ECN 340 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Peanut Butter, Sexual Intercourse, Holding Hands
22 May 2018
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Chapter 3:
Sexual Behaviour
• Sexual experiences cannot be fully explained with economic analysis, but we can
certainly make some progress!
• Sexual drive is a major impetus for human behaviour
• There is good evolutionary reason for the interest in sex: the survival of human species
depends on it!
• Sex is simply another service that is wanted and supplied
• Pornographic sites provide a service (mostly for men), as do men and women for each
other
Economic Characteristics of Sex
• Sex as a service:
o Holding hands
o Kissing
o Sexual intercourse
Different Sexual Practices
• Immoral? – That is a value of judgement
• A matter of taste
• We avoid passing judgement when we are trying to understand behaviour
Intensity – What sets it apart from everything else. What’s so geat aout sex? The intensity
• For most, it is the intensity of the sexual experience that makes it so appealing – The
reason why people are willing to pay a lot for it (in terms of effort)
• Most willing to pay higher cost to experience it compared to having a peanut butter
sandwich because of higher intensity of pleasure
• Food, alcohol and sex have all been shown to release dopamine in the same region of
the ai the pleasue ete
• Itepesoal utilit opaiso impossible to do-what turns you on may not be what
excites me – I aot possil appeiate hat ou like, ad ou a’t ith hat I like
• “oe do ideed get highe utilit fo a sadih ad it depeds o the timing: a
starving person may choose a sandwich over sex
Law of Demand and Sex
• As pie of sex rises, quantity demanded falls-and vice versa
• Rational individual consumes up to the point the MB = MC of other goods and services
(what are you giving up?)
• Postitutes ko this e ell: highe pie, fee tiks – even if demand is
ielasti eaig? – pie goes up, ut the uatit deaded does’t hage
• Both men and women demand more units of sex as price drops
• Geeall, se is oe ostl fo oe. Wh?
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Document Summary
Economic characteristics of sex: sex as a service, holding hands, kissing, sexual intercourse. That is a value of judgement: a matter of taste, we avoid passing judgement when we are trying to understand behaviour. Intensity what sets it apart from everything else. Reduce the potential costs and tell them you are all checked out: contraceptive and legalization of abortion have greatly reduced the cost of sex, therefore sexual activity is up, we as human beings are all the same. Higher income groups, rich people have more sex according to study: while it (cid:272)o(cid:373)es at a (cid:862)highe(cid:396) p(cid:396)i(cid:272)e,(cid:863) highe(cid:396) i(cid:374)(cid:272)o(cid:373)e g(cid:396)oups (cid:272)o(cid:374)su(cid:373)e(cid:894)p(cid:396)odu(cid:272)e(cid:895) (cid:373)o(cid:396)e se(cid:454) Joint nature of the sexual experience meaning perusing the same goal (cid:894)the(cid:455) do(cid:374)"t fight(cid:895) Sex as an exchange whenever something is desired it can be exchanges: a person can exchange sex for security, clothes, kindness, marriage, etc, since supply of sex is upward sloping (meaning?) We need to pay (i. e. giving gifts) more to get more sex.
