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Overview

Some people are against taxes on sex. Some prices of some products are higher than others, but why? Economics plays a role in many areas of our lives that we often don’t notice. The authors have collected more strange economic facts since they published Freakonomics and readers can send them in with the “Freakonomics” blog.

The authors have some interesting stories to tell, and they’ve boiled down the most important lessons from those stories.

In this article, you will learn why some names spread like wildfire. You’ll also find out how driving a car can sometimes be better for the environment than walking. Finally, you’ll discover that we should fear people we know more than strangers.

Big Idea #1: There’s more to a name than you think.

Every year, millions of parents worry about what to name their child. But in the world of names, there are some interesting statistics that show how important they are.

One thing you should avoid is a person whose middle name is Wayne. How do we know this? One reader of Freakonomics has an unusual hobby: clipping newspaper articles about crime. This isn’t too weird, but all the criminals have one thing in common: their middle name is Wayne.

Author Stephen Dubner was surprised by the sheer number of people with the middle name Wayne. As a result, he has now forbidden his daughters from dating boys with that middle name even though they’re only six years old.

A strange thing about names is how they catch on. Even the unlikeliest of names can spread like wildfire, although it may have started in a single event. For example, the name Nevaeh was popularized by an appearance of a Christian rockstar’s baby girl and spelling “Heaven” backwards. The sudden popularity resulted in 4457 girls being named this way as of 2005, making it more popular than Sara.

On the other hand, some names are very strange. For example, one man was arrested for public masturbation after he was caught by a police officer in a public restroom. His name? Limberhand.

Another person, who had recently moved away from San Francisco, wrote a letter to the editor of his local paper. In it he talked about how sad he was to leave behind his dentist – Dr. Les Plack.

Big Idea #2: The world of prices doesn’t make any sense.

It’s obvious that something priced at $1 is a better deal than something priced at 99 cents. However, paying less still feels like a good deal even though it isn’t as much of one. When it comes to prices, all logic seems to fly out the window. This can be dangerous when we’re talking about health because some pharmacies charge wildly different prices for generic drugs such as Ibuprofen. A Houston physician told author Stephen Dubner that chains like CVS, Eckerd and Walgreens sometimes have unreasonably high prices on generics while Costco and Sam’s Club sell them at significantly lower prices than those mentioned above.

For example, a bottle of Prozac pills costs $117 at Walgreens. However, you can buy it for $12 at Costco. Why would anyone pay more? Wolf says that retirees don’t compare prices between stores and simply assume that generic drugs cost the same everywhere. So be sure to shop around!

Pricing is important. Some businesses don’t understand how to price their products, and that can lead to problems. For example, one business was selling chicken wings at a strange price. The two-wing meal cost $3.03 and the three-wing meal cost $4.50, but an additional wing would be more expensive than buying the first two wings! This happened because some businesses don’t know how to properly price their items; they just put a number on it without thinking about whether it makes sense or not.