Community Report #13 - The Silver Lake Economist

Famed Finnish economist, Muusto Muusto Muusto, takes on rush hour traffic using behavioral economics. Unfortunately, the law of unintended consequences takes hold, leaving Silver Lake to wonder, Was it worth it?

Transcript

Muusto Muusto Muusto  0:00

Pareto, Gini, Pareto, Gini, Pareto, Gini, Pareto, Gini, Pareto, Gini, Pareto, Gini, Pareto, Gini, Pareto, Gini. Am I a weenie? Uh, am I a weenie, uh, am I a weenie, uh, am I a weenie, uh, no. Pareto, Pareto, Pareto, Pareto, Pareto, Pareto, Pareto, Pareto, Pareto, Pareto, Pareto, Paaaaaa…reeto

Distant clapping  0:25

Clapping in an echoey performance hall.

Hype  0:25

For our community report, I am out and about in the community interviewing different individuals and an audition has just ended for one of Silver Lake’s many open mic nights. The opera singer is actually not a singer at all but a world famous economist and a Silver Lake resident.

Traffic sounds  0:44

Hype  0:44

I have with me famed Finnish economist Moo-Sto Moo-Sto Moo-Sto. Moo-Sto Moo-Sto Moo-Sto, welcome to the show.

Muusto Muusto Muusto  0:54

Kiitos, Thank you.  

Hype  0:57

Now, Moo-Sto Moo-Sto Moo-Sto, by the way do you have a nickname?

Muusto Muusto Muusto  1:03

Uh, Juusto.  

Hype  1:04

I’m sorry, really sorry, can you say that again?

Muusto Muusto Muusto  1:10

Juusto. It means Cheese in Finnish, but I prefer my real name, Muusto.

Hype  1:14

Oh, okay. Got it, well, um, Moo-Sto, can you please explain to our audience why we are out here on Silver Lake Boulevard during rush hour. And by the way, as busy as the Boulevard is everyone, traffic is moving at a snail’s pace, total crawl.

Muusto Muusto Muusto  1:33

Well, I have an idea for how to solve the problem of rush hour traffic in Silver Lake.

Hype  1:39

Seriously? Well, okay, if that's true you will be a very rich man if you can solve that. Tell us, what is your solution?

Muusto Muusto Muusto  1:51

A crane.

Hype  1:53

What did you just say? What was that? 

Muusto Muusto Muusto  1:55

A crane.

Hype  1:56

Did you say a crane?

Muusto Muusto Muusto  1:58

Yes. A crane. You see, the crane will sit right over there. There it will sit and - 

Hype  2:04

Moo-Sto is pointing to the time traveler tower at the south end of the reservoir.

Muusto Muusto Muusto  2:10

There it will sit and 4 times an hour at randomly chosen intervals during rush hour it will grab a car from the line of cars you see here.

Hype  2:20

Moo-Sto is pointing to the line of rush hour cars, again, stuck in traffic, not moving at all.

Muusto Muusto Muusto  2:27

Yes, it will grab a random car at the head of the reservoir and move it all the way back to the end of the reservoir.

Hype  2:37

So you mean that someone will have their car moved from the head of the rush hour line to the very back of it?

Muusto Muusto Muusto  2:44

Correct.

Hype  2:48

Ok. Well. Can you help me understand, exactly how that will solve rush hour traffic.

Muusto Muusto Muusto  3:00

In behavioral economics there is something called framing. And it is the idea that how a situation is framed impacts our economic evaluation of it. For example, there is a 10% chance your wife will hit you over the head with a frying pan if you ask her to cook dinner tonight. Do you ask her? Probably not. But if you are told, there is a 90% chance your wife will cook you dinner tonight, then you ask.

Hype  3:32

Huh.

Muusto Muusto Muusto  3:34

Here we are changing traffic from being terrible to being terrific. Except for four drivers an hour, drivers will experience terrific traffic because they will not have been moved to the back of the rush hour line from the front. So they will feel terrific. Before crane, traffic terrible. After crane, traffic terrific… on average.

Hype  4:10

Okay, I'm trying to follow your thought process. I thought framing was more about people making different choices depending on how you framed the choice. Where is the choice here?

Muusto Muusto Muusto  4:26

The choice is, ‘Do I complain about traffic or do I rejoice in it?’

Hype  4:38

Well, what is the next step for this proposal?

Hype  4:44

I am outside the Silver Lake Recreation Center where a meeting of SLNCC, the Silver Lake Neighborhood Cooperative Council has just concluded and council members are exiting the building. Excuse me, excuse me, sir?

Oliver  5:01

Hello? Who is that? It’s dark and I cannot see so well.

Hype  5:07

Hi. I am Hype with Community Report and I understand that there was a vote tonight on a crane idea for fixing traffic in Silver Lake.

Oliver  5:17

Sorry, I can’t hear you. You will have to speak up.

Hype  5:21

Oh, I understand that there was a vote tonight on fixing traffic in Silver Lake?

Oliver  5:27

Is that what that was? I just heard some guy singing a horrible version of the Marriage of Figaro and turned off my hearing aids.

Hype  5:38

So you did not vote?

Oliver  5:41

Of course I did.

Hype  5:43

Hmmm. Did the proposal pass?

Oliver  5:47

Of course it did. These people love that snotty opera stuff.

Traffic sounds  5:54

Hype  5:56

Indeed the proposal did pass and what originally started as a brief, odd special interest story has actually morphed into where we are today, many months, many many many months later, where we are about to witness this traffic solution in action for the first time. And Moo-Sto Moo-Sto Moo-Sto, hero of the hour is here with me. Moo-Sto, how do you feel? … Awww, it’s okay. It's okay. Listeners, if I can describe the scene here, Moo-Sto appears to be overcome with emotion.

Muusto Muusto Muusto  6:41

Tota Moses. Tämä on erinomainen. It is seldom as an economist that your true idea gets executed. So often a diluted, corrupted version makes it to the final product. And then the economist is blamed for the unintended consequences. But here we get to witness the power of economics in its full glory.

Hype  7:13

That’s exciting, yes. Let’s run over to a driver here stuck in traffic and get their thoughts.

Honking  7:24

Nocab  7:24

Get the bleep out of the way, lady! I got a meditation exam to get to.

Hype  7:31

Oh, oh, oh. It’s about to begin. Look over there. The crane is moving to select its first car. And oh. Oh. Oh. Oh, no. It's reaching well beyond the line of cars and, oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh, it’s, it’s grabbing a small bungalow instead. I think that’s one of the historical houses. It’s, it’s ripping it off its foundation and… oh no... oh no... It’s, it’s dropping it into the middle of the reservoir. Listeners, listeners, we are, we are witnessing Silver Lake history in the making. Oh gosh, um, Moo-Sto, what are your thoughts as you witness this tragedy unfolding. It's right here before you… Moo-Sto?

Muusto Muusto Muusto sings  8:46

Hype  8:54

Woh, okay. I see, um… well. The crane is in pause mode now, and, you know, totally bewildered people begin to exit their cars and we are all just trying to figure out what to do next.

Driver #2  9:09

There’s that bleep economist.

Chain link fence sounds  9:13

Hype  9:14

Moo-Sto is now hopping the fence. Ok, um, yeah. Okay, he's hopping the fence, apparently headed for a panicked swim in the reservoir.

Angry Woman  9:25

I'm gonna' kill you! I'm gonna' kill you!

Hype  9:26

And it might be a good idea for us to get out of here as well. These people are getting very angry.

Angry Child  9:31

Get out of my way.

Hype  9:34

Unbelievable. That was Moo-Sto Moo-Sto Moo-Sto, famed Finnish economist, or maybe infamous Finnish economist, maneuvering the real-time consequences of his economic theories, just one of the many faces of Silver Lake.