Hikado

After speaking to a fellow colleague about Frekonomics, a book he was reading, I finally got around to reading the book myself. At first I was a little skeptical about whether I would actually be able to get through the whole book with out encountering economic jargon in a book that was clearly written for any economic bluffs you may know. I have to admit I was surprised at how easy it was to get through the novel. Levitt did an exceptional job outlining intriguing scenarios that involve the application of economics. The author presents a very unique way of uncovering sources of problems or situations that occur in North America everyday. He presents an interesting case with Paul Feldman, an Economist, who decides to leave the profession and enter into the food industry as the bagel man who sells bagels to employees of large corporations. Feldman would set out a cash basket with a sign with the suggested price in corporate cafeterias everyday.
As an economist, he made sure to keep an up-to-date record of his profit and earnings on a daily basis. His collection rate was at about 95 percent. At first he attributed his underpayment to oversight. However, he started to explore the possibility of fraud when he noticed his attempts to reduce his oversight did not disappear with particular bagel drop offs.
Feldman reached some interesting conclusions about honesty in his business. Based on his experience he found that office employees had a tendency to be more honest than employees higher up in the corporate hierarchy. Feldman suggests bosses and executive members are more likely to cheat more than those employees below them. So in the bagel case, he found that executives more less likely to deposit a cash donation in the cash basket, when they helped themselves to a cream cheese bagel. He hypothesized that executives cheat out of an "over developed sense of entitlement."(Levitt, 51) The author parallels their behaviour with instances on how they also, may have managed to achieve their current executive position by finding ways to advance quickly up the corporate ladder.
I would recommend this book to anyone. He has some very fascinating case studies to share with the reader whether you love Economics or not. This is definitely a great summer read for the beach or, anyone looking for an easy quick read with some fascinating stories and economic case studies for the average person.