Congratulations to Sophie, the runaway winner of the economic haiku contest, for this beautiful composition:
Haiku writers know
The opportunity cost
Of a syllable.
Sophie not only wins Freakonomics schwag, but also the right to post haikus on the Freakonomics blog whenever she pleases.
As is often the case when the prize is so great, this contest was rife with controversy.
A number of readers complained that it was unfair that the order of the six finalists in the contest was held constant; had the haikus been randomized, each reader would have seen them in a different order.
The New York Times web people tell me that feature will be available on our blog in the year 2074.
and 
. You can also watch it on 
Haikus are characterized by, among other things, a seasonal reference. I’m struggling to detect one in the winning submission.
Well done Sophie!
I’m sure one of the brilliant readers could make a page on one of the survey websites that had all of the haikus (randomized order, of course) and where people could vote. For the future, that is.
Congrats, Sophie. Wonderful work.
And “boooo” to Lebombo @1 for starting off the comments with an unfortunate snipe at Sophie. Nor is the comment correct; haiku have evolved, in both Japanese and American forms, to support a broader canvas of ideas.
Congrats Sophie! And thank you Steve for calling out #1.
“The New York Times web people tell me that feature will be available on our blog in the year 2074.”
That’s assuming the Y2K38 bug is fixed by then.
sophie won it all
regardless of order whining
justice trumps chaos
Schwag is one thing, sure,
but she can post anytime?
I should’ve entered!