A conflict between externalities and libertarianism

At the University of Victoria, my alma mater, there are no fraternities or sororities. Last week, students voted to keep things that way.

I like to think of myself as a libertarian. I have no interest in joining a frat myself, but if someone else wants to join one, I wouldn't want to stop him or her. One of my friends was in a fraternity at another university, and the beer-drinking, crazy party stereotypes are a little overblown; they do some good charity work.

So when one of my left-leaning Facebook friends, Shamus Reid, posted on Facebook in support of the ban ("Today, 64.5% of UVic students voted at their students' union's AGM to oppose frats and sororities on campus. I'm proud to own 42.5% of a degree from that fine institution."), I set out writing a snide retort on his wall accusing him of paternalism. It irked me that Shamus sees it as a good thing that UVic is preventing people who want to join a frat or sorority from doing so, just because some students don't like the idea. If you don't like frats, don't join one, I thought, but don't stop someone else from signing up if they want to.

Parking at Scotiabank Place

On Tuesday, I attended Jason Mraz's concert at Scotiabank Place. It was awesome.

What was less awesome was the $9 I paid for a package of M&Ms and a bottled water and the $17 I paid for parking. I anticipate gouging on food and drink at hockey rinks since they have a monopoly and prohibit the bringing in of outside food, but I was surprised to find that the parking lot near the arena charged $17, considering that it was only about five per cent full (the concert was not very well attended).

The Ikea cafeteria (part 2)

I eat at fast food restaurants a lot. Usually, when I'm finished, I'll throw the remnants of my meal in the garbage and stack my tray neatly on top of the garbage can to be collected.

Why do I do this? It would be easier to me to leave my tray on the table for an employee to clean up — it is someone's job, after all. I think I do it for two reasons. First, it's a social norm. Other people do it, so I feel like I should do it. Second, I feel bad for the fast-food employees because they do a tough job for a tiny wage, and I feel a little better about myself if I help them out (although by this logic, I'd start tipping the guy who gives me fries, so maybe my motivation is more due to social norms than outright altruism).

The Ikea cafeteria (part 1)

Having recently moved across the country, I've spent more time than I'd care to admit recently at the Ottawa Ikea. I'll spare blog readers a rant about the challenges of assembling their furniture. What's more fascinating about Ikea is their restaurant: it's really cheap. You can get a (very yummy) hot dog for just 50 cents.

It's a brilliant strategy and I'm not sure why other retailers don't use it as well: cover your costs (or even lose a little money) on food to draw people into the store, in hopes they'll buy pricier items. Ikea isn't getting rich off its hot dogs, but if everyone who buys a hot dog then decides to buy a $100 piece of furniture, their investment in food services is going to pay off quickly.

It's common knowledge that to get kids to buy stuff, all you need is a colourful little toy (cereals and McDonald's exploit this wonderfully). But while most women know that the way to a man's heart is through his stomach, not many retailers seem to exploit this. Costco offers a cheap cafeteria, but it doesn't quite rival the value of Ikea's. Other chains do have food deals (Chapters and Safeway with Starbucks, Home Depot with Harvey's, Walmart with McDonald's), but none are nearly as good value for money as Ikea.

Does anyone have ideas as to why no one seems to be mimicking Ikea's model?

Public vs. private auto insurance

In February, I bought my first car in Ontario — a used 2009 Ford Focus. The dealer took care of the plates, and I took care of insurance.

Since auto insurance is private in Ontario, I searched online for the company that would give me the best price. After a phone call, and a fax that showed I owned the car, the transaction was done and the insurance company sent me proof of insurance papers in the mail.

It was simple. It took very little time. I didn't have to sign anyone or talk with anyone face-to-face.

Census brouhaha

Since everyone else is talking about the census, I figured I would weigh in as well.

I consider myself to be somewhat libertarian, so I appreciate the argument that the census, at least to some extent, is an invasion of privacy. One has to admit that some of the questions might make some people a little uncomfortable to answer (even if they only have to answer it, on average, once every 25 years).

On the other side of the coin, however, replacing the long-form census with a voluntary survey generates data that is of much lower quality. The people who choose not to respond may tend to have similar characteristics, and if the survey no longer picks up their data, the results will be skewed. Even after the voluntary long-form survey is conducted, we won't be able to know how bad the problem is.