sub-optimal

Why would this necessarily be sub-optimal to a situation in which you had 11 people of average intelligence?

A Childish Question About Immigration, Bryan Caplan | EconLog | Library of Economics and Liberty 2009

However, your choice is between two sub-optimal predictions: the prediction of experts, or an average of the prediction of the non-experts.

Page-ing Robin Hanson, Arnold Kling | EconLog | Library of Economics and Liberty 2009

Taking institutional parameters into account is of course necessary, but letting them drive the decision making process leads to sub-optimal projects, so projects should have the ability to point out where institutional constraints are a risk for the project.

A call for agile museum projects (a lunchtime manifesto) Mia 2009

The theory is that income taxes are sub-optimal because they tax both ability and effort.

Taxation and Instrumental Variables, Arnold Kling | EconLog | Library of Economics and Liberty 2009

Intellectual property rights are recognized to be a second-best, since, assuming the cost of reproducing ideas is zero, any costs artificially imposed which induce some users not to make use of a new idea are sub-optimal.

Tyrone Posts on Health Care, Arnold Kling | EconLog | Library of Economics and Liberty 2009

In addition, we demonstrate that altruistic consumers exhibiting a too high willingness to pay for the eco-labeled product can inadvertently prevent egoistic consumers from purchasing it, leading to a sub-optimal outcome in terms of environmental performance.

Altruism Harms the Economy? 2009

More than a few people keep themselves in sub-optimal jobs simply because they feel they cannot afford the risk of losing their corporate health benefits .... as another example.

Prescott on Social Security, Arnold Kling | EconLog | Library of Economics and Liberty 2009

Market failures usually (not always) imply situations where incentive structures lead to sub-optimal results.

Matthew Yglesias » Leave Health Care to the States? 2010

This would happen even though the min. wage was sub-optimal when compared to what would be produced by a world of truly rational 'economic men'.

The Minimum Wage, Arnold Kling | EconLog | Library of Economics and Liberty 2009

America has all sorts of ways to mitigate the damage done by its own sub-optimal currency union; Europe has been slow to develop such mechanisms, especially fiscal stabilisers and labour market mobility.

Print More Euros, Arnold Kling | EconLog | Library of Economics and Liberty 2009