Optimising for Eternity

On dynamic optimization, both in this life and eternally.

So teach us to number our days, that we may get a heart of wisom.

Psalm 90:12 ESV

There is a short story by William Somerset Maugham titled The Lotus Eater. It describes a man who having fallen in love with the island of Capri, bought an annuity of 25 years such that he could live in Capri without working, and at the end of the 25 years, he would kill himself. He failed to die.

This story tells of how ease and indolence destroys meaning in life, and robs humans of the ability to thrive. But as an economist, the first thing that leapt to my mind was IF he had succeeded in killing himself, that was a perfect example of intertemporal choice (ok we are not called the ‘dismal science’ for no reason)…