Musings on the economics of snow
Monday, 2 February 2009 09:58 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bens_dadDo we assume that the national management (government, utilities, transport, ...) have calculated that the lost business from a day or two of inconvenient weather is less than the cost of having the facilities and trained staff on standby just in case they should be needed ?
Given the current forecast is snow all week they may have lost the gamble this year, but I'm not sure that is an argument against making it, *if* you think that is the function to optimize.
I don't consider the fact that Sweden and other places can cope with much more snow to be a valid argument -
the difference between 10 and 12, or even 10 and 20 inches of snow is much less than that between 0 and 2, and the phase transition is always going to be more complex and expensive than a shift within a stable state.
Closing schools is probably not a big deal: the kids will learn more by being out in the snow than by sitting in a classroom wishing they were out, the only question is whether they should be out with their parents or their teachers ?
Given the current forecast is snow all week they may have lost the gamble this year, but I'm not sure that is an argument against making it, *if* you think that is the function to optimize.
I don't consider the fact that Sweden and other places can cope with much more snow to be a valid argument -
the difference between 10 and 12, or even 10 and 20 inches of snow is much less than that between 0 and 2, and the phase transition is always going to be more complex and expensive than a shift within a stable state.
Closing schools is probably not a big deal: the kids will learn more by being out in the snow than by sitting in a classroom wishing they were out, the only question is whether they should be out with their parents or their teachers ?
