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February 21, 2006
Toilet Seats
Men and women have perennial arguments about leaving the toilet seat down (or not). Marginal Revolution has a small analysis on the game theory governing toilet seats, Essentially, they argue that woman generally have a much higher marginal demand than men do for leaving the toilet seat down, but since they have to use non-financial payments to convince their mates to leave the seat down, it becomes a broader proxy for commitment, thoughtfulness, and love of their mates.
Although I haven't had any takers on this issue, my proposal is just that everyone (men and women) should leave the seat and the lit down.
Since everyone has to change the toilet state to use it each time, it might be less efficient, but certainly more fair. Everyone has the exact same movement each time, and women also experience the inconvenience of moving the toilet seat for another. Not one can or will assume that anyone else will leave the toilet in a state usable by anyone else. At least one woman told me that this doesn't look at nice.
Some economic arguments: The average person urinates about 4 or 5 times per day. That's compared with about once per day for a bowel movement. Combine the urine and defecation trips, and you get that 60% of trips would be with the seat down. That suggests an efficiency gain from always leaving it in the down state.
Another is to consider who is the least cost provider of reducing the costs of a dirty bowl. Preventing a woman from falling in the the toilet (a "midnight surprises") and showing a dirty toilet are all costs from leaving the seat up. But if women value a clean toilet more (and one suspects they do), then having them clean it and always leave it in the up position will insure that the toilet is presentable and that they never fall in, as they will have to be in the habit of lowering the seat each time. If women value this significantly more than men do, this might be the low cost solution.
Posted by OneEyedMan at February 21, 2006 12:39 PM
Comments
I favor the sit and lid down. Leaving the the toilet open is just a soggy mess waiting to happen. Not to mention that nobody really wants to look at the inside of a toilet bowl if they don't have to.
Posted by: eloso ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.belligerati.net/nav-commenters.gif)
at February 21, 2006 11:03 PM
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