What Economists Say On Valentine’s Day

About so much more than money, economics can come in handy on Valentine’s Day.

Let’s take a look.

An Economic Valentine

Economic Laws

On Valentine’s Day, economic laws are broken.

A production possibilities frontier is supposed to illustrate the maximum amount that land, labor, and capital can produce. However, on Valentine’s Day, we move beyond production possibilities frontiers:

Also, marginal utility will usually start to even off and then decrease as we consume more of a good or a service. With our Valentines, though, for love and time, we won’t see marginal utility diminish.

From xkcd:

And as a graph:

Economic Tradeoffs

Still, we can never avoid the tradeoffs that decisions create.

As xkcd explains, the choice is between becoming a “consumer tool” but we also do not want to act like an “inconsiderate jerk.” Then, the prisoner’s dilemma further complicates the decision:

Our Bottom Line: Happy Valentine’s Day

But maybe all we need to remember is the triangle that economists have used for urban planning. It is my economic Valentine for you:

My sources and more: Always, the graphs from Elizabeth Fosslien are great as an economic Valentine. Then, moving onward, xkcd is consistently wonderful. Meanwhile, at econlife, we have looked at the economic way to find your match and Valentine rose markets.