When to Rob a Bank: ...And 131 More Warped Suggestions and Well-Intended Rants

by Steven D. Levitt

For most government officials, there is much more pressure to look like you are trying to stop terrorism than there is to actually stop it.

What if they could demonize the tax cheats so thoroughly, emphasizing that the “tax gap” (the difference between taxes owed and money collected) is about the size of the federal deficit:

One thing markets are good at is allocating people to tasks. They accomplish this through wages. As such, we should pay U.S. soldiers a fair wage to compensate them for the risks they take! A draft is essentially a large, very concentrated tax on those who are drafted. Economic theory tells us that is an extremely inefficient way to accomplish our goal.

Planned Parenthood Gets Freaky! (SDL)

The data show that walking one mile drunk is eight times more dangerous than driving one mile drunk.

What most doomsday scenarios get wrong is the fundamental idea of economics: people respond to incentives.

In reasonably competitive markets, like the ones for gas and oil and presumably rickshaws, the determinant of price is how much it costs to supply the good, not how much consumers are willing to pay.

How dangerous is obesity?

Being self-conscious takes up mental capacity and is certainly not good for performance.

As we have written before, it is a curious fact of modern life that one person’s labor is another’s leisure.

To eat locally grown food or, even better, food that you’ve grown yourself, seems as if it should be 1) more delicious; 2) more nutritious; 3) cheaper; and 4) better for the environment. But is it?

Decaying food emits methane, a greenhouse gas that’s more than twenty times more potent than carbon dioxide. Packaging—unless it’s

biodegradable—does not. If the landfill is connected to a methane digester, which in all likelihood it isn’t, you can turn the methane into energy.

Never underestimate the creativity and deviousness of humans—or

My view is that we should not be making policies about gun ownership, because they simply don’t work. What seems to work is harshly punishing people who use guns illegally.

These sorts of laws are attractive for many reasons. First, unlike other gun policies, they work. Second, they don’t impose a cost on law-abiding folks who want to have guns.

A big part of America’s problem with gun violence stems from young guys walking or driving around with guns and then doing stupid things with them.

Giving out serious money for anonymous tips about illegal guns would increase the costs of carrying a gun and reduce the benefits; flashing a gun at a party might still score points, but it would now massively increase your legal risk.

One great idea that can help to cut gun deaths in the U.S. is having the perpetrator’s family be financially responsible for all emotional, mental, and physical damages that result from the victim’s family’s loss. This should include (but not be limited to) garnishing their wages for their entire lives and having them pay all funeral arrangements and all outstanding debts.

Our personal welfare is almost always in conflict with the greater good.

Bribing Kids to Try Harder on Tests