Is a non-optimizing organism evolutionarily viable?
Is an organism that routinely fails to optimize evolutionarily viable? __ Do you Yahoo!? The New Yahoo! Search - Faster. Easier. Bingo. http://search.yahoo.com
Re: Theory of Perverse Government Tangents
> While it may appear that the Warnick Theory of Perverse Government Tangents > has thus been born full grown, it is nevertheless recognized that > improvements or amplifications may be possible. They are welcome. > Walt Warnick Sorry, Walt. You've been beaten to the punch: Read Meyer and Rowan's 1977 article "Institutionalized Organizations: Formal Structure as Myth and Ceremony" in the American Journal of Sociology. The point of their article is that you should think of a lot of bureuacratic behavior as a signal of legitimacy. The behavior may have no obvious benefit and it's done only to satifsy legal regulation, noisy interest groups or "public opinion." Since then, they've scaled down their claims (they originally claimed most behavior was a legitimacy signal) but the basic point is well taken, especially for public administration. Fabio
Re: Theory of Perverse Government Tangents
Those of us who have been in Business a long time note that, repeatedly, Business goes off on perverse tangents, just like Government does. The Undis Corollary to The Warwick Theory of Perverse Government Tangents explains that perverse tangents are created and grown in Business using the same 5-stage process used in Government. The Corrolary also points out that the number of perverse tangents a Business creates is positively related to the size of the Business, and that a Business and a Government of equal size will have perverse tangent creation rates that are equal. The Corollary further points out that the "death rate" of perverse tangents created by a Business varies inversely with the square of the size of the Business (with "death" defined to mean the failure to complete any of the 5 stages memorialized in the Theory). According to the Corrolary, a Business equal in size to any actual Government has a "death rate" of zero. When discussing aspects of the Corollary in any circles, one should speak of Undistinguised Warwickian motives, Undistinguished Warwickian overseers, Undistinguished Warwickian remedies, and Undistinguished Warnickian awards. Dave Undis Original Message Follows From: "Warnick, Walter" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: "'[EMAIL PROTECTED]'" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Theory of Perverse Government Tangents Date: Fri, 30 May 2003 16:00:29 -0400 The Warnick Theory of Perverse Government Tangents: Those of us who have been in Government a long time, note that, repeatedly, Government goes off on perverse tangents. Perverse tangents are tasks that Government line organizations are directed to pursue at all costs and under tremendous pressure, independent of any real need or benefit. Such benefit, if it exists at all, is typically tiny. For example, for many organizations like mine, the Y2K effort was such a perverse tangent, as all of our software used four digit year codes, so that Y2K problems, which were caused by software that used two digit year codes, were unimaginable for us. Despite this fact, we were directed to devote large resources to show the obvious--we did not have a Y2K problem. The Warnick Theory of Perverse Government Tangents explains how such perverse tangents are created and grow. The Theory involves five stages. 1)In response to a concern that has some tiny germ of truth, a top leader appoints an overseer to deal with the issue, 2) To justify his existence, the overseer finds some procedural pretext to lambaste line organizations, 3) To make it appear that the overseer is pursuing a remedy rather than simply criticizing, the overseer institutes new procedures that in no real way improve the root concern, 4) To make it appear that the new procedures have worked, the overseer declares the root problem solved when the new procedures are implemented by the line organizations, and 5) The overseer receives large monetary awards. When discussing aspects of the Theory in I/O or Public Choice circles, one should speak of Warnickian motives, Warnickian overseers, Warnickian remedies, and Warnickian awards. While it may appear that the Warnick Theory of Perverse Government Tangents has thus been born full grown, it is nevertheless recognized that improvements or amplifications may be possible. They are welcome. Walt Warnick _ The new MSN 8: advanced junk mail protection and 2 months FREE* http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail
Re: Theory of Perverse Government Tangents
> 3) To make it appear that the overseer is pursuing a remedy rather than > simply criticizing, the overseer institutes new procedures that in no > real way improve the root concern, > Walt Warnick But why does he get away with this? There must be a permissive and supportive superstructure providing funds and supporting the outcome? THAT is the real source of the problem. Your overseer is just exploiting the system. Fred Foldvary = [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Minimum wage
I think there was a poll taken a few years ago on what policies economists preferred. Does anyone know what percent were against the minimum wage? Cyril Morong
DARPA markets on MidEast
I've been involved for several years in helping DARPA to create some markets to help aggregate info on political, military, and economic changes in the Middle East, and the effect of US policy on such changes. For those interested, we are finally going public with some info on these markets: www.PolicyAnalysisMarket.org Robin Hanson [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://hanson.gmu.edu Assistant Professor of Economics, George Mason University MSN 1D3, Carow Hall, Fairfax VA 22030- 703-993-2326 FAX: 703-993-2323
Theory of Perverse Government Tangents
The Warnick Theory of Perverse Government Tangents: Those of us who have been in Government a long time, note that, repeatedly, Government goes off on perverse tangents. Perverse tangents are tasks that Government line organizations are directed to pursue at all costs and under tremendous pressure, independent of any real need or benefit. Such benefit, if it exists at all, is typically tiny. For example, for many organizations like mine, the Y2K effort was such a perverse tangent, as all of our software used four digit year codes, so that Y2K problems, which were caused by software that used two digit year codes, were unimaginable for us. Despite this fact, we were directed to devote large resources to show the obvious--we did not have a Y2K problem. The Warnick Theory of Perverse Government Tangents explains how such perverse tangents are created and grow. The Theory involves five stages. 1)In response to a concern that has some tiny germ of truth, a top leader appoints an overseer to deal with the issue, 2) To justify his existence, the overseer finds some procedural pretext to lambaste line organizations, 3) To make it appear that the overseer is pursuing a remedy rather than simply criticizing, the overseer institutes new procedures that in no real way improve the root concern, 4) To make it appear that the new procedures have worked, the overseer declares the root problem solved when the new procedures are implemented by the line organizations, and 5) The overseer receives large monetary awards. When discussing aspects of the Theory in I/O or Public Choice circles, one should speak of Warnickian motives, Warnickian overseers, Warnickian remedies, and Warnickian awards. While it may appear that the Warnick Theory of Perverse Government Tangents has thus been born full grown, it is nevertheless recognized that improvements or amplifications may be possible. They are welcome. Walt Warnick
Re: Personal vs. Political Culture: The Other Box
> Absolutely speaking, sure. But e.g. the U.S. and U.K. have been > *relatively* more sympathetic to these ideas for centuries. > Prof. Bryan Caplan I think my email got crunched, but if you are talking relative levels, then some Latin American countries have semi-decent political culture, but atrocious "private." For example, take Colombia - I'm no expert, but Colombia was fairly resistant to socialism and nationalization of industry (compared to other Latin American nations), but it suffers a great deal of crime and drug use. Fabio
Re: Personal vs. Political Culture: The Other Box
fabio guillermo rojas wrote: >> Now Pete Boettke asked me if there are any peoples with the >> opposite combination: bad personal culture, good political culture. >> The best Prof. Bryan Caplan > > > Note that insistence on free markets, limited gov't, democracy, etc. > is a pretty recent phenomena - so one should find few examples of > *any* group that has good "political" culture. Fabio Absolutely speaking, sure. But e.g. the U.S. and U.K. have been *relatively* more sympathetic to these ideas for centuries. > > -- Prof. Bryan Caplan Department of Economics George Mason University http://www.bcaplan.com [EMAIL PROTECTED] "It is a talent of the weak to persuade themselves that they suffer for something when they suffer from something; that they are showing the way when they are running away; that they see the light when they feel the heat; that they are chosen when they are shunned." Eric Hoffer, *The Passionate State of Mind*
Economics and Beauty
Regarding the economic return to beauty this newspaper cite suggests a link through health. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/2943464.stm ... Researchers in Spain have found that men who are regarded as attractive by women are also more fertile. Their sperm move faster and are generally healthier. The study is the latest to suggest that good looks can be a pointer to good health. In April, researchers in Australia found that men with chiselled jaws and classic masculine features are in better physical health than their less manly peers. These and similar findings have led scientists to conclude that women who seek attractive male partners are, in fact, searching for the healthiest men, most able to father and provide for their children Alex -- Alexander Tabarrok Department of Economics, MSN 1D3 George Mason University Fairfax, VA, 22030 Tel. 703-993-2314 Web Page: http://mason.gmu.edu/~atabarro/ and Director of Research The Independent Institute 100 Swan Way Oakland, CA, 94621 Tel. 510-632-1366
Re: Personal vs. Political Culture: The Other Box
--- Bryan Caplan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Now Pete Boettke asked me if there are any peoples with the opposite > combination: bad personal culture, good political culture. In Hong Kong, the political culture supports economic freedom, and the personal Chineses culture values the body parts of animals for health and sexuality, which is unscientific and threatens the survival of endangered species. There seems to be an odd combination in East Asia of a fondness for nature in the abstract, combined with bad treatment of animals in the specific. Fred Foldvary = [EMAIL PROTECTED]
