tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3829599.post115370906817762233..comments2024-01-28T00:20:40.933-08:00Comments on Agoraphilia: Adverse Selection in the College CafeteriaUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3829599.post-1154197376979591432006-07-29T11:22:00.000-07:002006-07-29T11:22:00.000-07:00I've been buying these little yoggurts at my dorm'...I've been buying these little yoggurts at my dorm's cafeteria for $1.20. I just went to Meijer's (a local grocery store) and found them for $0.60. They were not on sale or anything.<BR/><BR/>I'm not making any point; I just think the numbers are interesting.Jeff Brownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00708682858926029668noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3829599.post-1154119541927184072006-07-28T13:45:00.000-07:002006-07-28T13:45:00.000-07:00The stated reason for having cafeterias in my univ...The stated reason for having cafeterias in my university had nothing to do with thinking students will forgo eating (Though, to be honest, some of them did skip lunch a lot). It was to have somewhere with food which is close enough to the classrooms that it will be possible to eat without missing classes.<BR/>It makes sense. Sometimes the daily schedule is busy, and going out to a restaurant, even a nearby one, can take longer than the break. Especially on a large campus.<BR/><BR/>The university also dealt with several different contractors, so there was some competition forcing most of them to have more or less reasonable food and reasonable prices.<BR/><BR/>Plus, in a few places where prices were indeed too steep, there has been actions by the student body (amazingly enough this usually happened right before elections to the student's council) to try and boycott the place, thereby making them improve, and in one case even causing a change of contractor. Since these cafeterias cater only to students, it makes it a sort of an oligopsony. So you couldn't get really fancy food like in expensive restaurants, but overall you could get better/more food for the money you paid.<BR/><BR/>Glen, yes, that adverse selection would indeed affect every all-you-can-eat places. But I'm not sure it's the same problem conceptually, because these places pretty much begin assuming this condition, and the heavy eaters are the customers they target intentionally. So the issue of raising prices for the non-heavy eaters isn't relevant, these people will just eat in a different restaurant, what isn't available on some university/college cafeterias like in the model you described. People who see themselves as light eaters aren't in general attract to all-you-can-eat places anyhow.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3829599.post-1153944754789987632006-07-26T13:12:00.000-07:002006-07-26T13:12:00.000-07:00Yaron and Jeff -- yes, selling food the normal way...Yaron and Jeff -- yes, selling food the normal way (meal by meal or dish by dish) is obviously one option, but I presumed it was off the table for some reason. Also, note that the adverse selection problem I outline could afflict any all-you-can-eat form of dining, not just college cafeterias.Glen Whitmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01425907466575991113noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3829599.post-1153930481378254552006-07-26T09:14:00.000-07:002006-07-26T09:14:00.000-07:00One piece of libertarian activism that I didn't do...One piece of libertarian activism that I didn't do as an undergraduate counts among the few types of activism that I wanted to try but didn't: Cafeteria reform<BR/><BR/>Or, more precisely: cafeteria abolition.<BR/><BR/>We have specialized places that will serve you what to eat. They're called restaurants and grocery stores. They're really good at it; it's their core competency. (Hopefully the school's core competency is transmission of knowledge.)<BR/><BR/>Now let's say we take seriously the idea that Johnny will forget to eat if we don't introduce some measure of compulsion.<BR/><BR/>Even if there's a reason to mandate <I>that</I> Johnny Undergrad will eat, there's no discernible reason to mandate <I>what</I> he eats. And don't give me that public health crap: there's plenty of unhealthy food in most any caf.<BR/><BR/>So our solution should be: vouchers. Or, as they're usually called in this situation: a meal card. You have a bunch of money on the card. Maybe it can only be used at the wide variety of restaurants around campus, in order to prevent you from spending *all* of your money on hookers and booze.<BR/><BR/>Seriously, the inefficiency of the college caf system is pretty silly—until you realize that it's part of your sky-high tuition, at which point it becomes quite a bit less funny.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3829599.post-1153928575097860602006-07-26T08:42:00.000-07:002006-07-26T08:42:00.000-07:00You're on, Yaron: I'm in exactly that pay-per-dis...You're on, Yaron: I'm in exactly that pay-per-dish situation now, and I'm a heavy eater. Obviously it sucks. Interestingly, though, the individual dishes are still ridiculously expensive, and presumably there's no adverse selection problem.<BR/><BR/>I've discovered that if I ask them too, the food-dishers will give me more. Hardly anyone does that, though, so I don't think it's the reason the food's so expensive.Jeff Brownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00708682858926029668noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3829599.post-1153928095290243752006-07-26T08:34:00.000-07:002006-07-26T08:34:00.000-07:00There's another way of controlling the problem. Do...There's another way of controlling the problem. Doing like any other place that sells food, and simply sell individual meals/dishes.<BR/>This is what happened, for example, at the university I've been to, where the cafeteria was operated by several different contractors.<BR/><BR/>Since paying for a meal is a very common concept, nobody is likely to complain, or even mind. The heavy eater can just buy another side-dish or a desert.<BR/>Just like anywhere else...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com