EclectEcon

Economics and the mid-life crisis have much in common: Both dwell on foregone opportunities

C'est la vie; c'est la guerre; c'est la pomme de terre . . . . . . . . . . . . . email: jpalmer at uwo dot ca


. . . . . . . . . . .Richard Posner should be awarded the next Nobel Prize in Economics . . . . . . . . . . . .

Monday, May 09, 2005

Career Re-Development

What career seems reasonable for someone to choose after retiring from a senior position in Britain's Royal Air Force? Aircraft mechanic? Pilot? Business Management? Defence sales?

How about pole dancer? [Fess up. How many of you didn't realize I was asking about a female? (or are there male pole dancers, too?)]

Miss Hulme, who spent time as a senior aircraftwoman at RAF Aldergrave near Belfast, filled in an application form towards the end of her service stating that she wished to take up a course in pole dancing.

... Under MoD regulations, servicemen and servicewomen are entitled to retraining through a grant programme after they have completed five years' service.

A spokesman added: "The point of making this grant available is to improve their employment opportunities once they complete their service.

"What they choose to do is a matter for them as long as it is legal."
That's a pretty liberal attitude. Given that the programme is in place, I like the attitude.

Here's a fun mental counter-factual experiment. Do you think Miss [sic] Hulme would have chosen this career if she had had to borrow or use her savings for the £2,100 course? If not, why not? To remove the income effect, suppose she would have had to spend £2,100 of her own money on some kind of retraining programme; then do you think she would have chosen to train to become a pole dancer?

Or [h/t to BrianF] do you wonder whether she might have chosen to become a holistic healer?
 
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