economists have modelled the process of job-seeking, bargain-hunting, etc. with a theory of search. because of imperfect information, even the rational economic agent (homo economicus, we call him) might not necessarily choose the lowest price available for a good he is seeking, or the highest available wage for the job he is seeking - he can't, because he does not know all the prices or wages offered in the market.
thus, one of the possible predictions of the theory of search is that the rational economic agent continues searching until the price/wage falls/rises below/above a certain reservation price/wage. this reservation price/wage would be the best outside option. we could think of unemployment income as a reservation wage when an unemployed economic agent is searching for work; the price one can buy the desired good in London could be the reservation price for a search in Paris.
why am i suddenly talking about search?
i just feel like i'm still searching. i'm searching for an interest, a passion, something that makes me feel stimulated, alive, energised. maybe i've found it, maybe i haven't - should i keep looking? yesterday i saw the excitement and the energy that lit up his eyes, and wanted very much to feel the same. but i couldn't, and it dawned on me that i needed to find my own way.
yet search takes effort; it's tiring, there's a cost.
when do i stop? what's my reservation price?
1 comment:
You won't find a reservation price because emotions aren't economic. When it comes to buying a commodity, you can always settle for something that provides functional utility in excess of the costs in labor and resources that you expend in return. Hence a reservation price barrier. But while you can settle for less in matters of emotions, it can never quite bring desired satisfaction. You can always, of course, make do. Let the benefits outweigh the costs. But that has never been the definition of passion.
Emotions are not a commodity. They cannot be traded, lent, or sold. They are, if I might be so bold as to claim, our one inalienable claim to humanity.
But rather than let that be a burden, I would propose that emotions give you freedom. The freedom to make the world mean something to you. Or more generously, the freedom to project what is good and worthwhile in you onto the world.
We already suppress ourselves too much in trying to be uniformly pleasant to everybody and every situation. Modern life is full of brief, half-hearted interactions as it is. We do not need to worry about finding a reservation price because our basic reservation is very low. We can get along well enough anywhere and feel fine enough anyhow.
What matters is casting our desires into the wind, and pursuing them whichever way they blow. That, I would argue, cuts faster to passion than any other path I know. So don't hem and haw about reservation prices and marginal benefits. Go wild.
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