Here's what happened:

 

I was trying to illustrate the following point in my intro economics class: even if the class as a whole might value having me shave my head and beard, the transaction costs of getting together to pay me to do so would be so high that the transaction would never occur.

 

"For example," I opined, "Suppose each of you -- what are there? 200 of you here today? -- suppose each of you valued seeing me with my head and beard shaved at, say, 50 cents each. That would mean that as a whole, you, as a class, would value seeing me completely shaved at $100. But if you tried to collect that money from each and every one of you, you couldn't possible do so because some of you would be free riders -- you'd say it didn't matter to you whether I shaved even though you'd get some value from seeing it. You'd try to get others to pay your share so you could take a free ride on their activity."

 

I then carried on with the lecture about the Coase Theorem [named for the Nobel Prize winner who devised it, Professor Theorem] and its applications. About three minutes later, a student raised his hand, and I called on him.

 

"We've raised the hundred dollars!" he said. Little did I know that there would be six students who, collectively, valued my shaving at $100.

 

I think I said some unrepeatables. I made negative comments about my own intelligence and about how they should have been paying attention to my lecture instead of trying to raise money for frivolous causes. I ventured, as well, that too many students have too much money these days.