“Freakonomics” is a book about human psychology, sociology, and the role incentives play in our lives and society at large. It is filled to the brim with delightful examples and anecdotes that defies your expectations again and again; at the very least, it will have you think “huh! That was clever.”
Steven D. Levitt is a young economist at the University of Chicago. He explores unorthodox topics such as:
The modern world, despite a surfeit of obfuscation, complication, and downright deceit, is not impenetrable, is not unknowable, and - if the right questions are asked - is even more intriguing than we think. All it takes is a new way of looking.
Day Care Late Fee
At a day-care center in Israel, children are supposed to be picked-up at 4 PM sharp. Despite the time limit, there are always tardy parents who fail to meet the timeline, forcing teachers to wait around until everyone’s been picked up.
But unexpectedly, the number of late pickups went up! In order to understand why, we need to first explore incentives. Economics, at its root, is a study of incentives. There are three types:
Returning to our original question of why the number of late pickups went up, well as it turns out, the economic incentive of a $3 punishment isn’t enough to offset the reduced moral incentive. For just a few dollars each day, parents could buy off the guilt. They might even see it as just additional fee for taking care of their kids longer.
Real Estate Agents
Another interesting factoid that demonstrates the importance of incentives is related to real estate agents:
In conclusion, when selling their own house, real estate agents hold out longer for the best possible deal. On the other hand, when they are trying to sell your house, their incentive is to get the first decent offer that comes along. They want to make deals and make them fast.
Why Online Voting is A Terrible Idea
Have you ever asked yourself the question: “What is the point of voting?”. Pragmatically speaking, unless you live in a swing state, your vote is of relatively little importance. Furthermore, voting exacts a cost in terms of time, effort, lost productivity with the only discernible payoff being a vague sense of “civic duty”.
In order to minimize the cost of time and effort in voting, Switzerland experimented with an online voting system that is both quick and convenient! Never again would any Swiss voter have to stand in line during a rainstorm to cast a ballot!
“If you are not cheating, you are not trying hard enough” - Mark Grace
Who cheats? Well just about anyone if the stake is right.
Some might insist that they don’t cheat, that they would never stoop so low. It would be a debasement of their virtues! But the reality is we all cheat to some degree. While some forms of cheating are relatively harmless, others are more scandalous. Perhaps you’ve downloaded pirated movies, music, software, or you’ve Googled homework solutions during a stressful week before finals, or you’ve claimed some tax credit that you know you don’t necessarily qualify for. Cheating at its core is a economic act: getting more for less.
Take the intriguing anecdote of the disappearance of 7 million children in the US:
“How selfish soever man may be supposed, there are evidently some principles in his nature, which interest him in the fortunate of others, and render their happiness necessary to him, though he derives nothing form it, except the pleasure of seeing it.” - Adam Smith in The Theory of Moral Sentiments
In any economic transaction, there is usually one party that has better information than the other. Economists call this phenomenon information asymmetry. In fact, it is in the best interest of the experts to keep the asymmetry as wide as possible.
Experts depend on the fact that you don’t have the information they do. Or that you are so befuddled by the complexity of their operation that you wouldn’t know what to do with the information if you had it. Or that you are so in awe of their expertise that you wouldn’t dare challenge them.
The internet has greatly shrunk the gap between experts and the public. For example, in the 1990s, price of life insurance fell drastically. Many websites became widely accessible for customers where they can compare, within seconds, the price of insurance sold by various companies.
With the advent of the internet, it is now easier than ever to make more informed purchases. Be on the lookout for abuse of information asymmetry and do your research!
Figure: Crime Rate Projections From Levitt’s Paper
In the 1990s, crime rate fell so suddenly and so sharply that it baffled everyone. Many analysts cite the drop in crime rate as a result of things such as innovative policing strategies, changes to the drug market, aging population, stronger economy, and many other factors.
Levitt spends 20 pages of the book dispelling each of these explanations as either completely irrelevant, or having relatively minor effect. By looking at the data, Levitt came to the an unexpected conclusion. The drop in crime-rate is actually a result of Roe v. Wade
What sort of woman was most likely to take advantage of Roe. v. Wade? Very often she was unmarried or in her teens or poor, and sometimes all three. What sort of future might her child have had?
It turns out children who grew up in a dysfunctional family are at the greatest risk for becoming criminals. In fact, the two factors that are the best predictor for future criminal activities in children are: childhood poverty, and single-parent household. Both of which are drastically reduced by a woman’s right to legalized abortion.
In the 1990s, just as the first cohort of children from the post Roe v. Wade era was hitting their late teen years - the years during which young men enter their criminal prime - the rate of crime began to fall. Furthermore, the data seems to indicate that the states which had legalized abortion earlier (e.g. California, New York, Washington, etc.) saw a correspondingly earlier drop in crime rate.
History of Abortion Rights
The detriment that the State would impose upon the pregnant woman by denying this choice altogether is apparent… Maternity, or additional offspring, may force upon the woman a distressful life and future. Psychological harm may be imminent. Mental and physical health may be taxed by child care. There is also the distress, for all concerned, associated with the unwanted child, and there is the probability of bringing a child into a family already unable, psychologically and otherwise, to care for it.