A few weeks back Dubner blogged about the video resume. Far more effective, it turns out, is the front-page resume.
I have a good friend named Sally. Last week she won a $25,000 prize as “Nurse of the Year.” This week she got laid off!
That made for a great story in the Chicago Sun-Times today.
The new job offers are already pouring in.
Stephen J. Dubner is an author and journalist who lives in New York City.
Steven D. Levitt is a professor of economics at the University of Chicago.
Their book Freakonomics has sold 3 million copies worldwide. This blog, begun in 2005, is meant to keep the conversation going. Recurring guest bloggers include Ian Ayres, Jessica Hagy, Daniel Hamermesh, Sudhir Venkatesh, and Justin Wolfers.
Annika Mengisen is the site editor.
Freakonomics is bolstering book sales at airports because it’s sexy, reports TheBookseller.com -- with or without its Turkish cover.
November 19
(46 comments)
Photo: Jamesfischer
These are the economic times that try men’s souls, and women’s too. In the past few months, a lot of people have seen their net worth fall substantially, and I’m sure more than a few have contemplated what would happen if they lost everything.
So we asked a group of people — Nick Mills, [...]
November 19
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Blog reader Nick Turner sent along this photo of a Body Shop ad in San Francisco:
Photo: Nick Turner
He was surprised that the ad guarantees fair-labor conditions for workers in Italy:
I thought fair-trade protections were for third-world workers. I
wonder how the Italians feel about this designation.
The ad didn’t outright call Italy third-world; but if it had, [...]
November 19
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Eric Oliver is a colleague of mine at the University of Chicago. He is the author of the absolutely fantastic book Fat Politics: The Real Story Behind America’s Obesity Epidemic.
He has some new and interesting insights on the “Bigot Belt,” which he has generously written up for the Freakonomics blog.
The Bigot Belt
By Eric Oliver
A [...]
November 19
(23 comments)
Photo: lilivanili and shawnzam
Yesterday I suggested that tastes may not be stable. And then last night, I had the chance to confront the data directly; my local restaurant was serving bacon ice cream.
Bacon: Delicious! Ice cream: My favorite! The combination of bacon and ice cream: a direct threat to my views of economics. [...]
November 19
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Here are the stats and algorithms that explain why Kevin Garnett is an MVP. (HT: Phil Notick) (Earlier)
Justin Wolfers’s alumni magazine dubs him “The Seeker.” (Earlier)
Who’s making the fat jokes?
Stanley Druckenmiller is happy he didn’t buy the Steelers.
Chicago’s schools have third-world math scores. (Earlier)
1. Go to Hulu.com. 2. Choose Arrested Development. 3. Start with Season 1 and then watch every episode of all three seasons. 4. You can thank me later. (SJD)
I can scarcely tell a scarlet tanager from Scarlett O’Hara, but The Life of the Skies had me transfixed from the first page. Jonathan Rosen -- who happens to be a friend of mine -- writes with astounding insight, wit, and compassion. The story he tells here is the best kind of odyssey, an outward journey that ends up highlighting the beauty and daring that live inside of us. Here's a Times review of the book, and here's an earlier blog post about the book and the power of suggestion. (SJD)
Even if you don’t have a son fighting in Iraq, even if you don’t read poetry, even if you think you are immune to the power of a mother’s lament – pick up The Warrior and read it right away. Fran Richey has written some of the most powerful stories I’ve ever encountered. It is obvious that her life was changed by living these poems; yours may well be changed by reading them. (SJD)
In his last walk of the series, the author manages to avoid stepping out into thin air.
All New Yorkers develop tricks that allow them to stay ahead of the pack in daily life. Here I offer some of mine in a couple of handy charts.
5 Comments
I recall that the Freakonomics book popularized the idea that the drop in crime was caused by the legalization and increase in abortions. So I’m curious how you respond to this paper, which as far as I can tell challenges the methodology with led to those findings?
From the Empirical Legal Studies blog:
http://www.elsblog.org/the_empirical_legal_studi/2007/07/methodological-.html
— Hopefully AnonymousPerhaps the same phenomenon as throngs of people all seeking to adopt an abandoned cat or dog that was featured on the news?
— dberchtho it’s portrayed as good news/bad news, it’s more likely good/good- she’ll probably get a higher paying position (hence her refusal to take a cut), with the exact work she wants- RNs in philly write their own ticket due to a nursing shortage, which I presume is nationwide
— frankendufLaid off? You mean fired?
— goinglikesixtySame thing happened to me: employee of the year, fired the next.
Ended up better for me! Better off for her too it looks like.
It’s interesting that the administrators, who won’t be able to evidence their own value, are able to lay off the nurses who aren’t able to prove their value either.
— Matt_birchall