RS 4: Freakonomics Podcast: "Fear thy Nature"

This blog post is my reaction on the podcast “Fear Thy Nature: A New Freakonomics Radio Podcast.” This podcast appeared on the website on September 14, 2012. The podcast is about the actions people go about when they are given masks to wear in a surroundings they do not know well. Students are taken into a theatre and do many different things. When somebody is wearing a mask or "behind the curtain" they do things they normally are not comfortable or wouldn't do. They get a feeling that they are safer or comfort that they can do out of the ordinary things.For example, you do not see bank robbers running in to banks to show their faces. They wear masks because they get a feeling that they will not be caught. The same things apply to people online. Kids post things on websites or say things to other people they wouldn't say in front of their faces. Xbox live is a prime example of little kids talking crap over a mic because they know people will never see them.
 

This podcast can apply to some of the eight guideposts of economics. One that it can apply to is the test of a theory is its ability to predict. The theatre tested a theory that if you place a mask on someone, the actions they display might be different then a room of people with out masks on. The theory was proven correct by people doing things they normally would not. The experiment also can apply to the guidepost of economic actions often generate secondary effects in addition to their immediate effects. When given the mask, a persons characteristics changed from what they were previous. The mask is what is causing it. 

RS 3 Economic Meme

Information is good, but costly: The Jets use information from the preseason to finally learn how to find the end zone in the regular season. 

RS 2 Marijuana And The European Dream

This blog post is my analysis on the podcast Episode 395: Maastricht, Marijuana And The European Dream by Planet Money. This podcast audio was available on August 17, 2012. In Maastricht it is legal for the sales of Marijuana. This is a great reason why many tourist go here and cross borders to do so. Marijuana is sold in coffee shops and the owners were doing very well. Recently the mayor decided to ban the sale of marijuana to tourists and only local citizens are able to buy it. This then required all tourists to show ID upon entering coffee shops. Eventually they required any citizen who wanted to purchase marijuana to be registered. This steered even more customers away knowing that it would show they were registered for buying drugs.

One economic guidepost which this situation can be an example of is an economic action often generates a secondary effect in addition to their immediate effects. After the mayor decided to put a ban on marijuana to tourists, the effect on sales dropped drastically. Majority of the people purchasing were tourists and now the coffee shop owners are the ones it hurts the most. They opened up their shops while there was no ban in effect, and then were blindsided with a ban  to kill their business. It also hurts the mayor too with him knowing or not. Maastricht received a big chunk of their economic income from these tourist coming in mainly for the sole purpose of being able to purchase marijuana and now that was taken away from them. 

RS 1 HOW TO BE A GENIUS

This blog post is my analysis on the article “How to Be a Genius” by David Dobbs. This article appeared in the September 2006 edition of the New Scientist. People are not made a genius, but it is up to them to become one. Some humans may be born with more talents physically or mentally, but much effort has to be put in to maintain it. Even as a child author David Hobbs could have been set out for greatness says his mother. Hobbs realized later in life that his early gift would soon run out. Only when he put in more work and effort than usual he would see that he was getting somewhere. What is trying to be said is that you have to put work in to succeed. The more work and effort you apply to your work the better or smarter you will be at it. Examples of greats that’s put in effort to become a genius at what they do are Einstein, Hawking, Newton, and even athletically speaking Michael Jordan, Lebron James, Tiger Woods, and Pete Sampras. These people all have in common that they worked extra hours to be a genius at what they do.

Stephen Hawking’s take on IQ is that it has no relations to someone’s ability to be a genius. Hawking was an average student until his mid twenties when his work ethic became more serious. Hawking says, “People who boast about their IQ are losers.” I believe in this statement because anybody can be good at taking a test, but their ability to apply it to something meaningful is a lot tougher. Even as Dobbs says in the article, his co-workers too have talent. It is their work ethic that will set them apart from someone else.

I truly found this article something that I believe in. I can relate to this in ways of when it comes to school. The more I study or put into a class, the better I usually do or understand that material. It can be motivational to some to put more work in and see better results.