Freakonomists’ “case study” of the Chicago prostitution market

http://economics.uchicago.edu/pdf/Prostitution%205.pdf
Quite informative, actually. For example:
“… We estimate that prostitutes are officially arrested only once per 450 tricks, with johns arrested even less frequently. Punishment conditional on arrest is limited – roughly 1 in 10 prostitute arrests leads to a prison sentence, with a mean sentence length of 1.2 years among that group.5 For many johns, [...]

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An outstanding op-ed

So true:
Spitzer’s media enablers
By KIMBERLEY A. STRASSEL
March 12, 2008; Page A21
The fall of New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer holds many lessons, and the press will surely be examining them in coming months. But don’t expect the press corps to delve into the biggest lesson of all — its own role as his enabler.
Journalists have spent the past [...]

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Study shows: “studies” are retarded

Apparently, “Study shows …” is today’s equivalent of “The Bible says.” It allows you to frame an utterly ridiculous finding, such as “200 million people to be displaced by 2020 due to flooding caused by global warming” “steroids have no effect on baseball performance,” or as Drudge is broadcasting today, “1 in 4 American teen [...]

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Foreclosure and asset stripping

More grist for us bears.
Mike Burgur returned from work last month to interrupt a break-in at his rented Clearwater Beach condominium.
The intruders were stripping fans off the ceiling and the knobs off the doors. They had carted out the refrigerator and yanked up a toilet. They’d even pulled the plates off electrical outlets and unscrewed [...]

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Onward hip-hop soldiers

I was watching the trip-hop “The Way I Are” music video, and I wandered to the song’s Wikipedia entry because I have wondered what 3 English footballers could possibly have to do with an American rap/ hip-hop song. (There were 3 UK footballers in the video.) I didn’t get an answer to that question, but [...]

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