I have been on a mission to convince firms to do simple experiments that will give them feedback regarding the decisions that they make. Just as with people (as Anders Ericsson studies), firms cannot learn without feedback. It turns out, however, that it is not easy for people in companies to see the wisdom in experiments. Which is why I . . .
I assume that I was not the only person who was astounded when some details of Khalid Sheik Mohammed’s confession were made public the other day. Although there are many reasons to doubt the veracity of his claims, if he is responsible for even half of what he says, how much does it change the American perception of the ongoing . . .
In a post yesterday, I asked why people comment on blogs. Not surprisingly, there were a lot of comments on the post. To summarize: 1. A great many of you don’t want to comment unless you have something original and worthwhile to say. Also, it’s time-consuming to comment at all, much less wade through the previous comments to make sure . . .
We wrote recently about identity thieves. One of them is probably already working on this guy — a lottery winner who had the misfortune of having his picture published in the local newspaper, a picture in which all his personal information was visible, including his Social Security Number. (Hat tip: Jim Romenesko)
On most websites or blogs, the ratio of readers to commenters is gigantic. On this blog, a post that garners 40 or 50 comments is considered quite a bit, even though there are many thousands of readers. The stream of comments can take many shapes, depending on the nature of the post. And, once again depending on the nature of . . .
Several weeks ago, I was talking to a physician in Houston, the sort of older gentleman family doctor you don’t see much of anymore. His name is Cyril Wolf. He’s originally from South Africa, but other than that, he struck me as the quintessential American general practitioner of decades past. I’d asked him a variety of questions — what’s changed . . .
In the U.K., it’s been discovered that five percent of medical-school applicants cheat on their application forms by plagiarizing material in their personal essays. It is hardly news, of course, that students will cheat (or, for that matter, teachers). Consider the following snapshot from Google Trends, which compares search queries for “term paper” (in blue) and “animal rights” (in red). . . .
A while back, I posted here about the San Francisco Chronicle‘s new audio feature called “Correct Me If I’m Wrong,” which turns irate readers’ voicemail messages into brief podcasts. The first podcast featured a caller who was deeply disturbed by the Chronicle‘s use of the seemingly redundant phrase “pilotless drone.” This first message was so over-the-top that I wondered if . . .
That is the proposal being considered in the South Carolina Senate. Prisoners would receive up to 180 days of time served for donating an organ or bone marrow. The following exchange of quotes from an A.P. article pretty much sums up the positions of nearly every debate over how organ donation should be incentivized: Mary Jo Cagle, chief medical officer . . .
The Times has just announced that college students (or, for that matter, anyone with an .edu e-mail suffix) can have free access to the entire contents of the newspaper’s website, including the previously gated TimesSelect material. This strikes me as a huge move, and one that will reverberate throughout every discussion of the new business model/s for journalism. [Addendum: As . . .
I went to high school with a guy named Dave Kansas. We were good friends even after I beat him out for the honor of being the worst starting point guard ever on any varsity high school basketball team. He went on to become a reporter for the Wall Street Journal. One night more than a decade ago we were . . .
Zell Miller got into trouble with the media a few days back when he made the following statement, according to the Atlanta Journal Constitution website: … former U.S. Sen. Zell Miller made a little news this week in Macon when he declared that abortion has contributed to the military’s manpower shortage, the Social Security crisis, and the flow of illegal . . .
Zell Miller got into trouble with the media a few days back when he made the following statement, according to the Atlanta Journal Constitution website: … former U.S. Sen. Zell Miller made a little news this week in Macon when he declared that abortion has contributed to the military’s manpower shortage, the Social Security crisis, and the flow of illegal . . .
The other day, I wrote to say that I’d be warming up for Bill Clinton, again, and solicited your questions for him — many of which, as you can see here, were pretty good. I was particularly fond of this one, from “BennyM”: Does the American public get such lackluster politicians because we’re so cynical and disengaged? … or… drumroll . . .
Is this a safer version of Purell? At least people probably won’t drink it. Following on this discussion of remotely piloted aircraft, here is news of a tamper-proof autopilot system designed to thwart terrorists. More advice from a burglar on where not to hide your money, guns, or drugs. Following on this discussion of household urinals, here is one economist’s . . .
Our Chinese publisher has sent along word that Freakonomics has won an award in China. Here is the certificate. According to Jesse Coffino-Greenberg, a Chinese translator friend, it says: Certificate of Honor Guangdong Economics Publishing House The publishers of “Freakonomics” are hereby awarded the 2006 “New Path Prize” for finance publications. Jesse explained that he came up with “New Path . . .
The March 11, 2007, Freakonomics column in the New York Times Magazine asks this question: Who really cares about identity theft? Dubner and Levitt clear up some misconceptions about the subject and get a guided tour of a hacker chat room where credit-card numbers, passwords, and PIN’s are bought and sold. This blog post supplies additional research material.
That is the question we ask in our most recent column in the New York Times Magazine. Along the way, we try to clear up some misconceptions about the subject, and get a guided tour of a hacker chat room where credit-card numbers, passwords, and PIN’s are bought and sold. Below is some of the research cited in the Times . . .
I am giving a lecture later today (though not at TED) and the speaker immediately after me is President Clinton. I’ve warmed up for him before. I realize this is short notice, but: if I have the chance to chat with him for a few minutes before his talk, what do you think I should ask him? Or, I guess . . .
A news report from thespoof.com: CHICAGO. The University of Chicago, known for its free-market approach to economics, today announced that it will select its next tenured faculty member in the “the dismal science” through a reality TV competition modelled on shows such as “Survivor” and VH1’s “The (White) Rapper Show”. “We’re a competitive bunch,” said department chair Philip Reny, “and . . .
The Chicago Tribune asked me to describe my most memorable summer camp experience. Are you kidding? There was no way in the world that I ever would have gone away to summer camp as a kid. The closest I could come up with was the following story, which my Aunt Liz will appreciate because she just taught my six year . . .
They are all speakers at the TED conference which is being held this week in Monterey, California. As I have written before, TED is perhaps the single most interesting way that a smart and curious person could spend a week. This is the first time Emily Oster, who is a Becker Fellow here at U of C, will be on . . .
The executives at American Airlines must be crazy. I heard a rumor — and I believe it is true — that they have made the decision to replace plastic knives with honest-to-God metal table knives in the first class cabin. Are they crazy? Metal table knives were banned after 9-11 for good reason! Those things are dangerous. They could poke . . .
I believe that my daughter Anya, who just turned five, may turn out to be a philosopher. (I know, there isn’t much money in philosophy, but the thought does warm my heart.) I base this suspicion on something she said the other night while she, I, and her six-year-old brother Solomon were setting up for a massive Playmobil battle. She . . .
A reader named Kevin Cornwell, who has his own blog here, wrote us the other day about the forthcoming book The Baseball Economist. It’s by J.C. Bradbury, an economist at Kennesaw State University who writes the baseball blog Sabernomics. (I love that a baseball economist teaches at a university named for the same Georgia mountain for whom the first baseball . . .
I used to have a problem, but a friend of mine helped me with it. He didn’t know he was helping me; in fact, he wasn’t even my friend when this problem first cropped up. So, to clarify: he’s a new friend who helped me solve an old problem. My problem was this: I often record interviews on an Olympus . . .
In the U.K., there are plans afoot to charge a higher fee to park a larger car, even in your own driveway. Remember Swivel, the data mashup site we blogged about? Here’s another new data visualization site, called ManyEyes, run by IBM’s Visual Communications Lab. And here’s a thoughtful review of ManyEyes vs. Swivel. Standardized test scores in Illinois are . . .
A reader named Pete Dignan has noted that we tend to write pretty often about how people are afraid of things. In fact, that was the very theme of a recent 20/20 special to which I contributed. So he sent a link to this song, “Afraid,” by the band Waking Rothko. “The song says pretty much what you do,” Dignan . . .
There is a new TV show that pits adults against 5th graders. The adults don’t fare so well. But the adults chosen to go on the show are not randomly selected, and the 5th graders are even far less random. Illinois gives a state exam to all 7th graders. Some of the questions are on astronomy. The 7th graders didn’t . . .
A study just published in JAMA put four groups of overweight, premenopausal women on four different diets: Atkins, Ornish, Zone, and LEARN. The winner? Atkins, by a mile — in terms of weight loss as well as risk factors.