Centives

Derek Thompson reported on a study by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention that looked at the economic cost of excessive drinking:

• Overall excessive drinking costs the American economy over $220 billion.
• That means that on average, for every drink an individual has, they are causing $1.90 in economic damage.
• The majority of this cost comes from people with hangovers at work.
• An increase in healthcare costs and crime rates also contribute to the cost of alcohol.
• The cost of drinking is unevenly distributed. 15% of binge-drinkers are responsible for 75% of the costs of excessive alcohol consumption.

Read more about the proportion of the costs borne by federal, state, and local governments, other contributors to the costs of excessive drinking, and how the economic damage from alcohol compares to the economic damage of natural disasters over here.

Source: The Atlantic

Via: Reason

When adopting a child, you may well be presented with various options priced at different levels writes NPR:

• The laws of supply and demand mean that Africa-American children are easier to adopt than biracial, Latino, Asian or Caucasian children.
• Adopting an African-American child, for example, would cost one family $18,000. A Caucasian child would have cost $35,000.
• Those who set the prices are classifying based on race for altruistic reasons. It is harder to place non-Caucasian children with families, and so the hope is that by setting a lower price, the child is more likely to find a family.

Read more about how some states are moving away from race-based pricing, the experience of adopting for one family, and more over here.

Source: NPR

Via: Freakonomics

France is known for its food. Yet you might be surprised by who actually makes your restaurant meals writes The Economist:

• According to one group almost a third of all French restaurants serve you food prepared by somebody else, outside the restaurant. Others suggest the proportion is much higher.
• This is why it is not uncommon to see small eateries with implausibly long menus.
• Restaurants are doing this because the costs of raw materials have risen…and frozen or ready-made dishes are so much cheaper.
• French restaurants don’t have the option of passing higher prices onto their customers since consumers are opting for cheaper food in Europe’s troubled economic times.
• France’s government has just passed legislation that requires restaurants to disclose when the food is actually prepared by a restaurant’s own kitchen…versus being bought from somewhere else.

Read more about France’s eating scene, the rise and fall of fast food, and what experts have to say over here.

Source: The Economist

EVERY single goddamned time we check into a hotel room we walk in to find soaps, shampoos and even tubes of bubble bath. Yet nobody seems to keep toothpaste – a basic requirement for daily human hygiene. Daniel Engber was as outraged about this as we are and looked at some theories about why toothpaste isn’t part of the standard hotel room:

• Hotels stock their rooms based on the things that hotel rating firms rank highly. Most hotel rankings don’t mention toothpaste as a necessary item to get a high ranking, and so hotels don’t keep it.
• It might also be because the other bathroom items you see in a hotel room – such as luxury soap – are aspirational items associated with a certain brand and class. Toothpaste just doesn’t have that high-status association.
• There could be a conspiracy at play. By forcing you to call down to the front desk to ask for toothpaste, hotels are ensuring that a bell-hop goes up to your room, generating tips.
• Toothpaste is relatively easy to transport – unlike soap and shampoos that could leak – so perhaps hotels just assume that you could easily bring your own toothpaste.
• Entrepreneurs have tried and failed to exploit the market for hotel toothpaste. One individual tried to sell hotels disposable toothbrushes that had dried toothpaste on them, suitable for one-time use. They clearly didn’t catch on.

Read more theories about why you can’t get toothpaste in your hotel room, how toothpaste and tampons are similar, and the hotel amenity wars over here.

Source: Slate

Not proud of the pun in the title. At all. But it had to be done. Best we all just move on. Anyway Robert T. Gonzalez looked at what the latest lightning death statistics show us:

• 82% of those killed by lightning are male. There are a host of potential reasons for this which Gonzalez summarizes as “men are idiots”.
• You’re far more likely to die from lightning while fishing, than while bike riding, camping, and even golfing.
• Lightning claims the most people in July. And on Saturdays.
• Those between the ages of 20 and 29 are also most likely to be hit.
• Of the sports, you’re most likely to get struck by lightning while playing soccer. American football on the other hand is relatively safe – at least as far as lightning strikes go.

Read more over here.

Source: io9

Via: Freakonomics

We’ve traditionally thought of photographs as a way to document our experiences. That is changing writes Nick Bilton:

• With the rise of mobile computing individuals are increasingly using photos to communicate with one another.
• For example when asked what somebody is doing, the individual can simply respond with a picture of lunch, rather than type it out.
• The use of images to communicate appears to be happening at the expense of text messages – the total number of which has been declining recently.
• Photos also have the advantage of working across languages and cultures.
• Apps like Snapchat which allow individuals to send images that last for up to ten seconds before they are permanently deleted – like a passing conversation on a street – are examples of this trend.

Read more about this trend, what it means, how Yahoo, Facebook, and Twitter are fighting over the future of photography, and more over here.

Source: The New York Times

Via: Kottke