My business-school mindset inspired me to come up with a depreciation formula for the TV. I bought it for $180 one year ago. TVs have a life span ranging from about 5 to 15 years, so I expect the average TV to last 10 years; meaning that for each year of usage, it would depreciate by approximately 10 percent. However, it would depreciate the most during the first year of use, but certainly not as much as automobiles.

Moreover, the depreciation would depend on the daily usage of the TV, the average being 2 hours a day, totaling 730 hours per year. Since I only used the TV a total of 500 hours this year, this offsets the increased depreciation during the first year of use. Using these factors along with the fact that you're a Filipino and a good friend of mine, I have derived the following formula:

Original cost - depreciation - Filipino factor - friend factor - transaction costs = selling price; where depreciation =.1 x cost, Filipino factor = .06 x cost, friend factor = .02 x cost, transaction costs = .04 x cost.

If you think the Filipino and friend factors are too low, then consider that we are in the US where these factors are not as important in business transactions. Substituting real numbers produces the following results:

$180 - .1(180) - .06 (180) - .02(180) - .04 (180) = 180 - 18 - 10.80 - 3.60 - 7.20 = $140.40

I think I can use this material for my next ISYU column, which entitles you to $5 for intellectual property rights. Then I suppose you'll deliver, which could be another $10. That's a running total of $155. On the other hand, Sears has a different formula for depreciation. In general, TV sets depreciate up to 40 percent in a year or two. (That's $108 + the $15 for rights and delivery or only $123.) Another important factor is demand--I have an existing one and am not actively in search for a new set, so real value won't really attract me. It will require a "promotional sales discount" of at least 10 percent to call my attention. (Rounding off, that's down to $110.) As you said, there are the "Filipino" and "friend" factors which--anywhere in the world--I have boldly and arbitrarily set at around $50 for TV sets (partly on account of Ninoy Aquino's statement that "Filipinos are worth dying for."). (That's $70.) With my low price of $70 dollars and your $140--the grand Philippine tradition of street hawking (e.g., Baclaran and the Cubao Farmers Market area) requires us to consider if we can settle in the middle: $105.

Regarding the Sears formula for depreciation, you must note that it is in their best interest to provide high depreciation costs since it encourages you to buy newer TV sets every year and, thus, contribute to their profit margins. Therefore, I would consider their formula to be invalid and infinitely inferior to the formula which I derived.

Regarding Ninoy's statement, I believe he had an abstract meaning in mind, akin to my own mindset. He probably loved the concept of "Filipinoness" much more than he did individual Filipinos. And since I'm selling it to an individual Filipino rather than to the abstract concept of Filipinoness, I would say his statement is worth at most a discount of $5.

Furthermore, regarding the grand tradition of street hawking, you have to remember that I was trained in the rough-and-tumble markets of Pangasinan. If you didn't already know, we are known to be more kuripot (tightfisted) than Ilokanos. Given this, I should be able to extract at least 15 percent more than the actual costs from any business transaction. However, I'll grant that you're also Filipino and also quite frugal, which entitles you to get a 5 percent discount from actual costs. Advantage mine: +10 percent.

Regarding demand for TV sets, I'll concede that your demand is lower than the average customer's, entitling you to some bargaining power. However, as you already mentioned, in business transactions between Filipinos, you also have to account for the Filipinoness, bayanihan (sense of community), and friendship factors. This means that your purchase of the TV is determined not only by supply and demand factors, but also by the desire for pakikisama (smooth interpersonal relations) and utang na loob (gratitude). In other words, cronyism.