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25 September 2006

Freeloading: Economics meets Poly Sci, imitates Art

In the next few weeks, the number of articles posted to this site is set to increase, partly because school's back in session, and partly because we've recruited some new authors for the committee. This is a good thing in general. However, I know I work best on a deadline, so it happens that I tend to post when the flow is slower, and less when a lot of articles are being posted by the other authors.

To bring this back to the realm of science: Am I taking the position of a economic free rider (or "freeloader", if you prefer), if I tend to post less frequently than other authors, or is someone in my position merely acting as a balancing actor, keeping stability?

As for the "art", I doubt that this observation is opera-worthy, but it does tend to happen a lot in social situations I've seen. Certainly in an early episode of Seinfeld where George wanted to split a cab but not have to pay for it because they "were going that way anyway".

Posted by Andrew C. Thomas at September 25, 2006 2:00 PM