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We tell a story about German academic quarter hours-- akademische Viertel-- and use it to argue that lateness is an economics problem of coordination, incentives, and transaction costs, not just manners. We lay out five rules that predict who shows up late, why the pattern spreads, and how to spot it before you commit to a recurring meeting.
• the “academic quarter hour” as a rule that makes lateness predictable
• lateness as a transaction cost that blocks group goals
• platonic travelers and the habit of leaving no buffer
• five rules of lateness and what each predicts
• why meetings drift into equilibrium lateness over time
• lateness as an externality and prisoner’s dilemma
• incentive fixes from social sanctions to financial penalties
• watch setting quirks and backwards induction as a practical test
• listener letter on medical insurance hiding prices from consumers
• why hospitals were small before 1935 and how sulfa drugs changed that
• letter on permitting payments for solar projects and why people call them bribes
• book recommendation for the punctually challenged

Links:

• Munger, Chron of Higher Ed, 5 Rules of Lateness in Academe
• Munger, Econlib, The 5 Sorry Rules of Lateness
• New York Times article on "Time Personality"
• U of Michigan's version of the academic quarter hour
  
  

Book-o-da-week: Never Be Late Again: 7 Cures for the Punctually Challenged
by Diana DeLonzor and Gerry DeLonzor. Post Madison Publishing May 19, 2026.

You can follow Mike Munger on Twitter at @mungowitz