As economists explore the causes of the current worldwide recession, they are expressing a growing recognition that free markets are not always as efficient as many assumed them to be. In particular, free markets do not appear able to properly price systemic risk: the second- and third-order effects of decisions by a number of financial players, each apparently operating rationally, which can combine to cause a complex interrelated financial system to collapse.

These forces can also impel manufacturing companies—each independently making apparently rational decisions to outsource certain segments of their operations—to ravage their industrial commons: the infrastructure of suppliers and skills that underpins their business. The savings these firms expect to generate from outsourcing are based on costs that often do not properly reflect the damage caused by such activities.

A related situation occurs when financial players choose to buy or sell an asset (e.g., a stock bond, collateralized debt obligation or credit default swap) with the implicit assumption that they can either insure against possible losses from such decisions or reverse them at some later date. But insurers, deluged by an unforeseen surge in claims and faced with the possibility of losses, may not be able to honor their contracts. And, as shown by the role CDOs played in the recent economic collapse, once-reversible financial decisions may turn out not to be so.

Whether you work full-time, part-time or for yourself, you probably have a nagging little Chihuahua that lies under your desk, behind your computer monitor or right in your lap. He’s not a real dog, but your No. 1 pet peeve probably sits up to bark pretty often and has the potential to reduce your productivity or even ruin your whole day.

Mine is a fairly common one: receiving something late when I haven’t been warned in advance. It’s usually a pet peeve that neat-and-tidy planners have, which is where I differ from the norm. My workspace is downright messy. Spontaneity stimulates me much more than meticulous preparation.

So what have I done about it? I decided long ago that a crusade against unannounced lateness would be just plain ineffective. So I picked up my little Chihuahua, took him out of my messy workspace and gave him some training. Here’s where I am now:

1. I anticipate when my pet peeve will nag me. I usually get warning signs, often as simple as a colleague’s failure to acknowledge an e-mail reminder. Willfully ignoring such signs, and hoping that people will reform their ways, would be foolish. Instead, I exert whatever polite influence I can on folks in advance, accepting the limits. Then I envision what a late delivery will require of me, make a quick mental sketch of how to face it and move on.

2.  I laugh at my pet peeve. Sometimes prevention doesn’t work, but if you step back to observe yourself in the moment, you’ll see the comedy in it.

The Philippines’ current display of courage and resiliency in the wake of devastating typhoons Ondoy (international name: Ketsana) and Pepeng (international name: Parma) bears resemblance to that of the country’s economic performance during the current economic downturn.