report cards for, 74–75, 78,121
strikes by, 81
as washing hands, 203–8, 209
women as, 80–81
Dolin, Eric Jay, 142
Dr. Leonard’s (health care catalog), 35
Dr. Who (TV show), 179
Drake, Edwin L., 143
drugs
and cheap and simple fixes, 145–46
and chemotherapy, 84–86
and holding off death, 84–86
and prostitution, 29, 36
testing for, 92
drunkenness, 1–3,12,14, 66, 96
dung, horse, 9–10,12
“the economic approach,” 12,16
economics
Allie’s study of, 56
and altruism, 105,106–23
behavioral, 113–23
experimental, 106–23
macro-, 16–17, 211
as male field, 48
micro-, 211
predictions concerning, 16–17
electric shock treatments, 123
elephants, 15
emergency medicine, 66–69, 70–82
Endangered Species Act, 139, 143
envelope-stuffing experiment, 119–20
environment. See also climate; global warming/cooling; horses
Equal Pay Act (1963), 43
ER One program, 67
Ericsson, K. Anders, 60–61
Eriksson, Leif, 189
Eros.com, 51
escorts, 49–55
estate taxes, 83–84
European Union, child auto safety in, 157
Everleigh, Ada, 24–25, 26
Everleigh, Minna, 24–25, 26
Everleigh Club, 24–25, 26, 33, 34, 51
experiment(s)
context of, 122–23
laboratory, 107–23
and misinterpretation of data, 120
natural, 101
scrutiny during, 121–22
selection bias in, 121
See also specific experiment
externalities, 8,11,171–77, 203, 207
false positives, 91–92
family reunions, and prostitution, 42
famine, 141–42,177
Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS), 152–53,156
fear, of pilots in World War II, 147
Federal Communications Commission (FCC), 103
Feied, Craig, 66–73, 75, 80, 81, 205, 207–8
feminist revolution, 43–44
Feynman, Richard, 107
fibbing, on surveys, 7
films, influence on behavior of, 15
financial crisis, 16
float, hurricane, 160–63, 178, 193
for-sale-by-owner market (FSBO), 39
forceps, in childbirth, 140–41
Ford, Henry II, 158
Ford Motor Company, 147, 158
Franklin, Benjamin, 189
freakonomics, definition of, 13
Friedman, Milton, 141
Galileo Galilei, 107
games
about altruism, 108–11, 113, 115, 117, 118–20
See also specific game
Gandhi, Mohandas, 63
Gansberg, Martin, 126–27
“garden hose to the sky.” See Budyko’s Blanket
Gates, Bill, 178, 180, 195
Gawande, Atul, 141
gender issues
and discrimination, 20–22
and life expectancy, 20
and profession, 47–48
and SAT-style math test, 46
and sex-change operations, 47–48
and wages, 21–22, 44, 45–47
See also women
General Electric, 190–91
Genovese, Kitty, murder of, 97–100, 104–5, 106, 110, 125–31
geoengineering, 191–92, 197, 199, 200, 202, 203. See also Budyko’s Blanket
germ theory, 138, 204
Germany, trash-tax avoiders in, 139
“gifted,” 61
Gladwell, Malcolm, 99
global warming/cooling
activism concerning, 169–71, 199
and Budyko’s Blanket, 193–99, 200
and carbon emissions, 11, 166, 171, 173, 182–83, 184–85, 187–88, 192, 199, 203
and cloud project, 201–2
and externalities, 172–73
and greenhouse gases, 166–68, 171, 182–83, 184–85, 188
IV’s work on, 180–99
and media, 11, 165
Myhrvold views about, 202–3
public awareness about, 196
and smokestack plan, 200–201
and sulfur dioxide, 189–90, 191, 192–99, 200–201
and technological innovation, 11
and trees, 186
and volcanic eruptions, 176–77, 188–90, 192
Weitzman’s views about, 11, 12
See also climate
Goldin, Claudia, 21, 45–46
Gore, Al, 112, 170–71, 173, 181, 184, 196, 198, 200, 203
Great Depression, 16–17
greenhouse gases, 166–68,171, 182–83,184–85,188. See also carbon emissions
Guevara, Che, 63
handprints, bacteria-laden, 206
Harvard University, gender wage gap of graduates of, 21
Hawking, Stephen, 179
health care
spending for, 80, 84–85
See also doctors; emergency medicine; hospitals; medicine
heart disease, 84
Hispanics, and prostitution, 35
HIV and AIDS, 36, 208–9
Ho Chi Minh, 63
Hoffman, Mike, 129–30, 131
Homeland Security, U.S. Department of, 163
Homo altruisticus, 110–11
Homo economicus, 106, 110, 112, 113
horses, 8–10, 12
Horsley, Ian, 88–90, 91, 92, 94, 95–96
hospitals
errors in, 68–69, 72, 204
report cards for, 75
See also specific hospital
Hurricane Katrina, 158
hurricanes, 158–63,178,193
Iceland, volcano eruptions in, 189
Ichino, Andrea, 21–22
impure altruism, 124–25
incentives
and altruism, 125,131
and annuities, 82
to change behavior, 203
and chemotherapy, 85
and climate change, 173, 203
and doctors’ behavior, 206
and drunk driving, 2
and predicting behavior, 17
and prostitution, 19–20, 25, 41
and unintended consequences, 139
wages as, 46–47
and women in India, 4
India
condoms in, 5, 6
List in, 115
television in, 6–8, 12, 14, 16
TV in, 103
women in, 3–8, 14
Indian Council of Medical Research, 5
Industrial Revolution, 142
information, medical, 70–74
input dilemma, 188
Institute of Medicine, 204
Intellectual Ventures (IV), 177–203
pro bono work of, 198–99
See also specific person or project
intentions behind an action, 106–7
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, 184
International Kidney Exchange, Ltd., 112
Internet, 39–40, 51
Iran, organ transplants in, 112, 124–25
Iraq war, 65, 87
Ireland, garbage tax in, 139
Irish Republican Army (IRA), 63
irrational behavior, 214
Jacobs, Barry, 112
Jaws (film), 15
Jefferson, Thomas, 83
Jensen, Robert, 6–7
Johnson, Boris, 170
Jung, Edward, 178
Justice Department, U.S., 23
Kahneman, Daniel, 115
Katz, Lawrence, 21, 45–46
> Kay, Alan, 69
Kennedy, John F., 102
Kew Gardens (New York City). See Genovese, Kitty, murder of
Krueger, Alan, 62, 63–64
Kyoto Protocol, 115
laboratory experiments
artificiality of, 123
and crash-test data, 153–55
games as, 108–11
See also specific researcher or experiment
Lake Toba (Sumatra), volcanic eruption at, 189
Lakshminarayanan, Venkat, 212
LaSheena (prostitute), 19–20, 26, 27, 30, 54
Latham, John, 201, 202
Latham, Mike, 201
law of unintended consequences, 138–41
Leave It to Beaver (TV program), 102
LeMay, Curtis, 147
Lenin, Vladimir, 63
leverage, 193
Levitt, Steven D., 17
life expectancy, 20
life insurance, 94, 200
life span, extending the, 82–87
List, John, 113–20, 121, 123, 125
locavore movement, 166
LoJack (anti-theft device), 173–75
London, England, terrorism in, 92
loss aversion, 214
Lovelock, James, 166, 170, 177
Lowell, Mike, 92
macroeconomics, 16–17, 211
Madison, Wisconsin, home-sales data in, 39
Maintenance of Parents Act, Singapore, 106
Major League Baseball, birthdays among players of, 61, 62
malaria, experiment about, 177, 180, 181
manipulation, and altruism, 125
March of Dimes, 145
marijuana, 66
Martinelli, César, 27–28
Masters, Will, 142
Matthews, H. Scott, 167
Mazumder, Bhashkar, 57, 58
MBA wage study, 45–46
McCloskey, Deirdre (aka Donald McCloskey), 48
McNamara, Robert S., 146–48, 150, 155, 158
media
and altruism, 107
and global warming, 11, 165
shark stories in, 14, 15
medical information, 70–74
Medicare, 85
medicine
emergency, 66–69, 70–82
errors in, 68–69, 72, 204
false positives in, 92
See also doctors; drugs; hospitals; specific disease
methane, 170, 188
Mexico, Oportunidades program in, 27–28
microeconomics, 211
Microsoft Corporation, 73–74, 178, 179, 190
Milgram, Stanley, 123
military, deaths in, 87
monkeys, monetary exchange among, 212–16
Moretti, Enrico, 21–22
Morris, Eric, 9, 10
Moseley, Winston, 98, 125–26, 128, 130, 131
mosquitoes experiment, 177, 180, 181
Mount Pinatubo (Philippines), 175–77, 190, 191, 196
Mount St. Helens (Washington), 188, 190
Mount Tambora (Indonesia), 189
Murphy, Michael Joseph, 125–26
Murthy, Rekha, 206
Myhrvold, Nathan
and Budyko’s Blanket, 197,198, 199
and cheap and simple fixes, 179–80
and geophysical phenomena, 188–89
and global warming/cooling, 180–88,190,191,192,193, 194,195,197,198,199
and hurricanes, 159–62,163,178
personal and professional background of, 178–79
and scary climate scenarios, 202–3
Nash, John, 108
Nathan. See Myhrvold, Nathan
National Academy of Sciences (NAS), climate change report of, 165, 190, 191
National Association of Realtors, 56
National Automobile Dealers Association, 146
National Foundation for Infant Paralysis, 157
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), 151, 152, 153
National Organ Transplant Act, 112
National Standardized Child Passenger Safety Training Program, 151
natural disasters, 175–77
natural experiments, 101
Nazis, obeying, 123
negative externalities, 8, 11, 171–173 203
neurobiology, as male field, 47–48
new ideas, as repugnant, 199–200
New York City
polio epidemic in, 144
terrorism in, 66
See also Genovese, Kitty, murder of
The New York Times
climate change story in, 165
Genovese murder story in, 98, 99, 125–27, 128
Newsweek magazine, climate change story in, 165, 166
Nobel Prize, 12, 59, 82, 115, 117, 184, 196, 198
object-oriented programming, 69, 72
“ocean acidification,” 183–84
Olmsted, Frederick Law, 42
on-the-spot data collection, 28–29, 70–71
oncologists, 85–86
Oportunidades (Mexican welfare program), 27–28
oral sex, 33–34
organ transplants, 111–13, 124–25, 199–200
Orne, Martin, 123
Oshinsky, David M., 144,145
Oster, Emily, 6–7
Oswald, Andrew, 82
output dilemma, 188
overconsumption, dangers of, 170
ozone, 190,196,197
Palestinian suicide bombers, 62–63
panhandlers, 124
paper goods delivery, List’s experience with, 117
parents
experiment about visiting, 105–6
and interviews about seat belts, 155–56
Parker, Susan W., 27–28
Pasteur, Louis, 204
perfect substitutes, 37
pilots, World War II, 147
“pimpact,” 37, 40
pimps, 37–38, 40–41, 56
police
and increase in crime, 104
and pimps, 40–41
and prostitution, 32, 41, 55
and stolen cars, 174, 175
and terrorism, 66
See also Genovese, Kitty
Policy Implications of Greenhouse Warming (NAS report), 190
polio, 143–45, 147, 157
politics, and prostitution, 25
popular culture, and crime, 100
population, and cheap and simple fixes, 141–42
positive externalities, 175, 176
practice, deliberate, 61
predictions, economic, 16–17
pregnancy, of prostitutes, 34
premarital sex, 31
President’s Council of Economic Advisors, 115
price
for prostitutes, 24–25, 29–30, 33–37, 42, 53–54, 55
raising, 42
See also wages
price insensitive, 54
principal-agent problem, 41
prisoners
and guard-prisoner experiment, 123
release of, 100–102
Prisoner’s Dilemma (game), 108
professions. See careers/professions; specific profession
prostitutes/prostitution
and Allie, 49–55
arrest of, 32, 41
as career, 54–55
in Chicago, 23–25, 26–38, 41–42, 50–55, 70–71
clientele of, xvi, 33, 35
competition for, 30–31
and condoms, 36, 53
data about, 27
demand for, 43, 54, 55
and deviant acts, 34
downside for, 29–30
and drugs, 29, 36
and escorts, 49–55
exit strategy for, 55
as geographically concentrated, 32–33
incentives for, 19–20, 25, 41
and Internet, 40, 51
legalization of, 55
male, 36
monkey, 215, 216
need for champion for, 31–32
part-time, 42
as perfect substitutes, 37
and police, 32, 41, 55
pregnancy of, 34
price for, 24–25, 29–30, 33–37, 42, 53–54, 55
and principal-agent problem, 41
protection for, 31
and race, 32–33, 35–36
Santa-like, 43
and sellers versus users, 25–26
street, 36, 41–43, 52, 54, 71
as trophy wives, 52–53
and type of tricks, 33–35
Venkatesh study of, 26–37, 38, 40–42, 70–71
and violence, 38
women as dominant in, 23–26, 40
See also pimps
puerperal fever, 133–38
race, and prostitution, 32–33, 35–36
Ramadan, 57–58, 59
rational behavior, 122–23, 213–14
real estate
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