在最近一期的EconTalk里,主持人Russ Roberts说到出于机会成本的原因,“I don't finish every book I start.” 但另一方面,他也指出“I think if we stop doing the things we don't enjoy, we would lead a very bad life. Because I think there are many things in life that we don't enjoy that turn out to be worth it.”
我正在看的这本书就是这样的一个例子:“Miracle at Philadelphia”,说的是1787年的制宪大会。这本书我是从去年开始就断断续续的在看,每次看了几章就觉得看不下去了,有点味如嚼蜡。但这次再看下去就发现篇幅过半以后,内容变得有意思起来了,很快就看完了。
那集EconTalk里还讲到了知行合一:
Bryan Caplan: What fraction of your students walk out of movies after you talk about opportunity cost? That's one of the easiest applications of opportunity cost in the universe. And it doesn't happen.
Russ Roberts: You mean, to walk out in the middle of a movie.
Bryan Caplan: Yeah. Because, like, you've already paid the money; you're not enjoying it. Leave. That's like, basic opportunity cost. And yet, how many students are persuaded to do that because they took an economics class?
我有一次就差点walk out in the middle of a movie。那是好多年前我一个人在纽约玩的时候。那天路过电影院,想看个电影,但不知道哪部好看。那时候已经有IMDB了,但我没法上网,那时候手机上网还很很慢很贵,而且我还是国际漫游。于是我就凭着感觉选了一部片子:Pan's Labyrinth(中文名《潘神的迷宫》)。坐下来看了半个多小时以后觉得不好看,也没看懂,就想要走了。但想想又觉得看都看了,看看完算了。于是就勉强继续看下去。但看到后面就觉得好看起来了,也看懂了,看完后觉得是部相当好看的片子。
最近几年,上网方便了,临时在售票窗口前也能上网查评价,就没有再发生过看电影想要中途退场情况了。