Link Banana

It seems ludicrous, but Steven Dubner makes it seem a touch less ludicrous.

Steven Levitt points to a rather absurd study: scientists used Google Earth to determine that cattle — and other large herbiovores — are more likely to graze while standing in a north-south direction. They think it has something to do with magnetic fields.

Steven Levitt explains and considers:

Blacks who “sound black” earn salaries that are 10 percent lower than blacks who do not “sound black,” even after controlling for measures of intelligence, experience in the work force, and other factors that influence how much people earn. (For what it is worth, whites who “sound black” earn 6 percent lower than other whites.)

These are both a little old, but worth examining.

• The Economist shows that Americans are clearly the most generous private donors to charities.
• While Stephen Dubner asks if they’re actually secretly selfish in how they give.

A fascinating argument:

Presidential candidates, take note: Long before they made their way into the workings of modern government, the democratic tenets we hold so dear were used to great effect on pirate ships. Checks and balances. Social insurance. Freedom of expression. So Leeson, an economics professor at George Mason University, will argue in his upcoming book, “The Invisible Hook: The Hidden Economics of Pirates.”

(via Freakonomics)

Arther C. Brooks doing a series of posts at the Freakonomics blog on the topic. And though I wouldn’t necessarily vouch for this analysis (or the others he’s offering), I do think it’s interesting:

Conservatives think the world is fairer than liberals do, and this makes them happy:

If you believe that people generally get from life what they deserve to get, and if you belong to the majority who are doing fairly well (employed and healthy, for example), you will probably be more satisfied with life than an equally fortunate person who believes that there is much stubborn unfairness in the world.

In other words, that liberal you know who drives a Beemer isn’t very happy about it because he feels guilty.

The effect is negligable for female legislators, but is statistically significant for men. The numbers are, in cause you’re wondering, based on NOW’s preferred stances on legislation.

From this week’s Earth Day-inspired New York Times Magazine, Stephen Dubner and Steven Levitt — they of Freakonomics fame — offer a cogent argument for pay-as-you-drive car insurance.

While economists may argue that gas is poorly priced, that imbalance can’t compare with how poorly insurance is priced. Imagine that Arthur and Zelda live in the same city and occupy the same insurance risk pool but that Arthur drives 30,000 miles a year while Zelda drives just 3,000. Under the current system, Zelda probably pays the same amount for insurance as Arthur.

While some insurance companies do offer a small discount for driving less — usually based on self-reporting, which has an obvious shortcoming — U.S. auto insurance is generally an all-you-can-eat affair. Which means that the 27,000 more miles than Zelda that Arthur drives don’t cost him a penny, even as each mile produces externalities for everyone. It also means that low-mileage drivers like Zelda subsidize high-mileage drivers like Arthur.

As Justin Wolfers explains the Easterlin paradox has long baffled happiness researchers. It’s components:

1. Within a society, rich people tend to be much happier than poor people.
2. But, rich societies tend not to be happier than poor societies (or not by much).
3. As countries get richer, they do not get happier.

The trouble is, new data — collected by Betsey Stevenson and himself — suggests that these observations are, well, wrong, and should be replaced by these:

1. Rich people are happier than poor people.
2. Richer countries are happier than poorer countries.
3. As countries get richer, they tend to get happier.

His post links to more information (mostly PDFs) on the topic, as well as this illistrative chart.

Under the category of “old stories that are legitimate to talk about because someone else also missed them the first time,” the Freakonomic blog held a contest for the six-word slogan for the United States of America. The winner? That title above. Runners up included:

Caution! Experiment in Progress Since 1776 (134)

The Most Gentle Empire So Far (64) votes

You Should See the Other Guy (38)

Just Like Canada, With Better Bacon (18)

(via Neatorama)

Sudhir Venkatesh has some answers from Mindy and Dorothy, two sex workers, about their profession. They had some interesting things to say; this bit about legalization surprised me:

DOROTHY: I think legalization is really bad for the women because they will just get exploited. They’ll get paid a lot less and be forced to do a lot more.

I don’t condone prostitution, but I do understand survival.

Women sell their bodies for survival — I don’t care how much money they make. You don’t want to make that a permanent thing.