While advertising may try to mislead you, this piece of marketing — which a Freakonomics reader named Matthew Limber found on his milk cap — takes a completely honest (and apparently self-sabotaging) approach. Photo: Matthew Limber So did Listerine’s TV ads from 2005, which claimed that “Listerine’s as effective as floss at fighting plaque and gingivitis,” but cautioned, “There’s no . . .
I’m sure that most academics are used to the following: Occasionally I write a scientific paper, an OpEd, or a blog entry in which I wade into some controversy or another, and in the ensuing few days receive some fairly vitriolic messages in my personal inbox. I’m not objecting — after all, it seems that I’ve had my chance to . . .
The average human being will be substantially richer in 50 years, just as the average American today has a real income three times what it was in 1955. But the average human being will not have much more time in 50 years than today; and life expectancy has increased by only 10 percent in the U.S. since 1955, so for . . .
Health care is an important, huge, and growing piece of our economy. But as a reader named Beth Wieder points out, the design of medical devices isn’t always as user-friendly (or, I would add, as cost-efficient or as practical) as one might like. For instance, we blogged some time back about a very cheap and portable asthma spacer. Here is . . .
Jacob Hacker‘s Great Risk Shift described rising income risk over recent decades as an important and quite general phenomenon. While there’s been plenty of controversy around that claim, the most careful analysis I have seen roughly supports Hacker’s contention. (The CBO, using different data and a different methodology disagrees.) What Hacker actually shows is that the average level of income . . .
Photo: Rhett Redelings On a recent United Airlines flight I was surprised to see that their new planes are equipped not just with lap belts, but shoulder restraints as well. This just cannot make any sense. First, planes virtually never crash. Second, when they do crash, it is unlikely that a shoulder restraint will be the deciding factor in whether . . .
Proven: … If done clinically, it doesn’t mean much. … That data retention laws influence citizen behavior. … The fallacy of the National Association of Realtors’ sales numbers. … The economic impact of a local Chamber of Commerce. … A rural village in the Belgian province of West-Flanders.
We’ve written repeatedly about pay-as-you-wish commerce or honor-system payment schemes, ranging from music to bagels to coffee. A reader named Seth sent in an interesting new example, all the more so because it shows how one firm is using the pay-as-you-wish mechanism as an experiment to find a good price for a new product: I am writing to tell you . . .
Jessica’s past posts can be found here, her own blog here, and her new book here.
Photo by Steven Stewart of his son. The essence of a free market is exchange — you and I raise our utility voluntarily by exchanging things with which we are endowed. I wonder how early people learn this idea in a free-market economy. My five-year-old grandson had a Mylar helium-filled balloon, and his two-year-old brother had another one. They were . . .
Hats off to economist Roland Fryer, Joel Klein, the rest of the folks in the New York City Department of Education, and Droga5 for taking home the Titanium Lion prize at the Cannes Lions advertising festival for their work on “Million.” Million is the innovative NYC schools program that puts a specially designed cellphone into the hands of every NYC . . .
From the department of curious legal precautions: Apple’s iTunes licensing agreement — which you have already agreed to if you’ve installed the latest version of the popular music software — contains a clause which prohibits anyone from using the program … … for any purposes prohibited by United States law, including, without limitation, the development, design, manufacture, or production of . . .
The latest bout of racial consternation in our great land includes: Another Don Imus comment; will it reverberate as loudly as the last one? A white valedictorian at historically black Morehouse College; maybe the would-be black valedictorian wound up at any Ivy?
I am always surprised at how easily, and cheaply, we humans lie. Have you ever been in a conversation about, say, a particular book and been tempted to say you’ve read it even though you haven’t? I am guessing the answer is yes. But why would anyone bother to lie in such a low-stakes situation? The book lie is what . . .
The Celtics’ demolition of the Lakers reminds me that the sport announcers would do well to put more emphasis on “rebound rates.” Like putt probabilities, the rebound rate basically tells you the probability that a team will get the next rebound. Can you answer a fairly simple question: In the NBA if a team misses a shot, what is the . . .
There’s been a lot of noise recently about a Sports Illustrated poll in which Major League Baseball players named Derek Jeter the most overrated player in the league, with 10 percent of the vote. The poll was based on a survey of 495 MLB players. Since SI runs a new poll every week, I assume the questions were asked all . . .
There’s no doubt that Americans are currently frustrated by high gas prices. And certainly many voters believe that “something oughta be done about it.” But why? Here’s a simple taxonomy of concerns: 1. Relative prices: Are people frustrated that a gallon of gas now requires more foregone “stuff.” Or alternatively phrased, are they concerned about the low relative price of . . .
There is a mini-controversy on the University of Chicago campus surrounding the announcement of plans to raise money for a Milton Friedman Institute here at the university. Some non-economists are concerned that the Friedman Institute will push a right-wing agenda and tarnish the reputation of the university. Some who knew Friedman well have the opposite worry: that the Institute won’t . . .
Elizabeth Royte‘s new book is called Bottlemania: How Water Went on Sale and Why We Bought It. I haven’t read it yet, but I gather that it ably summarizes the growing economic and environmental backlash against bottled water. So maybe the world is ready for the Xziex Atmospheric Water Generator, a tiny machine that makes “fresh clean water from thin . . .
Whenever the subject of global warming comes up on this blog, readers have plenty to say. There are a lot of things to think about, of course, including the effectiveness (or lack thereof?) of carbon taxes; the environmental impact of a global food market; even whether it’s greener to drive than walk. For the average person, the issue probably seems . . .
Most swimmers competing in the Bejing Olympics this summer believe they will fail without a new $600 swimsuit, The Economist reports. In February Speedo introduced its LZR swimsuit and 38 of the 42 world swimming records broken since then were by swimmers wearing the suit — which has no seams and takes 20 minutes to get into. Do good swimmers . . .
One of the things that I have learned (the hard way) is that looking sensible on TV is harder than it looks. That’s why I was happy when Nightline decided to interview my co-author Betsey Stevenson rather than me for a segment that ran last week summarizing our research on the relationship between income and happiness. Freakonomics readers have already . . .
Photo: Rhett Redelings The papers yesterday were full of news about bananas. The Wall Street Journal reported that Chiquita Brands International, “the Cincinnati-based banana distributor” (I love that phrase; it evokes Lardner, or at least Runyon), was expected to report a third-quarter loss due to higher fuel costs and bad weather in banana-growing countries. Chiquita stock fell sharply on the . . .
I’m on our annual beach week with the extended family in New Jersey and the beach patrol comes by insisting I buy beach tags for everyone 12 and over. The prices are: $6 for one day, $12 for one week, or $24 for the season (but only $19 for the season if bought before Memorial Day). The price structure is . . .
Here’s the latest guest bleg from Fred Shapiro, editor of the Yale Book of Quotations. His past blegs can be found here; send us your own bleg requests here. The Yale Book of Quotations has a large section of the most famous television catchphrases. The list is stronger on pre-1980 catchphrases than post-1980 catchphrases, perhaps reflecting the fact that my . . .
Iowans have taken to calling this week’s devastating flooding “our Katrina.” Katrina does come to mind when you look at these photos of Cedar Rapids engulfed by the Cedar River. But Iowa is lucky to have been spared a Katrina-sized death toll. In fact, far fewer lives have been claimed by this round of flooding than by the floods that . . .
Three Mile Island, Control Room 1. Well, someone has come right out and said it: “Sen. John McCain called Wednesday for the construction of 45 new nuclear reactors by 2030.” That’s according to an A.P. article by David Espo, well worth reading in its entirety. We have written quite a few times about the likelihood of a return to nuclear . . .
Freakonomics reader Rich Beckman took this photo in Washington, D.C. on the grounds of the Capitol building: Photo: Rich Beckman Then he asks a natural question: “If the hydrant isn’t working, what does it matter if someone parks there?” Dubner asked a similar question on this blog: why is parking in front of fire hydrants prohibited in the first place . . .
Photo: Rhett Redelings After writing my last Freakonomics post, I received a phone call from a police officer who began his career in Chicago. Carl, the 54-year-old cop, started working in Chicago’s inner cities at the height of the crack epidemic. He transferred to the suburbs of Seattle for a lifestyle change — “I was tired of getting shot at,” . . .
Like many others, I was incredibly jazzed by Tiger’s victory on Monday. But I was frustrated that the commentators routinely failed to mention the putting distance to the hole. It would be nice to know, “It looks like Rocco has a 25-foot putt.” But I, for one, would like commentators to go further and routinely give us information about the . . .