Centives

Steve Levitt hosted a discussion of ‘outsiders’ (economists, psychologists and political scientists), alongside in the field non-profit workers on the subject of child obesity. Some of the highlights that discussion were:

• Whilst children are more likely than adults to be bullied for being overweight, it is adults’ health that suffers. So social costs of obesity drop off with age (generally), as medical costs rise
• The time-lapse between a child eating and gaining weight makes it harder to perceive the cause-effect relationship. In animals a 4-minute lapse between cause and effect means the animal never learns.
• Since the 1950’s USA tobacco use has dropped from 45% to about 24%. Which estimates suggest account for maybe 20% of existing obesity.
• Childhood obesity campaigns can have the unintended consequence of increasing eating disorders. But campaigns focused solely on healthy eating don’t have this problem.
• As a way to help individuals stop eating so much, one solution is to carry around a disgusting smell in a jar. When tempted to eat, this could be sniffed. As an experiment, Levitt passed the jar around the room. The outsiders tried the smells, but the workers ‘in the field’ wouldn’t go near them.

Read (or listen) more about other suggestions to cut child obesity, who might be considered to be responsible and what this has to do with Harlem school drop-outs over here.

Source: Freakonomics

ESPN is owned by Disney and is probably responsible for 60% of Disney’s cash flow and half of its share price writes The Economist:

• ESPN has done incredibly well because it was quick to realize the importance of showing sports live as they happened.
• The channel is also good at bidding for exclusive rights so that content available on ESPN isn’t available anywhere else.
• ESPN also has affiliate fees – which cable operators pay to carry its channel. This is a more lucrative and more stable funding source for ESPN than advertizements, keeping ESPN’s profits healthy.
• Competition is rising though. ESPN sold off its British assets because it couldn’t acquire the rights to broadcast football there.
• But even if ESPN fails to acquire the rights to some content, it can take solace in knowing that its customers are mostly locked into long-term contracts and can’t leave.

Read more about the channels humble origins in a prostitution ring, its relationship with Disney, and some more of the secrets to its success over here.

Source: The Economist

BRICS is an odd amalgamation of countries. For the most part it makes sense why four of the five BRICS economies are expected to dominate the future, but there’s one country that is dissimilar from the rest and quite obviously shouldn’t be included. Joshua Keating is talking, of course, about:

• Brazil. The other countries have seen incredible rates of growth. Brazil, on the other hand, has at times seen growth rates of under 2%.
• Russia. It once had a lot of promise but corruption and bureaucracy are suffocating the country’s infrastructure and economy.
• India. It’s perennially on the verge of a balance of payments crisis and doesn’t seem to be serious about attracting the foreign investment it so desperately needs to ensure future growth. To say nothing of the corruption.
• China. Thanks to the one-child policy population growth is going to start falling soon and that’ll drastically reduce its growth potential in the coming future.
• South Africa. It has taken a turn towards illiberalism and appears to have given up on its post-Apartheid ideals of equality and justice.

Read more about some of the countries that should replace the one outlier in BRICS, more about why each of the countries don’t belong, and why the disparity among the BRICS isn’t all that surprising compared to other international groupings over here.

Source: Foreign Policy

Just ten years ago up to 85% of nightclub bartenders were male. Today 60% of them are female writes Ann McGinley. What explains the change?

• Nightclubs became sexier. These days they have “pleasure pits” and topless “European” pools.
• Female bartenders are a part of their experience. With professional hair and makeup they are more akin to models than bartenders.
• Customers are also less irritated at the prospect of waiting in a long line if they’re ultimately served by a female.
• This also explains why female card dealers are more common. Some even sing and dance on stage to entertain after they’re done dealing.
• All in all it appears to be a positive development for women. Before they were limited to working as cocktail servers and while the money was lucrative – $100,000 a year – the job itself was demeaning and involved a lot of groping. Bartenders make less money but have more prestige.

Read more about how men feel about the trend, the (unlikely) possibility of seeing men in mankinis in night clubs, and more over here.

Source: Slate

The United States government offers a generous retirement package to those who formerly occupied the White House. Here are some of the more interesting numbers:

• Overall the four ex-Presidents of the United States cost $3.7 million last year.
• George W. Bush was the most expensive – costing $1.3 million. However this is likely because recently departed Presidents get more assistance than those who have been out of office for a while.
• Jimmy Carter, on the other hand, only cost $500,000.
• The costs include a $200,000 annual pension, as well as $96,000 every year for office staff. Other costs include travel, office space, and postage.
• These costs don’t include the price of the Secret Service protection that former Presidents and their family receive.

Read more about when and why ex-Presidents started to receive these benefits, why they may no longer be required in the modern era, how much the widows of former Presidents receive, and what Nancy Reagan spent on postage over here.

Source: Fox News

We’ve previously covered the future of wireless charging. According to Duncan Graham-Rowe that’s just the first step. Nokia is developing technologies that could lead to the end of us having to charge our phones:

• In most places we go we’re surrounded by ambient radio waves, and it’s possible to harvest these waves to generate power.
• This is also how RFID chips draw their power, thus operating without a battery.
• Nokia has found a way to draw around a thousand times the power that most technologies can typically draw from the ambient waves. With this amount of power it can keep a phone powered on in standby mode indefinitely.
• If Nokia is able to develop the technology a little further then it could even use the ambient waves to slowly charge the phone…leading to the end of the charger.

Read more about how the technology works, the long history of the technology, and what experts have to say over here.

Source: The Guardian

Via: WMPoweruser