Article on toilet seat economics.
Abstract: This paper develops an economic analysis of the toilet seat etiquette. I investigate whether there is any efficiency justification for the presumption that men should leave the toilet seat down after use. I find that the down rule is inefficient unless there is a large asymmetry in the inconvenience costs of shifting the position of the toilet seat across genders. I show that the selfish or the status quo rule that leaves the toilet seat in the position used dominates the down rule in a wide range of parameter spaces including the case where the inconvenience costs are the same.
Now, I wrote about this four years ago, so here is that info again. A different conclusion.
(Nod to RL and MA)
2 comments:
And even if you have 6 sisters, they still throw a fit if you leave the seat up, even though the chances that they actually have to touch the seat with their hands are quite low given the male to female ratio.
You neglect another cost - the sprinkle factor. Or, as I like to put it - men who stand in front of the toilet probably don't clean the bathroom. I clean the bathroom, ergo, I sit down.
PS captcha is a rather appropriate "spersha". Got to come up with a definition for that!
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