Yup. It's all a big lie. All I've taught in Principles of Micro is a big lie. People don't respond to incentives. For example, people will treat bikes they don't own as well as those they do own:
Despite a 2004 trial run at St. Cloud State University that didn't produce great results, the yellow bike program is back this year.
Out of about 20 donated bikes intended for students to use for free to commute locally and on campus, only four survived the last academic year. And those were in rough shape at year's end.
The program takes its name from the bright color the donated bikes are painted before being randomly parked around campus for students to use.
Failure of the program can be credited to students' lack of respect for the bikes and disregard for the program's potential benefits, said Grant Schnell, student manager at St. Cloud State's Outdoor Endeavors office.
..."It didn't work out very well. Basically they all just got ruined," Schnell said. "In one instance we found a rim wrapped around the entire front fork of a bike." Other bikes disappeared, he said.
It might come as a surprise that along with a new crop of about 15 more bikes, the program is back for another round this year.
Aw shucks, it must have been a bad draw. Everybody gets unlucky sometimes.
Wrong! When people don't own something they use, they tend to be rougher on them. How can the yellow bike program provide more benefits to society than it costs?
HT to King Banaian (I'm spelling it right!) at SCSU Scholars.