The economics of urinal cakes

Tim Harford The Undercover Economist

The economics of urinal cakes

Dear Economist,

Whenever I go to the gentlemen’s toilet in a pub, I’m unsure how to behave. The question is: Should I urinate on the urinal cakes or not? At first, I think that if I urinate on them I’ll help to finish them earlier, thus making the publican purchase more of them, and helping the economy.

But then I think, while I’m urinating, that if the publican has to buy more tablets, eventually he will probably have to raise the price of the beer, to my huge disappointment. So the question is, where should I urinate in the gentlemen’s toilets in the pub?

Thank you,

Massimo J.

Italy

Dear Massimo,

When I read the first sentence of your letter, I was wondering where you were going with this. Not to worry: your question is easily answered. The 19th century French economist and essayist Frederic Bastiat anticipated it with his famous “broken window fallacy”. A broken window seems good for the economy because it creates work for the glazier. But Bastiat pointed out that the money that the window-owner pays to the glazier is money he can’t spend on something else. The glazier is richer, but the tailor or the restaurateur or the escort girl is poorer. The broken window hasn’t stimulated the economy at all.

In short, don’t think you’re doing anyone a favour by aiming squarely at the urinal cake in front of you. And don’t even think about aiming at the urinal cake in front of someone else.

First published in “Mens Health”

5^th of March, 2011 • Dear Economist • Comments off

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21 Comments

Ian says:

I can honestly say that this post is everything I ever wanted from this blog. Economic History? Check. Practical application of theory? Check. Alcohol? Check. Urination jokes? Check.

Now, is it worth my time to continue reading this blog considering I think it is simply impossible to top this post? Should I walk away holding the memory of reading this post dear to heart? Or should I continue reading and risk sullying my affinity for this post by muddling through what may be future posts of a lesser caliber?

Cheers!
5^th of March, 2011
Giuseppe says:

Sometimes I wonder why italians are so italians. Giuseppe, italian from Italy
6^th of March, 2011
Phil says:

There’s an alternative view though to the urinal aiming issue. If everyone aimed at the cake it would reduce the cleaning bills to the pub saving costs and water usage. “But wait” I hear you say, “aiming at the blue cake wears it out, isn’t there another way?”. Well yes! In some of the best design I’ve seen in ages I give you the Urial Fly: see http://www.urinalfly.com/.
7^th of March, 2011
Peter Dundas says:

does this blog continue on? there are far more angles to consider here. firstly, what if he didnt use urinal cakes / pineapple chunks? another even bigger consideration could be, as the “cakes” dissolve they are renowned for their reforming ability in the urinal “U” bend, which either requires a transaction with a plumber to fix or DIY… are the urinal cakes the most economic solution for the pub owner, or is he just a follower of habit. and so on..
7^th of March, 2011
Barbara says:

I must admit my natural curiosity is satisfied here :-)and I’ve learned something about “The secret Life of Men” :-)Like the answer and Ian’s comment.
Go to ladies, Massimo, if nobody’s there 🙂 Yes, it’s a woman talking here 🙂
7^th of March, 2011
Padraic Reidy says:

Ian, sounds like your battling the law of diminishing returns there! Maybe, check back in to the blog once every month so as not to ruin the buzz.
7^th of March, 2011
Rodolfo Araújo says:

Dear Ian, if you wrote the comment, than the text was worth reading.

Its interest resides on using some trivial (silly?) question to bring up serious theories. If one cannot identify “broken windows fallacies” throughout his/her own life, than he/she might as well read only the comics.

Yet, I must confess that I first thought it was about NY’s Zero Tolerance program from the ’80s…

Best regards from Brazil, Rodolfo.
7^th of March, 2011
Martin says:

Somewhat related: I never understood why pubs have ice cubes in there. The painted fly in the other Hand seems preety neat and straightforward,
7^th of March, 2011
Bones says:

But if everyone follows that advice and the urinal cakes last longer, won’t the urinal cake maker (baker?) be forced to raise prices b/c he’s moving less units. Ultimately, it seems, the price of beer will go up regardless. Just saying…
8^th of March, 2011
Peej says:

That one is easy – but consider the economic consequences when the urinal is filled with ice. What do you do then?
8^th of March, 2011
James Wynn says:

Doesn’t this make hash of the idea of massive government spending to grow the economy?
8^th of March, 2011
Bones says:

That’s even easier. You see who can melt their ice the fastest? Charge admission for the contest and you can replace darts (and the liability that comes with that) with a new pub game.
8^th of March, 2011
Will says:

“But if everyone follows that advice and the urinal cakes last longer, won’t the urinal cake maker (baker?) be forced to raise prices b/c he’s moving less units. Ultimately, it seems, the price of beer will go up regardless. Just saying…”

Bastiat’s point wasn’t about keeping prices from going up. It is about getting more bang for the same amount of scarce resources. Should we rejoice when a window is broken? Some might say it is good for the glazier. And that is true. But something else is unseen: it is bad for the producer of whatever would have been sold had the window not been broken. So how do we know whether the world is better or worse on net?

Well, consider only the guy with the window. If his window had not been broken, he would have everything he decides to purchase. If his window is broken, he will have to give up something he would have otherwise purchased to replace the window. Buying a window presumably doesn’t make him better off–if it would have, he would have purchased a new window regardless of whether the old one was broken. So he is worse off by the amount of whatever he gave up to replace his window.

In short: he had a window before and he has a window now, but he is missing out on something else he would have had (because he had to replace the window). He’s worse off. And so is the world. Unsurprisingly, you do not make the world richer by breaking windows (which is why we call such activities anti-productive!).
8^th of March, 2011
Non-beer drinker says:

But if the cakes are used faster, causing an increase in the price of beer, then less beer will be sold, resulting in less urination, causing the cakes to last longer. . . . It seems that an accurate economic analysis should seek and obtain the equilibrium point here.
9^th of March, 2011
The Tim Channel says:

The correct answer to this question is that it doesn’t matter if you aim at the urinal cake or not. In fact, aiming at the urinal cake (and keeping it wet constantly) will make it last LONGER.

Paradichlorobenzine and napthalene blocks do not actually dissolve in water or urine, but only sublimate into the air, creating an odor that masks the smell of urine.

Bottom line: Urinal cakes are not water soluble. Now go out in the world and help spread the knowledge I acquired in ninth grade science class during my PUBLIC SCHOOL education.
Enjoy.
9^th of March, 2011
Mike L says:

But if the price of beer drops, you will consume more of it and ultimately make more use of the urinal cake.
9^th of March, 2011
Pub Owner says:

As a pub owner, I’m somewhat qualified to speak on this issue.

6 years ago I openned my wee pub in an area already crammed with them – mine was the 24th pub in a three block stretch.

I decided to use urinal cakes and high-quality toilet paper in the restrooms to distinguish us from the other pubs, which had quite dismal facilities. After 3 years or so, all the other pubs had failed, and yet we survived.

The lesson I drew was that attention to detail – urinal cakes and such – was bad for everyone else’s economies.

And yes, when the u-bend clogs, I clean it out myself, without resorting to the plumber.
9^th of March, 2011
Adam B says:

“my wee pub”

Now *that’s* specialisation.
9^th of March, 2011
hyperbollocks says:

Have to differentiate the product from the other piss poor pubs. Otherwise your business will just go down the toilet.

So the argument that because most new jobs are created (and destroyed) in new businesses so they should be encouraged is just….crap.
11^th of March, 2011
Ken Jackson says:

Bastiat is assuming a zero-sum game. Just because his window is broken, it does not mean he won’t visit his escort girl.

What would be have said about the repair work for the Japanese earthquake?
16^th of March, 2011
Paul says:

@The Tim Channel

I also had a public school educaton, albeit it was in England. Due to my lack of knowledge, I resorted to wikipedia to find out the point of a urinal cake, or a ‘urinal deodorizer block’, and I find it a fascinating coincidence that what you wrote about these cakes is exactly what wikipedia has to say to. You must have a very good memory to be able to remember the defintion so clearly!
17^th of March, 2011