Super Freakeconomics

I just got done reading this book. Although I found his first book more interesting overall than the first one, I thought this book to be a lot more relevant to what is going on in today’s economy. One thing that stands out is that Levin talks repeatedly about how the government tends to over react with legislation when it comes to establishing new laws. He makes some interesting remarks about Al Gore and the environment. There are two things that I got as take always.

1. Unintended consequences. For every action you take there will be a consequence that you did not intend. For example. If you pay an employee strictly by commission they will have almost no incentive to actually work unless they know they know they will get a commission. We have seen amazing lengths that people that are 100% commission go to get out of working unless it is a sure thing
2. The law of negative externality. When people act and there is a negative outcome to their action that has no impact on them, they have little incentive to change. This is very true when it comes to polluting the environment. One country such as Mali can pollute the environment because the huge cost to not pollute the environment has a inversely correlated benefits.