Agent Double-O-Rational

Yesterday is Boxing Day here. For non-Commonwealth readers, it does not refer to the day devoted to violence arising from poor gift selection the day prior. Here, it means Massive Storewide Sales, and a day devoted to violence at the bargain bins and checkout stalls.

If ever there was a case for debunking the notion of "rational economic agents", MSS is a behavioral economist's wet dream. People have just spent days and weeks (or in my case, hours) shopping, shopping and shopping some more, looking for that "perfect present" (more perfect than last year's "perfect present"), paying top dollar for each purchase... and then a day after, those same presents are 30, 40, 50, even 70% cheaper. The obvious question is, why don't people wait until Boxing Day to buy presents?

Christmas is a huge emotional investment for most people (those with friends anyway), and gift-giving has little reliance on logic. This is a slap in the face of rational economic thought. Or as my old school principal noted in one memorable school assembly: it is a sabot in the cogs of the windmill, therefore the Dutch are terrorists and we should stop funding their operations through purchase of magic brownies. Or something.

Being of financial leanings, the profiteering and wastefulness in the days leading up to Christmas often worries me (because of the inevitable credit card bill). But when your beloved gives you a nice new power tie with which to intimidate negotiators in the private equity deal to take over that retailer you just bought your beloved's negligee from, all the worry evaporates. Nope, definitely not rational economic agents.

Rockett Fuel Genesis

Cool name for a manga series. Unfortunately, not quite that cool.

In a couple of weeks, I will be starting my new job as an analyst for the leveraged finance outfit of a major bank. For the slightly initiated, it probably sounds very prestigious. For the uninitiated, it means absolute zip. For those in the industry, my types are derisively referred to as "rocket fuel". Those that don't sputter out after a few years are rewarded with massive bonuses to help finance our many addictions and maybe our first (or if we're lucky, second) divorce settlements.

I started this blog with no expectation of being able to write in it regularly, but the thought of being able to if or when I can was quite nice. It will probably be a bit of a vent outlet, and a place to ruminate on ideas. It will not be a source of market-moving rumours, I guarantee that now. Nor will it be a reliable source of humour or satire - any that you find here are purely accidental.

Eventually I might get my beloved, Miss Rockett (temporary name), to start posting here too. She's a corporate lawyer-in-training, so it won't be long before she too will be slaving the long hours and for all intents being a "rocket fuel".