[IP] . Allocating scarce resources

[David Farber <dave@farber.net>]

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Subject:	Allocating scarce resources
Author:	Roland Cole <cole@spi.org>
Date:		7th October 2005 11:20:51 am

I believe someone wrote a book on the subject of time as the new scarce
resource and how the "elite" got to save more of it than the rest of us.
The actual title and author escape me at the moment.

But to me (an Economics major as an undergrad), the issue depends on the
"coin" used to allocate the scarce resource. Is it one that the truly
energetic and committed can obtain, or is it not? If the "coin" is
obtainable, the society is less pressured than if not. 

Thus using money is usually more flexible than using "heredity", "social
class," "government position", etc. The city of Ann Arbor Michigan even used
time itself the case of slots in its public alternative high school - people
would stand in line for more than a week in February to get a slot in the
school. (That was for something like half the slots; the others were
allocated by a lottery.)

The resources will be allocated one way or another, evenly or unevenly; the
issue is how even or uneven and what "coin" will be involved.

Rollie Cole

Roland J. Cole, J.D., Ph.D.
Executive Director
Software Patent Institute
5315 Washington Blvd
INDIANAPOLIS IN 46220-3062
317-727-8940; cole@spi.org; www.spi.org



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