I am sitting in a cafe and a woman is impressed that “this is the kind of place where people leave their computers unattended”, which I guess is true. With the coming age of the netbook, let’s look at the economics of crime.
The what? Yes, the interesting thing here is what happens when a product becomes commoditized, which I define as “cheap enough for just about everyone”. I contend that the emergence of netbooks will essentially end computer theft.
So why would someone steal a computer?
- To use it themselves
- To sell it for money
Let’s say the average computer costs $2000, and that a would-be thief considers stealing one for themselves. The thief makes a bet: if I win, I am $2000 ahead. If I lose, I am in jail.
If computers average closer to $500, then the upside of stealing is cut by 75%. Imagine if your odds at the craps table just got 75% worse – do you stay in the game? A rational thief would leave the market.
Now, if the thief were hoping to fence the stolen computer, similar dynamics apply. They can no longer get $2000 for the stolen goods. And, because netbooks are cheap, everyone already has one. The market for the thief’s product has dried up.
Cool blog! Is your theme custom made or did you download it from somewhere? A design like yours with a few simple adjustements would really make my blog shine. Please let me know where you got your theme. Appreciate it
I precisely needed to thank you very much again. I do not know the things that I would have gone through without the entire strategies revealed by you about that situation. It was actually a fearsome crisis in my position, but seeing the specialized approach you dealt with that forced me to weep over happiness. Extremely happier for the help and even hope you find out what a great job you have been doing educating the others by way of a site. Most probably you haven’t met any of us.
I together with my guys happened to be looking through the great tricks located on your web blog and then instantly developed an awful feeling I had not expressed respect to the site owner for them. Most of the young boys had been so happy to study all of them and now have extremely been having fun with those things. I appreciate you for indeed being very accommodating and also for making a decision on certain notable tips millions of individuals are really wanting to be informed on. My honest apologies for not saying thanks to earlier.
Nice read, I just passed this onto a colleague who was doing slightly research on that. And he just bought me lunch since I discovered it for him smile So let me rephrase that: Thank you for lunch!