I got the call from the Leucadia Project for some input on Erik Baldwin's 501 Sessions
from Ed Lewis
to Aaron Foster
date Tue, Jan 5, 2010 at 11:04 AM
subject Erik's 501 sessions a year
Jan 5 (3 days ago)
Aaron,
I am doing a post on Erik’s 501 sessions for the year. Would you be willing to provide me with a little math support on what 501 session a year means?
Lost productivity, loss of wages, the average number of bars of wax you go through, anything your mind can come up with? It would be fun to included.
to Ed Lewis
date Tue, Jan 5, 2010 at 1:27 pm
subject Erik's 501 sessions a year/opportunity cost
Jan 5 (3 days ago)
Opportunity Cost
John Stuart Mill defines opportunity cost as-
"the basic relationship between scarcity and choice”
1. The cost of an alternative that must be forgone in order to pursue a certain action. Put another way, the benefits you could have received by taking an alternative action.
Opportunity cost is measured subjectively and not necessary within the confines of money or goods. The formula is basically what you give up divided by what you gained. Which bring us to Erik and his 501 sessions in a year.
I will be subjective and go for it:
Let’s define Erik monetarily:
A few facts for the mix;
1) He lives in San Diego County = Median income $86,139
a. He is between 25-40 years old +7.5%,
b. Valedictorian of his High School+11.46% ,
c. White Male (sad but still true) +6.4%
His total average demographic income is $107,984 Annual
2) Let explore the value of surfing
a. A typical one week surf trip is 1493.91 (According to Wave Hunters)
b. Take out airline tickets -40%
c. Add housing cost v hotels in surf destinations +26%
His total yearly value of surfing is $66,807
According to John Mill, Erik gave up 1.6 units of what he gained?
Is this right?
Opportunity cost (oc)=$107,984 – gain (g)$66,768 =$41,216 or $82 dollars per session
Can we add some other math to the equation!
If happiness is gauged on money spent on Psychotropic care we have to do the following.
An average Psychiatrist in San Diego charges $189 per hour. (from studentdoctor.net)
There is no drug or conversation that equals a surf session. It can’t be replaced. If you look at the real number taking happiness into account Erik is ahead $107 per session or $53,607 over the year.
from Ed Lewis
to Aaron Foster
date Tue, Jan 5, 2010 at 1:47 pm
subject Erik's 501 sessions a year
Jan 5 (3 days ago)
So you are saying he actually added $53,607 in value to his life last year by surfing 501 session?!
I’m impressed.
from Ed Lewis
to Aaron Foster
date Tue, Jan 7, 2010 at 8:29pm
subject Erik's 501 sessions a year
Jan 7 (1 day ago)
do you want to do a post on this? I just did one with my take but the math sounds better coming from you.
Ed
Yes Value has been added to Erik as well as us getting to surf with him and follow him over the year.
501 is not a prime number, but the sum of the first 18 prime numbers.
