I just got done reading chapter 1 of Freakonomics and I must say, I can't wait to continue reading the rest of the book. The book is very easy to read and uses economics in very interesting ways. It discusses real world problems in ways that are unconventional.
One part of the chapter I thought very interesting was the reason for lowered crime rates. I never thought that legalizing abortion would be a legitimate reason to this statistic, but it made perfect sense. Perhaps if those that are against abortion think about it in this way, they may change their minds about it.
Another part I enjoyed reading was the cheating of teachers. It makes sense that some people will try to cheat as the benefits become greater, particularly if it is hard to get caught. In sports, it happens all the time. As a big sports fan, I know players will try to cheat to get a competitive advantage, and sometimes they get away with it. Referees are not perfect, and they will miss some calls, which is what the players are hoping for. However, I never thought about the reasons teachers would cheat. It made sense after reading the chapter. If the stakes are high for teachers to cheat, such as losing their job or getting a big bonus, they will go to new lengths to make sure these happen. For teachers, if this means cheating to make their students look better, some will go to those lengths, even at the disposal of the students' education.
The sumo wrestling part was interesting in the fact that since it is such a big part of the culture, wrestlers will still throw matches for different reasons, such as bribes.
