Bagel Danger
Americans ate an estimated 3 billion bagels at home last year, an average of about 11 per person (this doesn’t include bagels eaten at work, where a not-completely-insignificant number are…
Americans ate an estimated 3 billion bagels at home last year, an average of about 11 per person (this doesn’t include bagels eaten at work, where a not-completely-insignificant number are…
Much like Paul Feldman, the bagel guy we wrote about in Freakonomics, Jane Siberry has decided to offer her wares to the public via an honor-system payment scheme. She gives…
The Jewish Daily Forward is reporting that more and more non-Jews are calling in the mohel, or ritual circumciser, to have their sons circumcised. The reasons for this include a…
A while back, Levitt and I wrote an article about a former economist in Washington, D.C., who sells bagels and donuts on an honor-system payment scheme. We later adapted that…
You may remember Paul Feldman as the Bagel Man we wrote about in Freakonomics. You may also remember that he was an economist before he got into bagels, with an…
…says, is the sense of personal control — over the portions and the price — that it gives diners. We’ve written about successful pay-as-you-wish schemes before, from the Bagel Man…
Dubner and Levitt talk about circadian rhythms, gay marriage, autism, and whether “pay what you want” is everything it’s cracked up to be.
When it comes to generating ideas and asking questions it can be really fruitful to have the mentality of an 8-year-old.
When it comes to generating ideas and asking questions it can be really fruitful to have the mentality of an eight year old.
…It seemed to work out fine … for the most part. During a telling of the “Bagel Man” story from Freakonomics, I for some reason felt compelled to say that…
…the most callous customer to rip you off.” There’s the honor-box system with a posted price list, like the one the Bagel Man used. In this scenario, there’s no one…
The British art superstar Flora Yukhnovich, the Freakonomist Steve Levitt, and the upstart American Basketball Association were all unafraid to follow their joy — despite sneers from the Establishment. Should…
…their replies to anxious donors. Thirteen percent gone to fraud! That’s about the same loss experienced by the Bagel Man — and he didn’t even have anyone watching the till….
…was continued when he and his partner, Walden Shaw, branched out to other cities, including New York City.” What’ll we find the U. of C. responsible for next: the bagel?…
It is no secret that weather affects mood, and even behavior. The Bagel Man we wrote about in Freakonomics, who ran an honor-system business, received lower payments during foul weather….
A few years ago, Paul Feldman, the Bagel Man profiled in Freakonomics, wrote a guest post about the environmental effects of underground coal fires. Those fires are still burning all…
We’ve written before about pay-as-you-wish commerce, most significantly the case of a bagel man in the Washington, D.C., area, but also a coffee shop in Seattle and three instances of…
…that kept the Bagel Man’s customers honest was the threat that he would pull their precious supply of bagels and donuts if they slipped below an acceptable rate. Are the…
…too offbeat for Milton Friedman–KKK membership rolls, bagel sales figures, data from online dating services–Levitt (along with coauthor Dubner) searches for logic in the messy mathematics of human behavior. His…
In Freakonomics, we wrote about Paul Feldman, an economist turned bagel delivery man who began charging his customers based on the honor system. From the experiment, he found that, all…
…the story of the bagel man in our book, 20/20 went out and found a commercial fisherman who runs an honor-payment business. Not content with merely asking the question “How…
We’ve written now and again about various honor-system commerce schemes (the Bagel Guy in Freakonomics) or pay-as-you-wish systems for coffee shops, bakeries, music downloads, and the like. Just don’t try…
Just in case you weren’t sitting inside on this beautiful late-summer morning watching television over your breakfast bagel, you can see today’s Good Morning America segment on the Freakonomics paperback,…
…pound cake was just a bit less; I think the bagel cost 220 calories. When I asked the clerk about the new calorie info, she told me the signs had…
…paper or the bagel and apple juice when I had no cash on hand. I run my eye over what remains in order to guesstimate two quantities: (1) the cost…
…one of the researchers, told New Scientist. A few thoughts: 1) These psychologists are a lot less honest on average than the Bagel Man’s customers that we write about in…
…the work of Paul Feldman, a.k.a. the Bagel Guy from Freakonomics. “We launched the site on January 9,” writes Brewer, “and to date the average price paid for a single…
Dogs are, above all, creatures of the nose. What can they sniff out, and what can we learn about smelling by following them? Alexandra Horowitz talks to a detection-dog handler…
In this new podcast from the Freakonomics Radio Network, dog-cognition expert and bestselling author Alexandra Horowitz (Inside of a Dog) takes us inside the scruffy, curious, joyful world of dogs….
Whether you’re mapping the universe, hosting a late-night talk show, or running a meeting, there are a lot of ways to up your idea game. Plus: the truth about brainstorming….
