Today I had a free lunch. In the afternoon a student government provided us with free hot dogs and Diet Pepsis in an open space in front of the library. I had a hot dog and a Pepsi at the bench. A hot dog is a bread with a big sausage and ketchup and mustard sauce. It's a simple hot dog; It's a nice volunteer work and a surprise to me! In Japan we have no free lunch. (It was a hot dog that I learned for the first time when I began to study English. It's a good old memory.)
In America I hear that there's a free lunch especially for the homeless and the poor as a part of public policy. If he or she had a card called "food stamp"(Now most food stamp benefits are distributed using Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) cards but not used paper vouchers of some kind.), he or she could have food and drink. In contrast there's no food stamp in Japan but some welfare policies that attempt to help homeless, poor and sick people with food and drink. This problem, which I think very important, is going to be talked in my blog at no distant date.)
Regarding free lunch, if you were an econ student or an economist, you would hear the following statement: There's no free lunch in the world. This is certainly what Dr. Friedman, a prominent and a Nobel-prize winner economist in America, said. And this is one of the proverbs regarding the principles of economics I like best. And I was thinking of the meaning, while having a hot dog and a Pepsi at the bench.
Are the hot dog and Pepsi that I had really free? Yes, they are certainly free to me because I didn't pay for them at all. But they are surely charged to the student government that offered free hot dog and Pepsi to students. That's an easy question, isn't it? In this way we can say that there's some free lunch in the world.
But is this right? To be honest, they are also certainly charged to me! I didn't certainly pay for hot dog and Pepsi. What did I pay for then? That's the question. In fact I did pay the cost; It was what I gave up to get free hot dog and Pepsi. (We say it "opportunity cost") What was it? In fact I didn't know that there were free hot dog and Pepsi at school. So I brought the sandwiches that I made in the morning to school. But when I saw free hot dog and Pepsi at school, I felt like trying them. So I couldn't have the sandwiches in the afternoon. I had free hot dog and Pepsi at the expense of the sandwiches and the sandwiches are really what I gave up to get free hot dog and Pepsi. And so I am going to have the sandwiches in the next morning. My lunch has become a breakfast! This is the cost I've paid for free lunch at school.
All I can say is that Dr. Friedman is really right; There's no free lunch in the world.
4 comments:
Haha, it is an interesting story. Taro is such an funny guy! I think economics has merged into your blood! You are now very like a rational person, for you even think of the trade-off between hotdogs and sandwiches!
By the way, that's only a joke!
Taro, please take a look at your last topic. I've made new comment and I would like to have some further discussions on that topic with you if permitted.
Now, I have returned to PKU. This is the first time I really realize that I miss my family so much! I cannot even admit the fact that I have already in campus, which is thousand of kilometres away from my hometown. I would nearly burst out tears when I am alone. After all, home is such a nice place! Do you have similar feelings with me?
Thank you for your nice comment! I'm honored that you called me a funny rational person.
Of course, the cost of eating hotdogs is not only the sandwiches I gave up then. As you know, there are other trade-offs to get the hotdogs. For example, there's the trade-off between hotdogs and the rice that I could eat if I were in Japan. There's also the trade-off between hotdogs and the good talk with you! Because I couldn't exchange views with you in the computer room if I were eating hotdogs. There's no drink and food in the room as in the computer room in PKU.
Anyway the cost of the hotdogs is not cheap for me.
And thank you for letting me know your current feeling. You are honest. It's your good point and what I like in you. I understand you.
As you said, home is a really nice place. Your home is in China. And my home is in Japan. For you, China is the best place to go back to. And for me Japan is the best place to return to. We have different homes but same feeling. A home is the best place to go back to.
However, when considering the trade-off between returing home to Japan and staying in the US, I can find out that I am currently happier in the US. Because the present Japan won't bring me a good opportunity to work for; I would have no job in Japan. A job is what I should catch with hard commitment, not be given without hard effort. I know that. But I couldn't catch a good job in Japan. One of my reasons for studying in the US is that I could't have a good job in Japan. Of course, there's a possibility that I will have no job if I have completed the PhD study. I recognize it.
Anyway I currently have no similar feeling with you. You're going to get accustomed to living a new life in a new place soon, I guess. A new life will give us a good opprtunity to change ourselves, I hope and I believe.
We have to change ourselves. Of course, changing ourselves will charge some costs on us. One of the costs of changing the present ourselves is throwing away the past ourselves. My friend, let's go to a new world!!
Hi Taro,
I hope you are settling in in Milwaukee - you are now over the worst part, I guess. I really enjoyed the nice photos you have posted. I encourage you to enjoy it all before the weather gets colder!
Regarding your post, you did pay for that lunch. The student government gets its income from the students' fees, which of course you did pay. So there - as you say, Milton was right. By the way, though Milton Friedman popularized that phrase, he didnt come up with it himself. I believe the prospect of a free lunch as something American bars used to offer in the nineteenth century. Point was, they offered a "free lunch", but increased the price of drinks to cover it.
Anyway, best of luck for the rest of the semester.
Dear Mr. MVPY,
Thank you very much for your nice encouragement.
I think I will be able to improve my econ skill here more slowly and carefully than in Osaka Univ. My classes(Micro and Macro) have begun and I have attended them. I seem to catch up with them. As you said, I should be prepared for the cold weather here because it is getting colder and colder as time goes by!
And thank you very much for your appropriate comment regarding my post on free lunch. I'm very happy because you are the most reliable econ commentator in Mankiw's blog.
Yes, I did pay for that lunch. However I didn't know that he didnt come up with that phrase himself. I knew it in Steven Landsberg's book, "The Armchair Economist: Economics and Everyday Life", which I read as an undergraduate student. He certainly introduces the phrase as a Friedman's word in the first part of his book, I remember.
I am very happy with any comment from the person who knows very well about economics. I appreciate you very much. Again thank you very much for keeping an eye on my immature econ blog.
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