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.
3 comments:
Justin,
I agree that the book gives an interesting idea on why the crime rate has gone down (due to abortion). I couldn't quite tell if the authors were pro-life or pro-choice, but something to think about is....is it right to kill a potential human being just because they potentially might be in the demographic that traditionally gives birth to criminals? (I won't argue that a fetus is or is not a human being because that is for a whole different blog). I would say that since we are in a country that guarantees innocence until proven guilty, that it is not right or just to legalize abortion just on the basis that it is the utilitarian thing to do.
Anyways...I also enjoy the book and their thoughts about cheating teachers and sumo wrestlers.
See you in class!
Bobby
I agree that just because they MIGHT be a criminal doesn't mean we should legalize abortion. I guess I worded it wrong in my blog - I do not agree with abortion. I just meant that it makes sense that crime has gone up because of the legalization of abortion.
Justin,
You make a great point about cheating in sports. It seems to be a very appropriate commemt right now with all of the major league baseball players that are being caught for using performance enhancing substances, namely steriods. Players are using steriods because of the incentives of the extremely high salary as they try and make it to or stay in the big leagues for an extended period. Players also use them to improve their numbers as this is the main basis on which they are paid. Unfortunately, some players value money more than their own health and the integrity of the game.
Post a Comment