Monday, December 24, 2007

We're Shopping like Homer Simpson


Quote of the day:
"Be still when you have nothing to say; [but] when genuine passion moves you, say what you've got to say, and say it hot."
--D.H. Lawrence

Related to yesterday’s posting, Christopher Jencks wrote an excellent analysis of the immigration debate a few months ago.

The reason it’s excellent is that it’s not the usual clobber-you-on-the-head polemic that everything written about immigration seems to be. Among other things, he looks at the sources of various data that have been cited and waved around by various people with agendas.

By doing this, he makes an important and seemingly-obvious point. The results of surveys about American attitudes about immigration are mostly dependent on how questions are asked.

Two important variables are the words used in questions and the number of answers people have to choose from.

See Jencks’ piece here.

Perhaps “closer to home” in this busy shopping season, James Surowiecki makes a fascinating observation about how retailers use pricing as a marketing tool.

He notes that Homer Simpson’s wine-selection strategy is the way many of us choose what we buy. Homer always buys the second-cheapest wine on the menu.

For example, when choosing a microwave oven and given the choice between a $110 Emerson and a $180 Panasonic, most people will choose the Emerson. But if a $200 choice is added, most people choose the $180 Panasonic.

After all, we want a good deal but we don’t want to be cheap.

See Surowiecki’s piece here.

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