TANSTAAFL is an acronym for the adage "'''There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch'''," popularized by science fiction writer Robert A. Heinlein and promulgated in his 1966 novel ''The Moon is a Harsh Mistress'', a libertarian utopia. This phrase and book are popular with libertarian s and economics textbooks. * "Oh, 'tanstaafl'. Means 'There ain't no such thing as a free lunch.' And isn't," I added, pointing to a FREE LUNCH sign across room, "or these drinks would cost half as much. Was reminding her that anything free costs twice as much in the long run or turns out worthless." -- Manuel, ''The Moon is a Harsh Mistress'' (1967), pg 129 * "There's no such thing as a free lunch." -- popularized by economist Milton Friedman; New York Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia spoke it in Latin in 1934 Simply put, it means that one cannot get something for nothing. Even if something appears to be free, there is always a catch. You may get free food at a bar during "happy hour," but the bar-owner either figures out a way to get you to pay or gets some sort of benefit (such as attracting new customers). This may or may not be true at the individual level, depending on the interpretation of the phrase. Though it is possible for an individual to get a "free lunch" (as when a company cuts its costs and gains competitive advantage by polluting the air), ''someone'' ends up paying the cost of the "lunch." Even though there is no individual or private cost, there is a social cost. Similarly, someone can benefit for free from a beneficial externality or from a public good. But someone has to pay the cost of producing these benefits. Strictly speaking, the idea that there is no free lunch at the societal level applies only when all resources are being used completely and appropriately, i.e., when economic efficiency prevails. But when inefficiency exists, one can get a "free lunch" by abolishing it. For example, microeconomics argues that the pollution example of the previous paragraph is allocatively inefficiency . A tax or other program that forces the polluter to internalize this externality would improve efficiency, increasing social welfare. However, others may be benefiting from the inefficiency and use their political power or power (sociology) to prevent you from doing so. That is, the polluter may use lobbying and campaign contributions to preserve his or her right to pollute. Advocates of the TANSTAAFL principle believe markets are efficient unless due to interference by the government or other "outside" forces. The free market is seen as the solution to issues such as pollution. The TANSTAAFL argument may also be applied to natural physical processes; see thermodynamics. In mathematical finance, the term is also used as an informal synonym for the principle of no-arbitrage. ==See also== * No-Free-Lunch theorems AdagesAcronymsRobert Heinlein English phrases
== Confusing attribution == This article credits both Heinlein and Friedman. Is Friedman the originator of the adage, and Heinlein the originator of the acronym? If so, that should be made more clear. --User:DropDeadGorgias User_talk:DropDeadGorgias 18:32, Jan 7, 2005 (UTC) :If LaGuardia used the phrase in 1934, it clearly predates both Heinlein and Friedman...though if the mayor first used it in Latin, we might wonder who the first user/translator of the English version was. In any event, could someone produce the original Latin version? It doesn't seem to be easily locatable on the Internet. Thanks immensely! User:207.114.141.12 21:31, 15 May 2005 (UTC) (user:Dpr)
Welcome! Hello, and Wikipedia:Welcome, newcomers to Wikipedia. Thank you for your contributions. I hope you like the place and decide to stay. Here are a few good links for newcomers: *Wikipedia:How to edit a page *Wikipedia:Tutorial *Wikipedia:Picture tutorial *Wikipedia:How to write a great article *Wikipedia:Naming conventions *Wikipedia:Manual of Style I hope you enjoy editing here and being a Wikipedia:Wikipedians! By the way, you can sign your name on Talk and vote pages using three tildes, like this: ~~ ~. Four tildes (~~ ~~) produces your name and the current date. If you have any questions, see the Wikipedia:Help, add a question to the Wikipedia:village pump or ask me on my Talk page. Again, welcome! --User:Lst27 User talk:Lst27 00:31, 20 Dec 2004 (UTC)
==Images==
Thanks for uploading :Image:Shakeysign1.jpg. User:BrokenSegue/ImageProblem/Archive notice it currently doesn't have an Wikipedia:Image copyright tags. Could you add one to let us know its copyright status? (You can use if you release it under the GFDL, or if you claim Wikipedia:Fair use, etc.) If you don't know what any of this means, just let me know where you got the images (on my User talk:BrokenSegue) and I'll tag them for you. Thanks so much, User:BrokenSegue 20:51, 18 Feb 2005 (UTC)
#REDIRECT TANSTAAFL
See other meanings of words starting from letter:
Words begining with TANSTAAFL:
TANSTAAFL
TANSTAAFL
Tanstaafl
Tanstaafl
TANSTAAFL
TANSTAAFL is an acronym for the adage "'''There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch'''," popularized by science fiction writer Robert A. Heinlein and promulgated in his 1966 novel ''The Moon is a Harsh Mistress'', a libertarian utopia. This phrase and book are popular with libertarian s and economics textbooks. * "Oh, 'tanstaafl'. Means 'There ain't no such thing as a free lunch.' And isn't," I added, pointing to a FREE LUNCH sign across room, "or these drinks would cost half as much. Was reminding her that anything free costs twice as much in the long run or turns out worthless." -- Manuel, ''The Moon is a Harsh Mistress'' (1967), pg 129 * "There's no such thing as a free lunch." -- popularized by economist Milton Friedman; New York Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia spoke it in Latin in 1934 Simply put, it means that one cannot get something for nothing. Even if something appears to be free, there is always a catch. You may get free food at a bar during "happy hour," but the bar-owner either figures out a way to get you to pay or gets some sort of benefit (such as attracting new customers). This may or may not be true at the individual level, depending on the interpretation of the phrase. Though it is possible for an individual to get a "free lunch" (as when a company cuts its costs and gains competitive advantage by polluting the air), ''someone'' ends up paying the cost of the "lunch." Even though there is no individual or private cost, there is a social cost. Similarly, someone can benefit for free from a beneficial externality or from a public good. But someone has to pay the cost of producing these benefits. Strictly speaking, the idea that there is no free lunch at the societal level applies only when all resources are being used completely and appropriately, i.e., when economic efficiency prevails. But when inefficiency exists, one can get a "free lunch" by abolishing it. For example, microeconomics argues that the pollution example of the previous paragraph is allocatively inefficiency . A tax or other program that forces the polluter to internalize this externality would improve efficiency, increasing social welfare. However, others may be benefiting from the inefficiency and use their political power or power (sociology) to prevent you from doing so. That is, the polluter may use lobbying and campaign contributions to preserve his or her right to pollute. Advocates of the TANSTAAFL principle believe markets are efficient unless due to interference by the government or other "outside" forces. The free market is seen as the solution to issues such as pollution. The TANSTAAFL argument may also be applied to natural physical processes; see thermodynamics. In mathematical finance, the term is also used as an informal synonym for the principle of no-arbitrage. ==See also== * No-Free-Lunch theorems AdagesAcronymsRobert Heinlein English phrases
TANSTAAFL
== Confusing attribution == This article credits both Heinlein and Friedman. Is Friedman the originator of the adage, and Heinlein the originator of the acronym? If so, that should be made more clear. --User:DropDeadGorgias User_talk:DropDeadGorgias 18:32, Jan 7, 2005 (UTC) :If LaGuardia used the phrase in 1934, it clearly predates both Heinlein and Friedman...though if the mayor first used it in Latin, we might wonder who the first user/translator of the English version was. In any event, could someone produce the original Latin version? It doesn't seem to be easily locatable on the Internet. Thanks immensely! User:207.114.141.12 21:31, 15 May 2005 (UTC) (user:Dpr)
Tanstaafl
Welcome! Hello, and Wikipedia:Welcome, newcomers to Wikipedia. Thank you for your contributions. I hope you like the place and decide to stay. Here are a few good links for newcomers: *Wikipedia:How to edit a page *Wikipedia:Tutorial *Wikipedia:Picture tutorial *Wikipedia:How to write a great article *Wikipedia:Naming conventions *Wikipedia:Manual of Style I hope you enjoy editing here and being a Wikipedia:Wikipedians! By the way, you can sign your name on Talk and vote pages using three tildes, like this: ~
Tanstaafl
#REDIRECT TANSTAAFL
See other meanings of words starting from letter:
T
TA | TB | TC | TD | TE | TF | TG | TH | TI | TJ | TK | TL | TŁ | TM | TN | TO | TP | TR | TS | TU | TW | TX | TY | TZ |Words begining with TANSTAAFL:
TANSTAAFL
TANSTAAFL
Tanstaafl
Tanstaafl
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