Opportunity Costs, Choice Architecture & Careerism
I haven’t read anything in Behavioral Economics about the way we react to opportunity costs and so I’ll posit what I think is a serious influence on the way we make choices. I was talking with a well-established professor and friend not long ago about careers and he was offering advice by reflecting on his past. He described his youthful struggle to climb the latter, the positions he took and the friends and lovers he had left behind in the pursuit of his career.
We all make sacrifices for our careers and perhaps what we give up along the way is of no little consequence on how we pursue our goals. Take the following example: I long to be a world class chef (anyone who knows me is laughing now) and when Wolfgang Puck tells me that I’ve been accepted to be his intern I have to say goodbye to the woman I’m dating in order to work for Wolfgang. How does giving up this relationship influence the way I chop broccoli in Wolfgang’s kitchen?
I’ll suggest that as we pursue our careers and give up our other paths, we are fueled perhaps to pursue our goals with more vigor than we otherwise would have. Spurred by the knowledge of what we gave up we’re motivated to make sure that this choice will be the right one. Maybe we work harder, or rationalize our choices deeper, we do whatever we can to make sure that our sacrifice was not in vain. Now, how does that situation compare to one where we gave up nothing – if we pursue our goals without sacrifice are they as sweet and do we chase them with the same tenacity?
The understanding of Opportunity Costs as an influence on Choice Architecture and the wider topics of Behavioral Economics is surely an interesting one. We all know of times when we’ve given something up to pursue what we thought we wanted, so what do you think? Did the sacrifice make you work harder, are you happier for reaching your goal, would you do it again?
Jeff
Tags: behavioral economics, happiness economics, opportunity cost, choice architecture
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March 4, 2009 at 8:16 pm
This makes me think of juggling professional life with parenthood. Having made the conscious decision to work means that while I am at work I work even harder to succeed within a 40 hour work week with minimal spill-over into my home time.
I can also reflect that having left a promising career path to follow my to-be husband around the world has meant a lot more to me than the career right in front of me when I finished my masters degree. This is almost opposite to the situation you hypothesize. I’m just on a different path now, and trying to make career just be a part of who I am, not the entirety of it.
Anna