Is this the ‘Australian Sound’? My class is covering information asymmetries as transaction costs affecting pure Coase Theorem analysis, and we will soon come to classic information asymmetries found in agent – principal relationships. I am thinking of using this as a pedagogical tool.
Consider Eric Roberts’ soliloquy on agent-principal relations, and the many ironies involved. (Midway through – the focus here is not on the political discussion at the beginning, but the Australian sound debate midway through.) Good teaching tool? (Also, the Coke jingle by Tim Finn is surely one of the best around, and I’m amazed that the real Coke corporation never figured out it had a winner.)
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ml0TURpHRuw[/youtube]
Skyler says:
Seems kind of weak for a teaching moment. Too long and too much extraneous stuff to be worth it. Plus, it’s hard to hear what they’re saying.
February 14, 2010, 5:12 pmRandy says:
The teaching moment is that dickheads like the suit really do exist — they know nothing and just mouth off platitudes to cover their ignorance/stupidity.
And you know, you just *know*, he’s a bootlicking SOB towards his boss.
February 14, 2010, 5:26 pmKenneth Anderson says:
Oh, I’ll give them a transcript of the relevant parts.
February 14, 2010, 5:27 pmOren says:
It’s a decent teaching moment, but isn’t this a really softball P/A problem? The principal here has a very accurate and easy to compute numerical measure of success (increase in coke sales) to which he can tie remuneration of the agent.
That is, it’s a model P/A problem those that believe in the inerrant truth of the Coase Theorem. :-)
February 14, 2010, 5:47 pmKenneth Anderson says:
Softball is good, really, really, really good here. VC readers are a sophisticated bunch and, I find, often have difficulty understanding where first year law students are coming from. This is the first time most of them have ever heard the terms principal-or-agent, moral hazard, externalities, etc.
February 14, 2010, 5:59 pmOren says:
Oh, absolutely agree. At some point when they are a little more schooled, it would be nice if they were exposed to P/A problems that are not so easily solved.
That is IMO, it would be worse to learn a little bit about P/A problems and believe they can all be solved via some clever contracting (because one has only seen the softballs) than to know nothing about them at all. This is a general pedagogical problem though, one that I don’t really know how to address comprehensively. It’s also quite offtopic…
February 14, 2010, 6:16 pmJasonF says:
Isn’t the entire movie about the breakdown in a principle/agent relationship as the agent realizes that his duties to his principle conflict with what he perceives to be the right thing to do?
February 14, 2010, 7:13 pmButternut says:
Wow, …what?
You intend to teach something? From this? Slip sliding away.
February 14, 2010, 9:10 pmInformation Asymmetries and the Agent Principal Problem, As Found in … The Coca Cola Kid | Liberal Whoppers says:
[...] from: Information Asymmetries and the Agent Principal Problem, As Found in … The Coca Cola Kid [...]
February 14, 2010, 9:12 pmTCO says:
It’s one of my favorite movies too, but the discussion is too tenuous. You really need to stop screwing up your classes. I’ve “done deals” and my experienced corporate lawyers were wonderful at understanding the process and the negotiation and the APA…and I learned so much from them…even as I was the business person with overall responsiblity…and they did not do ANY of this abstract market efficiency crap that you try to bring in. Stop indulging yourself.
February 14, 2010, 9:59 pmAnon Y. Mous says:
The display of a four minute clip is going to screw up his class? Must be some delicate flowers in law school these days.
February 14, 2010, 10:11 pmTCO says:
It’s not just the time wasted, but the distraction in bringing in material that is so marginally related that a lot of students will say “huh”?
February 15, 2010, 3:14 amWidmerpool says:
Well, one part that gives me pause is that a character does, in an off-handed way, mention a “sh-t sandwich.” Obviously, everyone in a college class will have heard that expression before, but it is still apt to offend some–and to do so needlessly since it is not essential to the point you wish to make. Why be gratuitously offensive? This point, by the bye, is not about delicate sensibilities but civility.
February 15, 2010, 6:37 amSlocum says:
I’d say give it a shot. It’s colorful, not that long, and worst case, some of the students may go dig up The Coca Cola Kid and Tim Finn music. I don’t think they’ll instantly grasp the principal-agent problem from the video directly, but as a starting point for a discussion, it seems fine to me.
And I agree, at the time I thought that song was 10x better than any actual jingle Coke ever used. We watched the movie again last year after not having seen it probably since the original release, and it’s aged surprisingly well.
February 15, 2010, 7:39 amSonicfrog says:
+ 1
Signed:
Tim Finn. :-)
PS. Is this discussion a sort of principle-agent problem in itself…. Eh, probably not.
February 15, 2010, 10:21 ambyomtov says:
Just how much are you trying to cover in this class? I mean, if they haven’t heard of externalities they must know very little basic economics, so I guess you started there. Then externalities. Then information asymmetry, which is a possible problem in any market. Then Coase. Then the problems – well-defined property rights, transaction costs, (of which the information problem is a small part).
Sounds like an ambitious course to me, but I sure hope the next time I’m involved in a lawsuit my attorney understands all this. Otherwise I’m a goner.
February 15, 2010, 10:34 amresh says:
I kept waiting for Eric Roberts to break out with a teary-eyed, “Chawwwwwwwl….leeee!”*
*(Pope of Greenwich Village)
February 15, 2010, 11:59 amDJMoore says:
Non-lawyer, non-business person here:
The measure of my ignorance is that I had to read the post, watch the video, then read the post again to understand which part of the clip was about agent-principal relations, or even what agents and principals were in this context, to say nothing of “information asymmetries”.
In short, I learned something from this, and I am now ready to see another clip from a popular source explaining “pure Coase Theorem analysis”.
I’m going to guess, though, that if I were in your course, I’d've read the material before class, and would not need this as a sign-post.
Still a fun clip, and a fun movie, and a brilliant jingle. The “don’t want to go where there’s no Coca-Cola” is a perfect fit to an earlier presentation involving a map showing Coke sales across Australia.
I watched this in the theaters, and then on VHS, long before I understood how pervasively wrong the media anti-business slant is. I guess I’m going to have to watch it again, and see if my current politics keeps me from enjoying it, although probably nothing can keep me from enjoying what I remember of Greta Scacchi’s backside.
February 16, 2010, 10:43 am