On-Line Economics Experiment

In economics there is almost no reason why anyone should pay for something they can get for free except for a warm glow motive (it just makes you feel good). Yet we support things like OPB quite robustly. So, I am going to give an economics experiment a try. I have added a PayPal donation button and I am curious if anyone will actually donate. I will let the world know the results of my reaserch, by the way.

By supporting the blog, you make the marginal cost/marginal benefit analysis tilt slightly more in favor of blogging in my off hours than, say, reading crime fiction to which I am addicted (though generally not American as it is usually terribly written - I am currently reading Swedish crime fiction, but my favorite is the Rebus series, partly because of my familiarity with Edinburgh in which they are set). However that is the substitution effect. The income effect may mean that since I am able to afford more crime novels, I will actually end up reading more and blogging less. So no guarantees.