Gang Leader for a Day

[birdwatcher]

Читаю третью книгу Судхира Венкатеша, бесстрашного этнографа, исследователя чикагских негров. Бог троицу любит! Третья самая интересная. Получаю большое удовольствие.

     J.T. and I often passed time together at a diner. He might sit quietly, working through the details of his gang's operations, while I read for my sociology classes. Since he didn't want to generate tangible evidence of his enterprise, J.T. didn't write down very much, but he could keep innumerable details straight in his mind: the wages of each one of his two hundred members, the shifts each of them worked, recent spikes in supply or demand, and so on. Occasionally he drifted off, muttering calculations to himself. He didn't share many details with me, but he did sometimes give me a sort of quiz.
     "Okay, I got something for you," he said one day over breakfast. "Let's say two guys are offering me a great deal on raw product." I knew enough to know that "raw product" meant powdered cocaine, which J.T.'s gang cooked up into crack. "One of them says if I pay twenty percent higher than the usual rate, he'll give me a ten percent discount a year from now, meaning that if the supply goes down, he'll sell to me before the other niggers he deals with. The other guy says he'll give me a ten percent discount now if I agree to buy from him at the regular price a year from now. What would you do?"
     "This all depends on whether you think the supply will be affected a year from now, right?" I said.
     "Right, so ... ?"
     "Well, I don't have any idea how this market works, so I'm not sure what to do."
     "No, that's not how you need to think. You always take the sure bet in this game. Nothing can be predicted—not supply, not anything. The nigger who tells you he's going to have product a year from now is lying. He could be in jail or dead. So take your discount now."

Comments

[rejas.livejournal.com]

Всё строго по науке - в более рискованном бизнесе и ставка дисконтирования выше.

Спасибо за рекомендацию - Левитт его всячески продвигает, всё никак не решался купить. Пожалуй, всё-таки возьму.

[vinopivets.livejournal.com]

So take your discount now - это на скрижали.
Я правильно понимаю, что это тот самый индиец, который выяснил, что вся сеть распространения, кроме верха, невероятно бедна?

[birdwatcher.livejournal.com]

http://www.theonion.com/content/node/27935

[vinopivets.livejournal.com]

Гран мерси!

[dikem.livejournal.com]

Ну это и так можно было понять, сеть распространения ведь тоже потребляет.

[averros.livejournal.com]

The first rule of drug pushing - don't get high on the stuff you sell.

[dikem.livejournal.com]

Я тоже смотрел "Лицо со шрамом". На то оно и первое правило, что его нарушают первым.

[averros.livejournal.com]

I know some people who sell the shit, no need to see it in the movies. Those who do that for a living (and not just as an opportunistic way of scoring a few bucks now and then) really don't use their stuff.

[dikem.livejournal.com]

some people это еще не вся сеть. Если какая-то домохозяйка приторговыает, но не употребляет, это не значит что доход не поглощается той же инфраструктурой, созданной наркоманской субкультурой, те же расходы на юристов и поддержку родственников в тюрьме.

[averros.livejournal.com]

I cannot claim the same breadth of sampling as you imply you have.

[dikem.livejournal.com]

So you try to claim have no sampling at all.

[averros.livejournal.com]

I said exactly what I wanted to say. I'm not an expert on drug trade, just had some real-life contacts. Which I think is more than reading stuff in popular books. YMMV.

[dikem.livejournal.com]

Let me ask, about what kind of drugs we speak.

[mig-jag.livejournal.com]

Эту книгу очнеь рекламировали во Фрикономике. Я все жду, пока моя придет из библиотеки.

[birdwatcher.livejournal.com]

Я Фрикономику не читал, но думаю, что хронологически там могли рекламировать только Off the books, занудную.

[mig-jag.livejournal.com]

Не, именно эту.

[birdwatcher.livejournal.com]

В самиздате они ее читали, что ли. Три года разницы между книгами.

[mig-jag.livejournal.com]

Если я не ошибаюсь, то во фрикономике вроде пишут, что авторы знакомы.