Women Smell Men, Drink More. What Could Go Wrong?

Exposure to male sexual scents (androstenone) influences women’s drinking 

Robin Tan & Mark Goldman
Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology
December 2017, Pages 456-465

Abstract: In a demonstration of a heretofore unknown motivational pathway for alcohol consumption, we recently showed that exposure to scents emitted by human females during the fertile phase of their menstrual cycle could increase men’s drinking. The current study examined the reverse: whether exposure to male sexual scents (androstenone) would increase women’s drinking. One hundred three female participants were primed with either androstenone or a control prime (plain water) camouflaged as a men’s “cologne.” They then completed a laboratory assessment of beer consumption and related measures. (Nonalcoholic beer was used for methodological and safety reasons.) Results indicated that females exposed to the androstenone prime drank significantly more than those exposed to the control prime. Social and sexual expectancies taken subsequent to drinking (to avoid unwanted manipulation influences) were correlated with drinking in the primed group but not in the neutral group, supporting the idea that information-processing pathways related to alcohol use had been engaged in the primed group. Few females were ovulating, precluding assessment of the effects of fertility on this process. Because of the centrality of sexual signaling to fundamental evolutionary/biological forces, these results indicate a potentially powerful influence on alcohol consumption that calls for continued investigation.

An Econ 101 Question.....

Why is it that soda cans are sold in boxes that look like this....

But beer is sold in boxes that look like this....

My guess:  Soda cans are usually sold warm, and it is convenient to be able to put the whole box into the fridge and have it cool quickly. For that, you want more surface area. Beer, on the other hand, is often sold cold. You then transport the container to somewhere where (if you are, for example, Ben Powell ) you drink the entire 12 pack while you shoot your deer rifle at the power lines from your back porch, sitting in your underwear on a lawn chair. That would mean that you want LESS surface area for the already cold-and-you-want-to-stay-cold beer than for the warm, want-to-cool-fast, and only one or two cans a day soda. The surface of the beer box is 325 square inches. The surface area of the soda box is 365 square inches. You want the soda to cool fast, and you want the beer to warm slowly. So, there is 12% more surface area on the soda box, just as you would expect if Powell's Law ("Hey! We ain't done drinkin', son. There's still beer left in the cardboard box!") is correct.

Seinfeld Episodes....

Had some very nice dinner, and then a brief (by  London standards; it was three hours, which was enough for jet-lagged MM) pub crawl with the Skarbeki and two lads from ASI. 

And played "Seinfeld episode," because the two ASI-ers reminded me so much of George and Kramer.  Let's  call them "Sam" (the George K clone) and "Ben" (the Kramer clone).   Because those are their names.  They were kind enough to act out parts of the dialogue.  I wish we had had a camera.  Natural vaudevillians, Sam and Ben.

Here are the proposed Seinfeld episodes that I remember (and, yes, several of these apparently actually happened to Sam and Ben, in different ways):

1.  George has a date with an Asian woman he doesn't really want to go out with.  To get rid of her, he takes her to a very Americanized "Chinese" restaurant and then orders sweet and sour pork.  She says things in Chinese that are impolite, but the waiter agrees with her and kicks George out.

2.  Kramer decides that he is going to estimate a DSGE model for policy simulations for the New York area.  The gang is skeptical, with George whining about the Lucas critique.  But Kramer is insistent:  "Jerry...it's DYNAMIC! And NONLINEAR!"

3.  George decides to buy a new cell phone, but drives everyone crazy by dithering over the decision.  Eventually he decides to test five of them at the same time.  But he keeps running out of battery, and has to plug them in everywhere he goes.  Eventually, he wears a utility belt with five large back-up chargers strapped to it, and then tries to go through airport security....

4.  Jerry becomes obsessed with the Elgin Marbles, claiming they should be returned to Greece.  George and Elaine are scornful, saying that England should keep them, because otherwise they would have been lost or destroyed, and it's "only right." Everybody is doing research on the internet, and then saying "Did you know...?" about some obscure fact. Kramer goes around driving everyone crazy, peeking in doorways and shouting, "Greece has lost its marbles!" and then closing the door again.

5.  Jerry works on a routine that is based on telling jokes.  But Kramer has heard them all, and he can't help but shout out the punchline.  Jerry tries to hide, but Kramer can't help himself and keeps finding him.  Worst of all, Kramer always follows up the punchline shouting by guffawing, "HA!  Premature e-joke-ulation!"  Kramer never tires of this joke, but everyone else does.

Elasticity of Demand for Beer

Estimating the price elasticity of beer: Meta-analysis of data with heterogeneity, dependence, and publication bias
Jon Nelson 

Journal of Health Economics, January 2014, Pages 180–187 

Abstract: Precise estimates of price elasticities are important for alcohol tax policy. Using meta-analysis, this paper corrects average beer elasticities for heterogeneity, dependence, and publication selection bias. A sample of 191 estimates is obtained from 114 primary studies. Simple and weighted means are reported. Dependence is addressed by restricting number of estimates per study, author-restricted samples, and author-specific variables. Publication bias is addressed using funnel graph, trim-and-fill, and Egger's intercept model. Heterogeneity and selection bias are examined jointly in meta-regressions containing moderator variables for econometric methodology, primary data, and precision of estimates. Results for fixed- and random-effects regressions are reported. Country-specific effects and sample time periods are unimportant, but several methodology variables help explain the dispersion of estimates. In models that correct for selection bias and heterogeneity, the average beer price elasticity is about -0.20, which is less elastic by 50% compared to values commonly used in alcohol tax policy simulations. 

Nod to Kevin Lewis

Auto-Brewery Syndrome

This has to be a hoax.  Such a great story.

You may have a beer belly, and not even drink.  Wow.

Maybe it's legit...  If a Duke microbiologist confirms it, it MUST be true, right?

UPDATE:  Tim Worstall confirms the tale.  Strange but true.  (The tale, not Tim Worstall).

US Priority Number 1: Hassle Young Adults For Something Legal in Civilized Countries

So, a young woman buys some ice cream and some flavored sparkling water. Outside the store, two guys try to hassle her.  She takes off in her car.

Turns out they were cops, or at least they were Alcohol Bev Control wanna-be cops.  Of course, she had no way of knowing that, since their car was not marked, they were in street clothes, and they did not identify themselves.  The story is here.  Maybe it's not the cops' fault; there are too many laws.

Problem:  it IS the cops' fault.  They are using money from forfeitures and seizures to buy SWAT equipment, and this new command post.  Remember, these are NOT REAL COPS, not even the ones buying SWAT equipment.  They are just the guys who are still trying to enforce the 18th Amendment.  Does anyone think this is actually worth all the money we spend on it?  (You gotta like the part where it says "no taxpayer money, all from seizures."  Nice.  Police are self-financing now, from assets they steal from people who may, or may not have committed a crime.  Interesting reading:  Those right-wing nuts at ACLU have some good documentation.)

All you lefties, why don't you mention Europe now?  You love Germany and France, etc for all those policies you admire.  What about their drinking age?  Europeans think we are a crazy, repressive, prudish society. And they are right.

Nod to Radley Balko...and thanks to Tommy the Infuriated Brit.

Non-Single Peaked Preferences?

Three sizes for "growlers," or reusable take-out beer jugs:  32 oz (quart), 64 oz, and 128 oz (gallon).  Guess which one is illegal in Florida?  The MIDDLE one!

A story full of rich detail, raising many questions.

1. Are preferences really non-single-peaked, with the middle alternative worst?  Or is this just silly bureaucracy at work?

2. Did this really happen?  "At his urging, Sen. Maria Sachs, D-Delray Beach, tried to add a nearly 12-page amendment to Sen. Jack Latvala's two-line bill." Nice.  Very nice.

3.  One of the reasons beer is relatively expensive in the U.S. is the gigantic political power, and gross inefficiency, of distributors.  I hope we lift up this rock and look at all the scary things that crawl out.

4.  An irony:  Angus can't even drink beer, for health reasons.  But he's definitely a "growler."

A nod to Jeremy B.

Beer Foam

Not sure if this is the science of beer foam, or just the beer foam of science.

But it's interesting.  Interesting also that women like lacing.  I had never heard that.

Nod to MAG

Really?

I'm not sure the last sentence of the abstract makes sense to me....Really?

Gender and the Influence of Peer Alcohol Consumption on Adolescent Sexual Activity

Glen Waddell
Economic Inquiry, forthcoming

Abstract: I consider the alcohol consumption of opposite-gender peers as explanatory to adolescent sexual intercourse and demonstrate that female sexual activity is higher where there is higher alcohol consumption among male peers. This relationship is robust to school fixed effects, cannot be explained by broader cohort effects or general antisocial behaviors in male peer groups, and is distinctly different from any influence of the alcohol consumption of female peers which is shown to have no influence on female sexual activity. There is no evidence that male sexual activity responds to female peer alcohol consumption.

(Nod to Kevin Lewis)

Another Whale video

Here's some video I took of the whale wearing beer goggles!

The biggest pair of beer goggles ever

The highlight of our trip was provided by a 40 foot female humpback whale who apparently fell in love with a 25 foot boat.

Really!

We were in the other boat, when we got an excited radio call to come join the first one because something amazing was happening. We scooted over and saw a whale near the surface and very close to the first boat.

The boss man, Gene Flipse, called us into the water. After getting a look at the situation, I flippered over and asked Gene what was up.

He very matter of factly replied "The female is ready to mate and she's taken quite a shine to our boat".

She just kept circling and circling the boats (by this time we'd tied them together), or passing underneath them. Sometimes right side up, sometimes, upside down. This lasted for about 90 minutes.

The whole time, there was a very interested male whale waiting patiently for our girl to come to her senses, and they finally did leave together.

Here are a couple shots from that experience:

Tactical Nuclear Penguin

A 64 proof beer? Yikes!

(nod to Tom)