Inhabited Chair: The Economics of Buying Shoes
My name is Zachary Wolfson, I’m a student at Northeastern doing my internship at Shoebuy.com. I will be writing weekly blog entries, which I modeled after “Monday Morning Quarterback” by Peter King who is a great sports writer and always gives some love to my Philadelphia Eagles. Every week, there will be a main story where I discuss something that is happening in the world at that time, my shoe thoughts of the week, where I share my thoughts on a couple of styles and my non-shoe thoughts of the week where I just share random thoughts for your enjoyment.
I am about to make the understatement of the century, times are tough. Our GDP is in decline and unemployment is on the rise. The only people experiencing prosperity are selling anti-depressants. Many people today face a tough dilemma, what to wear to that party next weekend? (And you thought I was going to say something serious, didn’t you?) Well to many people, this is a serious issue because their outfits have become stale. Fear not, there is no need to buy a whole new outfit, after all who but drug company executives can afford that? Buy a new pair of shoes! It can completely revive an outfit at the fraction of the cost of a new one. To prove I’m not biased because I work for a company that sells shoes, I will back up my argument with economics. Let’s assume that you receive $100 of satisfaction from a new outfit. This is your marginal benefit. The cost of the outfit is your marginal cost. Here we use the word marginal to mean one additional unit. Now let us assume that the marginal benefit from a revived outfit as the result of a new pair of shoes is $70. After all, it does not provide as much satisfaction as a whole new outfit but still freshens things up a bit. Under these assumptions as long as a new pair of shoes costs at least $30 less than an entire new outfit, you will be maximizing profit (your satisfaction vs. dollars spent) and that is something we all need to maximize in today’s economy.
Shoe thoughts of the week:
Here are some shoes that will help you revive your closet for less:
The Zengara Z30028 is an economical way to renew all your business attire. The shiny look will be sure to get your new shoes noticed, making it appear as if you have a whole new wardrobe.
The Funtasma Pump 420 is a versatile shoe that can be worn with a wide range of outfits, really giving you a strong bang for your buck.
A classy loafer, the Giorgio Brutini 17078 comes in a variety of colors for all your needs. This versatile classic can be dressed up or down and gives you a great name brand at a fantastic value.
Non-Shoe thoughts of the week:
- Lost Thoughts
- We saw Charles Widmore 50 years earlier than when we were first introduced to him as Ben’s arch rival. This means he could be a native of the island, like Richard Alpert and doesn’t age while on the island. It is possible he is now trying to find the island as a sort of fountain of youth for him. Of course the fact that he “resets” with the island during the flashes complicates things a bit. I’m not really sure how this one will play out.
- I’m pretty sure Desmond killed Charlotte when he didn’t find Daniel Faraday’s mom in time. Desmond is the only one who doesn’t follow the rules of time travel so it’s possible that because he took too long to find Faraday’s mom, Charlotte doesn’t get her constant, hence she dies.
- I hope they don’t end the show with the Hydrogen bomb blowing everything up.
- I still want to know about that four-toed statue we saw way back, that is really bothering me.
- My testing of Windows 7 beta is going well, I really like the new task bar, and overall it is organized much more intuitively
- There was no new The Office this week, what a bummer.
Thanks for reading, I always enjoy hearing from my readers so leave lots of comments on anything I’ve said. Please subscribe to the Shoebuyblog.com RSS feed and tell all your friends.
February 2nd, 2009 at 11:24 pm
so what’s the marginal benefit of reading this blog?
As a self described Eagles fan, were you rooting for the Cardinals?
Is it possible that a 35$ shiny shoe you listed above can possibly be comfortable?
February 3rd, 2009 at 4:49 pm
Dave,
The answer to your first question depends upon how you define one unit. If one unit is a word, than the marginal benifit of reading my this blog is the added satisfaction you recieve from reading each additional word. However, if one unit is the entire post, the the marginal benefit is the added satisfaction you recieve from reading each additional post. The exact amount of benefit you recieve will depend on the individual reading it, I hope you recieve a high marginal benefit no matter how you define it.
The answer to you second question is yes I was rooting for the Cardinals, if your going to be beaten, get beat by the best, right? I will note that it is a bit ironic how the Cardinals lost as it was very simalar to how they beat the Eagles,play well on defense, make a come back, then let up the game winning drive.
The answer to you third question is absolutely. I have found that the comfort of your shoe depends less on the price and more on how the show fits your foot. Comfort is a relative term and it very much depends upon your personal preferences.
Zachary Wolfson
February 3rd, 2009 at 8:25 pm
Zachary:
thanks for your response. I was thinking the marginal cost could be measured as an opportunity cost. So if I could make 200$/hr at work, but instead read your blog, wouldn’t that be a proxy for the marginal benefit?
The irony was not lost on me with respect to the Eagles Cardinals game. good point.
February 4th, 2009 at 2:19 pm
Dave,
Marginal benefit is not measured as a function of cost, they are independent of each other. Each individual has a set marginal benefit, so that they will read this blog so long as their individual marginal cost (their opportunity costs would be a part of this) was lower than their individual marginal benefit. For example, if you had a salary of $200 per hour, and it took you 15 minutes to read this blog, then you would continue to read the blog as long as you got at least $50 of satisfaction (here I am assuming that the physical toll of reading this blog is negligible so that the marginal cost is entirely made up of your opportunity costs). To better explain how marginal decision making works, let us consider a scenario where you marginal benefit is actually $50. If someone offered you $49 to stop reading this blog, you would turn down the money and continue to read. However, if someone offered you $51 you would stop reading and take the money.
Zachary Wolfson