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 . . .
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 . . .
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 . . .
If there was ever a time when it made sense for economics professors to be given tenure, that time has surely passed. The same is likely true of other university disciplines, and probably even more true for high-school and elementary school teachers. What does tenure do? It distorts people’s effort so that they face strong incentives early in their career . . .
Tim Harford, author of “The Undercover Economist” has written a thoughtful article on my friend and co-author Roland Fryer’s research into the gap between Blacks and Whites .
After Slate wrote about an economics paper alleging a link between TV and autism, I blogged my skepticism regarding the claim. I haven’t seen or heard anything since that time to change my opinion. Yesterday, the Wall Street Journal revisited that paper on autism, but also embedded the discussion into a larger question of whether economists and economic techniques should . . .
Redfin is a discount real estate brokerage in Seattle that has put together some interesting data analysis from their first year in business. Their numbers suggest that clients who use their discount brokerage firm pay a lower percent of the list price than the typical home buyer in Seattle (99.329% of the listing price with Redfin vs. 100.233% with other . . .
The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry recently published a paper on the relationship between smoking and post-traumatic stress disorder. This newspaper report on the article starts out okay:“Post-trauma mental health disturbances such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are associated with increased smoking, either by starting to smoke or an increase of tobacco use,” write Dr Peter G Van der Velden, of . . .
Until today, I would have been hard-pressed to answer that one. In today’s New York Times “Inside the List” column they give the answer: Freakonomics and the Dalai Lama‘s book “The Art of Happiness” are among the books to stay for the longest period of time on the New York Times bestseller list without ever making it to number 1.
About twice a year I go on a health kick that lasts a few weeks. Typically this involves going for one-mile runs two or three times, doing as many push-ups as I can (about eight) every night, increasing the fiber in my diet, ramping up my carrot juice consumption, and taking whatever health pill is currently in vogue. I’m right . . .
What happens when officials decide to ban tobacco inside a prison? Exactly what happens when you ban drugs in the outside world. Here is Gary Becker’s take on the war on drugs, written for a general audience on the Becker-Posner blog. Roland Fryer, Paul Heaton, Kevin Murphy, and I have written an academic article on the impact of crack cocaine. . . .
This song was written by a procrastinating Econ 101 student: “Girl, Your Marginal Benefit Is Far Greater Than Your Marginal Cost” The tune is quite catchy. If you listen to the lyrics carefully, though, you will see that the singer/songwriter probably should have spent more time studying for the exam and less time writing this great song…the economics concepts described . . .
My friend Laura Beth Nielsen at the American Bar Foundation has a theory that people who are good at one thing are good at everything. Since she shared it with me, I have thought often about whether it is true. I tend to believe it, with the important qualification that the right kind of practice is critical to being good . . .
Not long ago Dubner blogged about the various knock-offs of the apple-orange concept. Here is one that is a little different — is there perhaps a bit of onion thrown into the mix for good luck? The website must be gettting a lot of traffic because a whole bunch of Freakonomics blog readers have already been in touch to alert . . .
With city elections fast approaching in Chicago, I went looking to find out more about the time that the Gangster Disciples, the biggest gang in Chicago, ran a candidate for alderman. I had always heard about it, but never knew any details. Legend has it that the Chicago police had decided to tolerate the Gangster Disciples, but because they got . . .
A number of Portuguese reporters have contacted me asking my opinion about the nationwide vote to consider whether women in that country should be allowed to have abortions. After some thought, I decided not to reply to any of these press inquiries. The reason is that my research in abortion and crime, as discussed in Freakonomics, is virtually irrelevant to . . .
Ed Glaeser is one of the smartest economists around. He is a professor at Harvard with an astonishing list of academic papers on topics all over the map. He was profiled a year or two back in the NY Times Sunday magazine. Ed has started writing op-ed pieces for the Boston Globe. His most recent op-ed has recommendations for reforming . . .
Over a decade ago, Swarthmore economist Fred Pryor wrote this fascinating article about reading through the records of the East German secret police who arrested him while he was doing dissertation research in East Germany in the early 1960s. It pales in comparison, but when Sudhir Venkatesh and I were doing research on gangs there was always a lingering concern . . .
An interesting article in the Seattle Times about a coffee shop in Kirkland, Washington. The coffee is free, but only if you are willing to suffer the guilt of not having paid for it and the scorn of other customers. (Hat tip to Jason Kenealey.)
I agree with almost everything in this opinion piece by Al Neuharth, the founder of USA Today: Super Bowl betting spotlights silly laws Plain Talk By Al Neuharth USA TODAY Founder More than half of all adults across the USA, about 112 million of us, will bet on the Super Bowl this weekend. Most of the wagers will be illegal. . . .
On the first day of class, I tell my undergraduates that if they only learn one thing in my course, I hope that it will be to recognize and appreciate the difference between correlation and causality. Most of the students laugh smugly, thinking they already know the difference. It never ceases to amaze me, however, when a cleverly designed exam . . .
When Mark Duggan and I wrote our statistical analysis of match rigging in sumo wrestling (which also was featured in Freakonomics), I spent a lot of time digging through translations of Japanese media reports of suspected past match rigging incidents. Almost every prior accusation of match rigging had a common theme: it was always a foreign sumo wrestler at the . . .
Al Roth, a Harvard economics professor who has been a leader in getting kidney exchanges established, forwarded this press release to me: NEWS RELEASE U.S. Representative Charlie Norwood, Tenth District, Georgia For immediate release: January 29, 2007 Norwood/Inslee Introduce Paired Kidney Donation Bill in House (Washington, DC) – Patients waiting for a life-saving kidney transplant could have that wait significantly . . .
At least if you live in Chicago or California. If you are interested, there is a memorial service at the University of Chicago today at 2 pm central time that will be broadcast over the web. And there is a documentary on PBS tonight.
Tif177 was on the right trail when he/she offered the following guess: the speaker was actually a recorded speech/tape that the organizer played at a faster RPM than originally intended. I am getting on an airplane and will be out of action for the day, so if someone gets the right answer Dubner said he would post a blog entry.
As predicted, this truly is a hard quiz. Still no correct answers in the first 130 comments. Here is a hint: The organizer did something very clever and very devious.
About six months ago I was at a big conference. I was scheduled to present at 2 PM to an audience of 500 or 1,000 people. Another speaker was on from 1 to 2 PM. I told the organizer I would be back by 1:45 PM, leaving plenty of time before I had to hit the stage. At 1:30 I . . .
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