When Freakonomics.com was launched in 2005, it was essentially a blog (c’mon, blogs were a thing then!). The first Freakonomics book had just been published, and Stephen J. Dubner and Steven D. Levitt wanted to continue their conversation with readers. Over time, the blog grew to have millions of readers, a variety of regular and guest writers, and it was hosted by The New York Times, where Dubner and Levitt also published a monthly “Freakonomics” column. The authors later collected some of the best blog writing in a book called When to Rob a Bank … and 131 More Warped Suggestions and Well-Intended Rants. (The publisher rejected their original title: We Were Only Trying to Help. The publisher had also rejected the title Freakonomics at first, so they weren’t surprised.) While the blog has not had any new writing in quite some time, the entire archive is still here for you to read.
Chris Markl Chris Markl Reader Chris Markl emailed us these photos of signs from Nairobi offering insurance against political violence, terrorism, and riots. If Sudhir Venkatesh is right, we probably won’t be seeing similar insurance pitches in the U.S., though maybe London could use them. Markl wonders why another type of insurance isn’t offered in the U.S. by now: the . . .
| Eight states are proposing that people get tested for drugs before receiving government assistance. Proponents say it’s a health issue but, as demand for these programs surges, it surely sends a different kind of message. Meanwhile, a bill in the Tennessee Legislature would cap lottery winnings at $600 for people on public assistance. Considering that poor people play lotteries . . .
| Before the crash of 2008, when commodity prices for everything from oil to copper to lead were at record levels, the news was rife with stories of odd thefts. Manhole covers went missing, stolen and sold off to scrapyards. Foreclosed homes were stripped of their copper wiring and pipes. Lead roof tiles were pilfered from churches. Bruce Schneier has . . .
I’ve long squawked about how ridiculous the airline “safety” rules and procedures are.
Sully recently embarrassed me with his water landing, but at least the data on the danger of electronic devices is coming down on my side.
So much of the casual conversation I hear about the direction of the economy is downright confused — not only because the economy is legitimately confusing, but because people don’t know what metrics to keep their eye on, and especially because they jumble their leading and lagging indicators. This Associated Press article on the state of the stock market reminds . . .
I don’t usually turn to magicians for commentary on economic policy (maybe I should), but I enjoyed this piece immensely. Storytelling is an art — one which Jillette has obviously mastered.
Paul Collier Last week, we solicited your questions for award-winning Oxford University economist Paul Collier, author of The Bottom Billion and the just-published Wars, Guns, and Votes: Democracy in Dangerous Places. In his answers below, Collier talks about why the impact of colonialism on Africa is exaggerated, how African countries are “too big to be nations, yet too small to . . .
Newspaper headlines earlier this week reported a dramatic 19 percent decline in housing prices based on the Case-Shiller index of real-estate prices. Stan Humphries, writing on the Zillow blog, notes that Zillow’s price index didn’t fall as much as Case-Shiller. The difference is that Zillow’s index does not include foreclosures, but Case-Shiller does. Humphries notes that a staggering percentage of . . .
| … you’re probably 9 percent more productive than your co-workers — unless you’re an internet addict. That’s according to new research out of the University of Melbourne, which found that Workplace Internet Leisure Browsing (WILB) improves productivity by giving internet-centric workers a chance to refocus their minds between tasks. The increase is startling; workers who spend as much as . . .
| Do bicyclists contribute their fair share to the transportation network? An Oregon lawmaker thinks not, and has proposed a law requiring cyclists to pay a $54 registration fee every two years. A Portland bike blog interviewed the lawmaker in question, who explained the proposal this way: “[B]ikes have used the roads in this state forever and have never contributed . . .
Quotes Uncovered Here are more quote authors and origins Shapiro’s tracked down recently. Who Wanted the Least Government? Did Emerson Define Success? Why Go To Hell Via Handbasket? Eleven weeks ago, I invited readers to submit quotations for which they wanted me to try to trace the origins, using The Yale Book of Quotations and more recent research by me. . . .
| Blackstone CEO Stephen A. Schwarzman gave a fascinating talk at the Japan Society recently, on the nature of the financial crisis, the importance of financial regulations, and how the internet and the 24-hour news cycle complicate the recovery. You can watch the talk here. [%comments]
Do you think the trials of your evening commute deserve national recognition? To check whether you deserve some sort of medal for your daily automotive heroism, see Forbes.com‘s interesting recent feature on the most congested intersections in America. “There’s some glory in that; some day they will be able to dazzle their grandchildren with tales of their daily battles with . . .
| Reason.com offers a nationwide roundup on (mostly stillborn) efforts at the state level to levy a sin tax on video games. Some proposals aim to tax only violent games (who knows it if would affect the forthcoming adaptation of Dante’s Inferno, in which sinners are the exclusive targets of horrific violence). Seriously, though, one can see the populist appeal . . .
The new tax hike on tobacco products went into effect yesterday. There are few better examples for Econ 1, and the players involved clearly understand the issues. For cigars, my smoke of choice, the tax on good domestically produced cigars rises from 5 to 40 cents. “Many of our rollers are worried,” Hector Ventura, operations manager for El Credito, told . . .
| Earlier, we asked blog readers whether an Israeli arms firm could actually sell missiles to India with a Bollywood song-and-dance number. Apparently, they’ve sold quite a few — but despite, not because of the commercial, which reportedly evoked “incredulity and derision” from the Indian public and defense establishment. One senior defense officer told the Times of India: “We are . . .
| The Chinese city of Guangzhou is set to double the size of its subway system by 2010, with 83 new miles of track at a cost of about $100 million a mile. In New York City, construction of a 1.7-mile tunnel for the Second Avenue subway line, first proposed in 1929, could be completed eight years from now, at . . .
Matt Miller It isn’t hard to think of ideas that were once considered conventional wisdom — “Women shouldn’t vote,” “People should be segregated by race” — but were eventually laid to rest. In his book The Tyranny of Dead Ideas: Letting Go of the Old Ways of Thinking to Unleash A New Prosperity, Matt Miller writes that the country’s biggest . . .
If Josh Freese‘s music exhibits as much creativity as his marketing, he should have a hit record on his hands. Freese, who was part of Devo in a previous life, has just released a new album. While $10,000 might sound like a lot to pay for a copy of the CD, at that price he will also go on rides . . .
Yesterday we invited you to tell us your favorite scientists. The replies make for great reading. I would think that for anyone working in the field (science education, publishing, etc.) the answers could also be very useful. One of my favorite lists comes from a reader named Hale McMichael, a University of Texas senior who is “about to graduate with . . .
| Leave it to documentary filmmaker (and occasional New York Times blogger) Errol Morris to make the connection in this brilliant commercial. (HT: Jeff Behrens) [%comments]
But this one is. At least I hope so. Otherwise I just lost myself a co-author. Excerpt: Continuing to make bold moves in the first 100 days of his administration, Obama will announce this week two blockbuster appointments to senior positions at the Department of Treasury. Sure to raise eyebrows will be the appointment of University of Chicago economist Steve . . .
Some ideas are just so great I am left in awe. Photo: Christopher Harting As Emily Singer writes in Technology Review that drug-resistant tuberculosis is an important problem, especially in poor countries. After you get TB, you are supposed to take antibiotics for six months to prevent drug-resistant strains of TB from arising. The problem, however, is that the antibiotics . . .
| Losing your job in this economy is turning out to not be so terrible as long as you’ve bought the right things just beforehand. Suits, cars, airline tickets, and now even condominium mortgages come with unemployment insurance attached. Now if only there were some way to insure your Superfreakonomics pants … [%comments]
From a reader named Thomas Kennedy comes the following e-mail: I am an economics teacher from Alaska. I can personally list my top 10 favorite actors, top 10 favorite living writers, top 10 favorite rock groups, and even my top 10 living economists and top 10 entrepreneurs; but how many out there can name their top 10 living scientists and . . .
I fell for a stupid article and turned off my home PC last night. The article says that Americans who leave computers on overnight are wasting $2.8 billion on energy costs per year. It ignores the cost of turning computers off — and having to turn them on again the next morning. Let’s say that process takes five minutes per . . .
| You’re so frustrated by the stock market that you want to break something, so you insert a coin into this objet/vending machine, which slowly spins out a piece of china until it drops to the ground, shattering. But the market (like all complex human systems) is more like these sculptures by Michael Kontopoulos, which whack themselves into instability, teeter . . .
We are hard at work on SuperFreakonomics, which will be published as soon as it finishes simmering in our computers. This may well occur before the end of the year. In the meantime, how about some pants? A company named Bonobos makes what it calls “awesome fitting trousers.” New York magazine agrees, as does The Times; their pants have even . . .
I blogged yesterday about my theories as to why KFC seems to have bad customer service, even though the chain gives so much lip-service to customers. If you can’t provide good restaurant service, how about doing public service instead? As part of a new marketing campaign, KFC has offered to fill potholes in city streets in return for being allowed . . .
Ah, spring! You know it’s here when drugstore shelves fill up with marshmallow eggs and pink Peeps. But few people realize that real chicken eggs used to be as seasonal as their candy imitators. Even fewer know that the egg was once a speculative tool as controversial as credit default swaps are today. “Not even a quant, at first glance, . . .
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