Teen Sex

It appears to have declined slightly. The full report has lots of interesting details on sexual behavior by gender and age group. And this article discusses in part why these facts are counter to popular belief.

MPS Teachers Have Tons of Sex

I'm sure you've heard this bandied about by the Walker camp:

Example #2 Viagra for Teachers
The Milwaukee Teachers' Education Association (MTEA) tried to use a policy established by collective bargaining to obtain health insurance coverage that specifically paid for Viagra. Cost to taxpayers is $786,000 a year.

Its astonishing. I didn't realize sex was a "lifestyle". Only Republicans would view that as an inessential part of life. Anyhow. Lets leave aside the argument about whether sexual health is a health issue or a lifestyle.

The health insurer claims it will save $786,000 dollars per year if its approximately 1,000 enrollees can no longer get Viagra. By my estimate, thats approximately 786 dollars in viagra a year, or about 7 bottles of 6 100mg pills. Now I'm not sure - but I've heard - you can break those into 50mg pills and do quite well.

So that means the average enrollee is getting 84 doses. Assuming they can never have sex without a help from their little blue friend that means they are having sex 84 times a year.

A majority of Americans married, partnered, single, any age have sex less than weekly. So we either have some fishy numbers, some hypersexual teachers (and their covered partners), or they are selling/providing them to friends.

Demanding Viagra is not the problem, having a system that allows you to get more than you could plausibly use is a problem. But the problem isn't directly with the teachers union, it with the incentives of the insurer. It needs to curb demand another way.

Age of Consent

Age of consent laws around the world. Clearly we are a sexually mixed up lot. Ages vary from 9 to 21, and depend on your sexual preference. WTF. At home we have technology generating further problems for our legal definitions of what is sexually permitted.

A teenager who was charged with possession of child pornography after taking nude photos of herself and sharing them with another teen will not face sanctions under a deal worked out last week with the Marquette County District Attorney's office.

Misc Heath Stuff

1. Circumcision reduces the transmission of AIDS/HIV. Lets hope that mass circumcision doesn't result in the moral hazard problem.

2. Trying to reduce demand for medical services which have little marginal benefit will prove to be very difficult. The legal impediments are large.

3. An older, but still excellent NPR show with Uwe Reinhardt.

4. Contraceptive use over time. Male condom use is on the decline, and withdrawal is on the rise.

5. People don't like lots of things about health reform, but a lot of people don't want their newly acquired oxes gored.

Health Related Links

1. Mandatory minimums lead to competing increasing drug purity. When there is a per unit tax, people switch from the taxed margin (quantity) to the untaxed margin (quality).

2. A racial gap in condom use. This is tricky. More condom use among African American males does not lead to less disease. It may in fact be a response to higher disease incidence. They also have a higher degree of concurrent partners.  Make no mistake, this has only very little to do with race, and a lot to factors correlated with race, such as sex ratios, education, etc.

3. Beware of substitution effects. When the price of one drug goes up, addicts substitute.

4. Technology and health. Even as technology promises to improve our health outcomes, it has a dark side. At worst it can kill the patient. Or it can cure the patient of an ailment that would never have killed the patient (by killing a slow growing tumor), thus making its marginal efficacy in terms of increasing life zero, yet its cost is far from zero. Still at other times the technology might just be overused.

Finding Happiness

In the econ literature there is a pretty well known U shaped relationship between age and happiness, with happiness being at its lowest around middle age. So I thought that meant my happiness had nowhere to go but up.

It turns out that it is probably not true.

The inclusion of the usual socio-economic variables in a cross-section leads to a U-shape in age that results from indirectly-age-related reverse causality. Putting it simply: good things, like getting a job and getting married, appear to happen to middle aged individuals who were already happy. . . . The found effect of age in fixed-effect regressions is simply too large and too out of line with everything else we know to be believable. The difference between first-time respondents and stayers and between the number of years someone stays in the panel doesn't allow for explanations based on fixed traits or observables. There has to be either a problem on the left-hand side (i.e. the measurement of happiness over the life of a panel) or on the right-hand side (selection on time-varying unobservables).

But maybe I should just listen to Penelope Trunk and stop trying to be happy. Of course maybe I shouldn't take her advice, even if I wouldn't mind having sex with her - it would be different. Speaking of sex, I hear that helps improve happiness.

Previous musings on happiness.

OKtrends

I love the work done at OKtrends.

That Looks Good

Ovulating women unconsciously buy sexier clothing.

Tony Judt

This is my first brush with the writing of Tony Judt. He is an excellent writer, even for a blog entry the prose is juicy. His blog entry entitled "Girls! Girls! Girls!" is an excellent look into the vagaries of student professor interactions.

History was a fast-feminizing profession, with a graduate community primed for signs of discrimination—or worse. Physical contact constituted a presumption of malevolent intention; a closed door was proof positive.

Shortly after I took office, a second-year graduate student came by. A former professional ballerina interested in Eastern Europe, she had been encouraged to work with me. I was not teaching that semester, so could have advised her to return another time. Instead, I invited her in. After a closed-door discussion of Hungarian economic reforms, I suggested a course of independent study—beginning the following evening at a local restaurant. A few sessions later, in a fit of bravado, I invited her to the premiere of Oleanna—David Mamet’s lame dramatization of sexual harassment on a college campus.

How to explain such self-destructive behavior? What delusional universe was mine, to suppose that I alone could pass untouched by the punitive prudery of the hour—that the bell of sexual correctness would not toll for me? I knew my Foucault as well as anyone and was familiar with Firestone, Millett, Brownmiller, Faludi, e tutte quante. To say that the girl had irresistible eyes and that my intentions were…unclear would avail me nothing. My excuse? Please Sir, I’m from the ’60s.

Read the comments. You'll no doubt notice we still exist in a world of punitive prudery.

Many Wives

Many wives apparently reduce the spread of HIV/AIDS.  

The story: Africans don’t have more sex than Americans; both have roughly the same number of partners in a lifetime. But Americans are more likely to be serial monogamists, while Africans are more likely to have concurrent partners (outside marriage). These networks allow HIV to spread more easily. Polygyny, it seems, is the exception.

Shocked

It takes a lot to shock me. A lot. However I had no idea abortion was as common as this data suggests. But it looks to be true. The CDC report and data are here. On average there are 236 legally induce abortions for every 1,000 live births. That of course doesn't count "back alley" abortions, which I would guess are relatively infrequent these days. Of course abortion can also occur naturally, it is then more commonly known as a miscarriage. It appears that about half of all fertilized eggs are terminated by spontaneous abortion. However many of those women never even know they are pregnant. About 15-20% of women who know they are pregnant miscarry. I guess this should make God a bigger target for the anti-abortion crowd than planned parenthood? On a related note, here is a good graph on global condom use, or should I say lack of use?

Technology and Matching

With all of the new technology out there to aid the marriage/mate/sexual partner matching process. I wonder if it is leading to better matches or more matches, or both? Or maybe it is only lowering transaction costs and another constraint is still binding on the quantity of partners. Another mashup is provided to make hooking up a little easier.It combines the craigslist personal with google maps. Genius. Hookups.

Age of Consent

The Onion Op-eds tackle the issue of age of consent laws in the funny - but serious - way only they can. Our laws are very different from the rest of the developed world.

Freakonomics Quorum

I was asked to participated in a Freakonomics Quorum on Sex, and since I don't know when to say no, I agreed.  For editorial reasons they cut most of my links, in particular links to the supporting data.  I've reproduced it below with the links in tack.

How differently do Americans perceive sex now than they did 30 years ago? (For brevity's sake, it's best to discuss one or two ways.)

The best data on American’s perceptions of sex come from the General Social Survey. Assuming Americans don’t suffer from extraordinary cognitive dissonance we would also expect their perceptions of sex to change with their behavior. Sexual behavior since the introduction and legalization of the female contraceptive pill in the 1960s, has changed dramatically from what was once an act that risked pregnancy to an act which could be accomplished with a risk of pregnancy approaching zero. Importantly it was a technology controlled by woman, rather than by men as was the case of previously available condoms. The primary result of this technological change was the sexual revolution, which started a very slow cultural shift towards a general acceptance of premarital sex.

For the most part I think a majority of Americans have come to embrace sex as an intimate act primarily for the pleasure of the participants, instead of an act with the primary or even secondary purpose of creating a child.  This has led to several other changes in society.  No longer is premarital sex as shunned as it once was – unless your mother is the Republican VP nominee who has promoted abstinence education - because no longer is it as likely to result in pregnancy. And if sex isn’t about creating life, but solely about creating pleasure and intimacy between consenting adults, then homosexual sex - for some people – can achieve that desired end.  It is one reason why homosexual relations are gradually becoming socially accepted by many Americans.   

There are of course pockets of Americans - generally religious - who still view the primary function of sex as procreation, a view the Catholic Church surprisingly continues to promote forty years after the encyclical “Humanae Vitae.” Contrary to the views of many practicing Catholics sex according to the church should “be open to the creation of life”, which I interpret to mean there should be a positive risk of pregnancy unaltered by mechanical or chemical means.  Actually the Church’s preferences are asymmetric in that they are only concerned with preventing the lowering of the probability of pregnancy because if they were concerned about raising it the encyclical would have also banned the consumption of alcohol, a chemical known to increase the risk of pregnancy.   

How do you predict perceptions will change 30 years from now?

The one caveat to previous question might be the general decline in birth rates around the globe.  Falling fertility rates have put strains on social insurance and retirement systems that rely upon the pyramid scheme of population growth.  Italy has talked about subsidizing sex for procreation purposes.  Who knows one day we may view sex as an act of patriotism as we may be asked to literally do IT for our country.

As in the case of the pill, new technologies are probably most likely to facilitate future shifting social perceptions of sex.  I think many Americans perceive a dramatic drop off in sexual activity among the elderly, but I think innovations like Viagra will force us to rethink that stereotype.  In fact there is already evidence that the little blue pill has led to a dramatic rise in STDS among older Americans. Senior living situations are likely the next battle ground against STDs. I’m not implying senior living environments have become bastions of sex, akin to college coed dorms, but none the less the technology has allowed for increase in sexual activity, and with it the transmission of disease.

I also think other social biases will change with time. The internet has been a boon for people with sexual fetishes, allowing them to connect with others who share their interests.  In turn it has lead people who were previously unaware of the fetishes to learn more about them.  And as with most cultural changes in perceptions, slowly over time and with more exposure to them the repulsion many people feel will diminish.

How should we as a society be looking at/treating sex? (your opinion)

I think we should view it as the loving, intimate, fun, and pleasurable connection between consenting adults. As such it should not be regulated by the state.  Failing that utopian dream, the government should at least let women (and men) in Alabama buy and enjoy their sex toys.

Cost Reductions in Porn

There are markets for sex and there are markets for watching sex. Why has it taken so long for an entrepreneur to utilize the former as a labor input to the latter? Bloomberg has the story:

If you want to watch Nick having sex with a prostitute, he's happy to let you.

The 36-year-old bank-security technician drove eight hours from his home in Metz, France, to Big Sister, a Prague brothel where customers peruse a touch-screen menu of blondes, brunettes and redheads available for free. The catch is clients have to let their exploits be filmed and posted on the Internet.

``Sex is no taboo,'' Nick says, though he asked that his last name not be used. ``You have to free your mind.''

Big Sister is marrying 21st-century technology with the world's oldest profession to profit from the public's appetite for ever-more graphic reality TV. Since 2005, more than 15,000 men have taken up the offer of free sex in return for 15 minutes, or less, of fame, according to the brothel. Big Sister is now expanding into the U.S. with a local version of its Web site.

Sex and Distance

I blogged about Glaeser's new paper on the impact of communication technology on distance over at 7 Rivers Region Econ. But here I wanted to note Tim Harford's excellent example involving the market for sex.

But I think the truth is more profound than either of those glib explanations: Technology makes it more fun and more profitable to live and work close to the people who matter most to your life and work. Harvard economist Ed Glaeser, an expert on city economies, argues that communications technology and face-to-face interactions are complements like salt and pepper, rather than substitutes like butter and margarine. Paradoxically, your cell phone, email, and Facebook networks are making it more attractive to meet people in the flesh.

The most obvious example is online dating. With sites like BBW (Big Beautiful Women) Datefinder and Senior People Meet, it's a lot easier to find like-minded flames. But that's not much use unless you live within driving range of your 98 percent-compatible love connection. The kind of contact that follows online winking is far from virtual.

It follows that matchmaking is most effective in densely populated areas, where there are plenty of fish but an awfully big sea. If you live in Los Angeles, online dating is the killer app. If you live in a small town, you've likely already met all your potential mates at church or a bar.

Of course, the rest of life isn't like courting. Or is it? In big cities, our communication tools are especially helpful because they keep us from getting lost in the crowd (which is not something you worry about in a one-street town). There are even services that tell you where your friends are by locating their cell signals.

Induced Demand

Here is an excellent description of how females can induce demand for nude pictures.

A friend who spends his life negotiating with the agents of glamour models explained to me the principles of “boobonomics”. Let's assume a pretty girl, who has been snapped in her bikini for a local newspaper, seeks a big-time career. Her agent phones a men's magazine and proposes for a given sum, say £3,000, that she pose in lingerie.

If she's a hit with the readers, her agent will then suggest that for a greater sum, say £5,000, she will pose topless, but with her nipples concealed by her cupped fingers (“hand bra”). Subsequently her fee will rise for each coy permutation: “hair bra” or “girl-on-girl bra” (two models face to face shielding each other's breasts). Eventually, once this dance of the seven thongs has been exhausted and readers are believed to be slavering with anticipation, the agent will propose that for a huge sum say £50,000 the girl will finally reveal all.

But the harshest principle of boobonomics is that after this shoot, the value of the girl's assets which is what they are in a technical, business sense collapses. From this point she will only receive £20K for full topless, a sum she only recently received for showing far less. Her product life cycle is reaching an end. Now, however, agents have a new strategy for reviving the brand, rather as when Kit Kat launched peanut or orange-flavoured variants. He proposes that his client have a breast enlargement: would the magazine be interested in the first pictures, you know, when the scars have healed? The going rate for new knockers will never match her initial “reveal”, but raises her value momentarily to, say, £35,000. Jordan, the Milton Friedman of boobonomics, has amassed a great fortune increasing her breast size by increments in three operations.

Sex Dolls

A man in Madison is accused of stealing sex dolls.

Among the items that were found was a Linn Thomas talking love doll, priced at $269.99, which is shaped to resemble the porn star of the same name. According to one review by an Internet retailer, the 5-foot-3-inch doll vibrates and blurts out recorded encouragements to its user.

Linkfest

Too lazy to comment heavily on these links, but I want to preserve them somewhere.

1. Teens prosecuted for racy photos...of themselves. File under absurdly wasteful prosecutions.

2. Never trust estimates from advocacy groups, they usually exaggerate. The UN is no different.

3. Sex Tourism for women.

4. You can't legislate abortion away. They still happen with the same frequency.

5. Realistic estimates of the porn industry.

6. Another wage effect of female menstruation. Increased absenteeism.

7. Trends in female anatomy. Boobs are getting larger.

Sex Ed

The Freakonomics Blog has an excellent post on abstinence education.

Turn now to the United States, where the Federal Government has spent upwards of $1 billion over the last decade on abstinence-only sex education. (Call it defensive dating.) The idea is that not teaching students about contraception, safe sex, etc., will lead to better outcomes, including less unwanted pregnancies and fewer sexually transmitted diseases.

Except … it turns out that teenagers are circumventing their abstinence education and having sex anyway. Studies have repeatedly shown that abstinence-only students have almost the same number of sexual partners, and have sex almost as early, as students who receive traditional sex ed. In fact, abstinence-only programs may actually increase the risk of STDs and unintentional teen pregnancies. That’s because those abstinence-only students who do have sex tend to be less likely to use protection.

That’s one of the reasons why New York State recently canceled its abstinence-only program, passing up millions of dollars in Federal aid. Congress nevertheless appears ready to continue funding for similar programs. Maybe abstinence-only would work better if the classes were administered by one of those stern South African driving examiners.