GPM instead of MPG is platinum thinking

A big part of the training I have gone through in my current job is understanding how important mental models are, both in our daily lives and in the big picture questions that occupy the politicians. The way we understand the world, unsurprisingly, has a big impact on the way we approach decision making. One of the really important ones is called marginal analysis, which describes the way most decisions we make in life aren't all or nothing, they are questions of whether or not we want a little more or less of one particular thing. Most of the time, people use marginal analysis without even knowing it. Here's a video I found on the web done by some high schoolers. It captures the idea in a general sense and I like that they were able to find a way to incorporate marginal analysis into the hell that is dating.



Anyway, now that you've lost that six minutes of your life, here's the beef (HT: Tyler Cowen). The article is interesting because it says a couple of things to me. One: it's really easy to mess up marginal analysis if you don't have a strong understand of what margin you are working from. Two: Damn you, Escalades!