DR. CHRISTOPHER RYAN: SEX AT DAWN
by ilene - November 7th, 2010 12:21 pm
DR. CHRISTOPHER RYAN: SEX AT DAWN
Courtesy of Richard Metzger of Dangerous Minds
In Sex at Dawn: The Prehistoric Origins of Modern Sexuality renegade researchers Christopher Ryan and Cacilda Jethá debunk almost everything we “think we know” about sex and show how our promiscuous past haunts our current struggles regarding monogamy, sexual orientation, and family dynamics. Weaving together convergent, often overlooked evidence from anthropology, archeology, primatology, anatomy, and psychosexuality, Sex at Dawn shows how far from human nature sexual monogamy really is and unapologetically upends unwarranted assumptions and unfounded conclusions while offering a revolutionary understanding of why we live and love as we do.
It Turns Out It was Al Gore’s Sex Drive Burning Holes in the Ozone Layer All Along
by ilene - June 24th, 2010 10:10 am
It Turns Out It was Al Gore’s Sex Drive Burning Holes in the Ozone Layer All Along
Courtesy of Jr. Deputy Accountant
Sex Takes Backseat During Recession
by ilene - April 11th, 2010 1:55 pm
Maybe this should be called Sunday Not-So-Fun. But whatever. – Ilene
Sunday Fun: Sex Takes Backseat During Recession
Courtesy of Andrew Horowitz, The Disciplined Investor
Well, it appears that the stats room is in high gear, looking for little tidbits to help us…know more tidbits it seems. Here is one that may be obvious.
From The Swamp, with our chart info to provide a good visual…..
This adds new meaning to the concept(ion) of economic stimulus:
Recessions, it appears, serve as a form of birth control, according to an analysis by the Pew Research Center which Bloomberg News is reporting on today.
Looking at 25 states that have produced birth statistics for 2008, the first full year of the official recession that also officially recently ended, Pew found that the birth rate fell by 1.6 percent that year — the sharpest decline in seven years, when there were a lot of jobs, and babies, being created.
The slump also produced a 2 percent drop in income, which averaged $39,765.
Trends in births, housing prices, employment and income have a “strong association,” Pew senior researcher Gretchen Livingston tells Bloomberg’s David Wilson.
There were 2.29 million babies born in 2008, or 68.8 for every 1,000 women, in the 25 states that Pew studied. The ratio peaked in 2007 at 69.9, the highest level in two decades.
(Click to enlarge)
Valentine’s Day Sexonomics
by ilene - February 21st, 2010 2:36 pm
Valentine’s day revisited through the eyes of Eric and from an economic perspective. The same principles that are used in choosing which stock to buy can be used in selecting a mate, or the other way around. – Ilene
Valentine’s Day Sexonomics
Courtesy of ERIC FALKENSTEIN
Steve Levitt’s Freakonomics bestseller highlighted that many quirky phenomenon can be analyzed using economic reasoning, or really, assuming individuals are self interested, and applying statistics and logic to that. Many people find this application of ‘economics’ much more interesting than applying such logic to widgets or muni bonds, so why not just get all those cost and indifference curves in price/quantity space out of economics textbooks, and replace with sexy pictures and fun sex trivia? One could then see economic lessons on Spike TV, right after Manswers. After all, sex is an object of exchange just like any other commodity, but a lot more fun for college-aged students to contemplate.
For example, Charlotte Allen’s article on the New Dating Game, and Lori Gottlieb’s book on why women should settle rather than become spinsters, brought forth a lot of ‘Freakonomic’ issues around dating, sex and marriage, and generated considerable blog buzz (see Robin Hansen, Slate, Jezebel). Writing about these matters is always sure to get people excited, because these are issues people feel they understand pretty well, so people who disagree are way wrong! This got me thinking about the fun book, Mathematics and Sex, which is good nerd porn. Consider the application of economic models to the following issues:
Asset pricing: Choosing a young man for a long-term mate means evaluating his future value; you don’t want a young hottie who won’t age well. Hot Chippendale dancers with low intelligence aren’t good buys. But then, if you want to get the next billionaire, should you try to find the next Bill Gates or Warren Buffet? These are true nerds, and at 18 they weren’t attractive to most women (Buffet writes candidly about his social ineptness as a young man). So, should women glom on to nerds? Well, it could be that nerds have a higher top return, but lower average return, so this isn’t optimal even abstracting from their obviously lower current value. Fads based on conspicuous successes can alter the value of current young men. Perhaps your dad was a prior bubble (eg, he…