The Economy and the Economics of Everyday Life - Economix Blog. The League of Ordinary Gentlemen. Satyajit Das's Blog - Fear & Loathing in Financial Products. Planet Money. Marginal Revolution. Going as far back as Andrew Weiss’s survey paper , there are various attempts to argue that the two theories make the same predictions about earnings and education. A randomly elevated individual will earn more money but is this from having learned more or from being pooled with a more productive set of peers? To explore this, let’s pursue the very good question asked by Bryan Caplan : Our story begins with a 22-year-old high school graduate with a B average.
He knows an unscrupulous nerd who can hack into Harvard’s central computer and give him a fake diploma, complete with transcript. If he can fake a good interview (a big if, but let’s say), and if certification from recommenders is not important in the chosen sector (another big if), he may get a Harvard-quality job for his first placement. In most jobs they figure out your productivity within two or three months after training, if not sooner. Addendum : There is a less drastic scenario than the one outlined by Bryan. How do they get them on the B*ngBus?
What do pornographers know that we don't? Namely, how to convince people to have sex on camera for not much money? I'm not talking about big name stars working for the major studios - I consider that the porn version of making it big in the music industry. What I'm curious about is the bar band or even open mic level equivalent.
There's a lot of "amateur" / "reality" porn out there, of the casting couch/sex-in-a-van/what if I gave you $500 and your boyfriend could watch variety. I assume that the deal is not actually happening as it plays out on camera and that these aren't really amateurs (? For the most part?) So how do the producers get the actors on camera for the minimum amount over the "tipping point", and how would I find out how much money that generally is? The tamer version might be the GirlsGoneWild question: "OK, I understand flashing one's stuff - but what does it take to get someone to sign the release form? " Learning Economics. Online economics textbooks.
Freakonomics.