and Business Without Borders-Economic World Revolution of Anti-monopoly Law.
Chapter 10 of this book is scarce: why business is charity; Chapter II Cost Don't just focus on money; ……
Because this book is extremely wonderful, I will share it chapter by chapter with the author's lecture on Get APP.
Chapter VIII Information Asymmetry │ Who has the heavier right to speak?
In order to overcome information asymmetry and establish mutual trust, human society has conceived various interesting solutions, from repeated transactions to third-party endorsement, from warranty, warranty extension, and then to income enjoyment. There is also a way to build trust and pay sunk costs.
First, win people's trust at sunk cost.
Sunken cost is an irrecoverable cost. According to common sense, we should all try to avoid paying those unnecessary sunk costs.
But if we deliberately pay some unnecessary sunk costs, it will make others feel that we intend to work for a long time and will not give up halfway to win the trust of others.
For example, many good hotels, their carpets, utensils, sheets and so on. The name of the hotel is printed on it. These items with names are difficult to be recycled according to the original value in the market, which is the sunk cost paid by the hotel before opening the store.
These sunk costs show that it intends to do business for a long time and will not leave easily.
Drinking is also a way to gain trust.
Drinking a lot is a harmful habit. In China's wine culture, the younger generation will say to their elders, "Suit yourself, I'll have three drinks". At this time, the elders will think that this person has drunk three cups and paid a certain sunk cost, which shows that his expression is weighty and will cherish our relationship in the future, otherwise the price paid today will not be recovered in the future.
It can be speculated that when our social trust mechanism is more and more perfect and people may build trust through other means, the way of building trust through drinking will be less and less used.
Second, the economics of marriage
In marriage, everyone has a romantic side. They like to say "you are the only true love in my life" to each other, and scholars often give a tolerant smile.
The nephew of the great economist Friedman once wrote to him, saying that he would give up his career for his girlfriend and go to another city with her, because this girlfriend is the only true love in his life.
Friedman wrote back: Of course, you can make your own decision, but if you really think this girl is the only true love of your life, then I will tell you as a statistician that the probability of two people really falling in love in the world is zero. In the vast sea of people, you can't meet in a limited life.
Why do women often marry men older than themselves?
Lloyd Cohen, a legal economist, wrote an article "I gave him all my best years". He said that the peaks of men and women are different: we usually say that women are young, beautiful and in good shape, which is related to childbirth, which occurs early in life. human
Usually praise a man, saying that he has a career, achievements and a sense of security, and these qualities usually occur in the middle age of life, even middle-aged and elderly people.
By high school and university, the value of women has been revealed, while the value of men is far from being revealed. At this time, there are more female suitors, and women are more picky. Those older boys have obvious advantages, because their talents and values have gradually emerged.
If a girl falls in love and marries a boy the same age as her college classmate, she will make various investments in the family: raising children, taking care of the family and supporting her husband. As time goes by, the husband will gradually step onto the peak of his career, while the wife's physical strength will gradually decrease with time. At this time, boys will increase the probability of betraying girls.
If a girl finds a boy who is older than herself and whose personal value is highlighted, the uncertainty of this marriage will be reduced and the marriage relationship will be more stable.
Of course, with the progress of science and technology and the increase of women's educational opportunities, their value has long depended on their physical conditions. Education, accomplishment and knowledge are increasingly important qualities for both men and women.
Why do more and more people in modern society, whether boys or girls, delay getting married or even don't want to get married?
If marriage is a contract, then the family is actually a business. When people get married, they register a company. The investment of this enterprise is the time, energy and feelings of both husband and wife.
What about the output?
Output is the service provided by a series of jobs, including chefs, tailors, nurses, buyers, drivers, secretaries, interior designers, psychological counselors, cleaners, image consultants ... This is the role of the family.
There is a cost to maintaining a family. When all these functions are replaced by peer services in the society and the market, the value of maintaining this enterprise is declining, and people are more willing to spend their time and energy elsewhere.
Third, minimize the cost of prevention.
1947, a case happened in the United States. There is a barge (without an engine, it needs to be towed by another tugboat), loaded with flour from the US government, and tied to the dock with other ships.
At this time, a tugboat company named Carol untied the rope in order to tow away a boat tied to the barge, but the crew didn't tie the rope properly, so the barge drifted off the shore.
At that time, the people of Carroll Tugboat Company didn't find this, and they left the port with their own boats. The barge drifted bit by bit and collided with a nearby oil tanker, and the barge was damaged, but the owner of the oil tanker did not find that he had damaged the barge crew.
After exactly 2 1 hour, the barge sank. So the American government sued Carol for compensation.
The interesting thing about this case is that Carroll Company was the first perpetrator, but it was the tanker that caused the damage to the barge.
Then who will bear the loss?
At that time, the judge's name was Hand. He said that on a dock full of boats, every boat may come loose and bump into other boats. Therefore, any shipowner has the duty of care in such a dock. Whether the shipowner should bear the responsibility for ship damage caused by accidental collision depends on the following three factors:
1. Possibility of accidents on this ship;
2. The severity of the accident;
The price he paid to avoid the accident.
When the cost of avoiding the accident is lower than the probability of the accident multiplied by the loss after the accident (expected loss), the shipowner shall bear the responsibility.
B
B: the cost of avoiding accidents, P: the probability of accidents, L: the losses caused by accidents.
This is the famous Hande formula.
According to this formula, Hand made the following judgments: First, Carroll Company did not tie the rope properly, and Carroll Company took full responsibility; Because the rope was not tied properly, the barge hit another ship, and the loss was caused by Carroll Company, so Carroll Company took full responsibility for the damage to the barge.
However, the barge floated at sea for 265,438+0 hours. The owner of the barge only needs to send one person to the ship from time to time to check the flour on board, so as to find the risk early and reduce the loss.
In other words, the owner of Corolla is responsible, and the plaintiff, the US government, is also responsible. In the end, it was decided that Carroll Company did not need to make full compensation, and the plaintiff, the US government and its carrier barge, mainly assumed a considerable part of the responsibility.
Fourth, the significance of the existence of enterprises.
A person who wants to work in an enterprise needs to give up a lot of freedom and listen to people's instructions. And if you work in the market, you can make your own decisions and do what you like.
Then why do many people choose to enter the enterprise instead of going it alone?
Coase, who is often a scholar, gives a very profound answer in the article "The Essence of Enterprises".
He said that people want to work in enterprises instead of going it alone in the market because the transaction cost in the market is high. If you go it alone, you need to deal with many strangers every day, bargain with others to promote your products or services, and deal with all kinds of uncertainties every day.
If you enter the enterprise, these costs will be greatly reduced: working with familiar people every day, mutual trust and cooperation will get better and better; The labor we pay is wholesale to the enterprise at one time, and there is no need to bargain every time; There are rules within the enterprise, which can coordinate internal contradictions.
Then why don't enterprises keep cooperating and eventually become super-large enterprises? Isn't this a good way to save transaction costs?
Coase's answer is: because there are management costs in the enterprise, the management costs will increase sharply with the increase of the number of employees in the enterprise.
To sum up, I will share three small questions this time. First, economists tell us that the probability of two people who really love each other in the world is zero; Second, the sunk cost can win the trust of people; Third, the famous Hande Company: Minimize the cost of prevention; Fourth, the reason why many people choose to enter the enterprise instead of going it alone is that the transaction cost is too high.