Constrained Bliss Point

Another brainchild of the eminent Tim Hwang, the Awesome Foundation for Arts and Sciences is accepting micro-applications for awesome ideas. They’ll hang out a micro-grant of ~$1k once a month to the most awesome idea they get.

So, what is awesome? I’m not sure exactly either, but I know it when I see it. Whatever it is, I agree that we need to subsidize the production of awesome, since it should go without saying that awesome has significant positive externalities. (Jon Pierce compares it to the broken windows theory in reverse.)

The Awesome Foundation itself is an awesome idea (does that make it meta-awesome?). I for one am looking forward to seeing what comes out of it. And in the back of my mind I’ll be mulling over their subtle call to action: “We’d also be happy to help others start an awesome foundation in their location.” I wonder how much awesomeness exists in DC.

Relationships are funny things. When you bring a new person into the fold, you are not the only one affected. Getting to know someone means introducing them to your life, including all those people you already know. Your friends and family get to know this person you’re with, and they develop relationships too.

Most relationships end. In deciding whether or not you should end the relationship you’re in, should you consider the effect of breakup on your friends and family? Surely this decision affects you, but it affects them too. A selfish agent in a relationship would make the breakup decision without paying heed to such effects on other persons.

Here we have a situation ripe for externality — that is, if the full costs of breakup are not borne solely by the agent doing the breaking. Then again, no one ever claimed actors in a relationship are rational. So maybe, when you’re considering whether to break up with your significant other, you think about how your friends or family might feel. By asking “how would this affect others”, you can move closer to the socially optimal decision.

Now, I am not one who normally argues against the social optimum. In cases like these, though, I think a little externality is best. In matters of relationships, you should only consider yourself — and optionally the other person.

Spillover effects happen. A relationship is too important to worry about market failure.