Amazing Quote I Heard on NPR
The following is an amazing quote I heard on NPR:
“JUSTIN WOLFERS: I’m not just an economist, I’m also a runner, training for the Marine Corps Marathon.
Runners World magazine recently argued that marathon running is an incredibly cheap sport. All you need is a pair of shoes, and you’re off and running. But they’re wrong.
You see, they were emphasizing the out-of-pocket cost, which is small. But the foundation of all economics is something called opportunity cost. It says that the true cost of something is the alternative you have to give up.
So each hour that I spend running is an hour that I don’t spend hanging out, working, or sleeping. How do I choose? Following economic theory, I keep doing an activity only as long as it yields greater benefits than the alternative.
And as I spend my hours slugging out the miles, I’m forced to confront my choices. Instead of sweating it out on the trails, I could take on extra teaching and earn a few extra bucks. And so going running costs me good money.
The same logic applies to you. Each hour you spend on your hobby is an hour you don’t spend working harder to get a promotion, studying for a degree, or shopping around for the cheapest groceries.
By my calculations my 16-week training program comes at an opportunity cost of several thousand dollars. A quicker runner would have a smaller opportunity cost. It’s only because I’m both slow and an economist that I fret that the world’s cheapest sport is actually incredibly expensive.
But to an economist, the choice is still a no-brainer. We think you should only do what you love, and pay for it by doing what you are good at.
By sticking to economics, I make time for running. Rather than spend hundreds of dollars worth of time cleaning my house each Sunday, I hire a cleaner, who does a better job, at a better price.
When a friend asks me to help them move, I write them a check to pay professional movers instead. It’s just more efficient.
And while it can be hard to forgo extra income for a long run, it is even harder to justify wasting that time on Facebook. And with the time that saves, I’m pulling on my shoes to head out for another run.”
I took my economics classes in college, and somehow I never really understood opportunity cost outside of that world. It really puts things into perspective for you. Anyway, I thought some of you might enjoy this quote as much as I did.
Source: NPR
I agree partially with this statement. True, time spent running could possibly be used making extra money somehow directly. But working harder to get a promotion may or may NOT yield more money. So that extra hours of work put on on the job could be wholly more of a waste of time than running.
Furthermore, running, as with all physical activity, increases productivity and motivation. This is way many companies encourages, if not demands, that their employees work out; they offer help with gym memberships or even have gyms in their workplace. They know if they keep their workforce healthy and fit, they will be able to put in MORE hours and be happier doing so. This applies even if you work for yourself – if you workout, your productivity and motivation to whatever your life goals are will be higher.
So, even though you aren’t making direct income during a marathon, the payback will actually show in the sum total of you income over a lifetime.
And that’s all I have to say about that.
I wasn’t saying that I shouldn’t run, or that the quote somehow convinced me that I should or should not be doing something; only that thinking about opportunity cost puts things into perspective. A new light in my head, if you will.
Awesome Quote. This is actually something i struggle with every single day now. Having a full time job + starting a business really makes you look at everything you do and weight it against everything else i could be doing. I struggle every day with a choice between working out and working on my business.