We need your help with a little social experiment.
Between 1980 and 2005, the amount of shrimp consumed by Americans nearly tripled, from 1.4 pounds per person to 4.1 pounds per person.
Shane Frederick, an M.I.T. management professor, has made a hobby of asking anyone he meets why Americans eat so much more shrimp today than they did 25 years ago. He thinks he has found a very interesting pattern in the responses. He wants to test his hypothesis on Freakonomics blog readers.
Here is my request: without researching the topic via Google or other means, and without reading the comments that other blog readers have left, think about why shrimp consumption has gone up so much. Leave your answer, along with your occupation, your college major, your gender, and your age in the comments section.
In a few days, we will tally up the results, present Shane’s hypothesis, and see how it fares.
and 
. You can also watch it on 
Answer: Shrimp is cheaper today than it was 25 years ago (probably due to advances in how shrimp is caught, more shrimp harvesting areas available, etc..)
Occupation: Software QC Engineer
College Major: Linguistics
Gender: Male
Age: 41
Answer: Shrimp is cheaper today than it was 25 years ago (probably due to advances in how shrimp is caught, more shrimp harvesting areas available, etc..)
Occupation: Software QC Engineer
College Major: Linguistics
Gender: Male
Age: 41
I grew up with a bland diet in the Midwest and I never had shrimp until I went to California for graduate school. Now I have it intermittently, mostly in Chinese restaurants, so my shrimp consumption went from zero to about once a month, sometimes a little more often when I am living abroad or going to a bunch of receptions where there always seem to be shrimp platters.
Occupation: university professor
College major: electrical engineering
Gender: female
Age: 44
I grew up with a bland diet in the Midwest and I never had shrimp until I went to California for graduate school. Now I have it intermittently, mostly in Chinese restaurants, so my shrimp consumption went from zero to about once a month, sometimes a little more often when I am living abroad or going to a bunch of receptions where there always seem to be shrimp platters.
Occupation: university professor
College major: electrical engineering
Gender: female
Age: 44
I’m a semi-vegetarian: i only eat certain seafood, and nothing else.
Shrimp is one of three kinds of fish that i eat, and its fairly cheap and easy to cook.
Occupation: grad student/receptionist
Major: English
Gender: Female
Age: 24
I’m a semi-vegetarian: i only eat certain seafood, and nothing else.
Shrimp is one of three kinds of fish that i eat, and its fairly cheap and easy to cook.
Occupation: grad student/receptionist
Major: English
Gender: Female
Age: 24
occupation: proctologist
college major: bs biochemistry, ms computer science & mba/ ms accounting
gender: m
age: 37
comments: price that suppliers gives markets that give specials that entice consumers
occupation: proctologist
college major: bs biochemistry, ms computer science & mba/ ms accounting
gender: m
age: 37
comments: price that suppliers gives markets that give specials that entice consumers