TOW #4: "Freakonomics" by Steven B. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubned (Part One)

              Why are schoolteachers like sumo wrestlers? What makes the KKK similar to a group of real-estate agents? Why do drug dealers live with their moms if they make so much money? These are the main topics of conversation discussed in the first half of Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubned’s Freakonomics. The authors, both being economists, attempt to explain seemingly inexplicable phenomena through the lens of economics. All the issues explored are used to answer a question, “How do humans respond to incentives?”

              Although the questions mentioned above are the main focuses of the first three chapters, the authors’ analysis involves the discussion of many other issues. In fact, the entire book is simply a collection of anecdotes used to answer the topic question of each chapter. One that was particularly interesting was the story of Paul Feldman. After showing how even some of the most acclaimed professions such as school teachers and sumo wrestlers can, and do, cheat, Levitt and Dubned answer a pressing question, “Are all humans innately corrupt?” The answer to this question lies in the story of Paul Feldman, a bagel salesman. Essentially, Feldman would drive to an office building early in the day, drop off a basket of bagels and a money jar, and come back to pick them up in the evening. This would seem to be a horrible plan as most customers would just take a bagel without paying, but astonishingly, Feldman’s income averaged roughly 87% of his bagel sales.

              This particular anecdote epitomizes the authors’ purpose. As seemingly impossible outcomes are presented, the reader begins to change the way they think. Not only does the reader think about how human’s act, but how we, both individuals and society as a whole, evaluate ourselves. This book shows how complex an issue can be even when there appears to be a certain right and wrong. In response to the bagel story, the authors explain “If morality represents the way we would like the world to work, and economics represents how it actually does work, then the story of Feldman’s bagel business lies at the very intersection of morality and economics.” As humans, we are wired to think about situations morally, but Freakonomics shows that the human way of thinking is fundamentally flawed.