Book of the Week: When to Rob a Bank

15 May 2015

The authors of Freakonomics and Think Like a Freak turned their blog into a book called When to Rob a Bank. There seems to be a trend of turning blogs into books. I also listen to their podcast. One thing I noticed is that all the their books have deckle edges, where edges of the pages aren’t cut clean. The book feels like they are milking a cow. It is an easy book to pick up and put down without retaining any big ideas. That said, I still read it. Proof of Purchase Insurance In India and San Francisco, you purchase a ticket and get on the train. Your ticket may or may not be inspected while you’re on the train. If you don’t have a ticket when you’re inspected, you get a fine. If they never inspect you, you didn’t to buy the ticket in the first place. In India there is an associated of ticketless travelers.

You pay five hundred rupees (about eleven dollars) to join an organization of ticketless travelers. If you do get caught traveling without a ticket, you pay the fine and turn in your receipt to the ticketless-traveler organization, which refunds you 100 percent of the fine.

Nice to see economic solutions to problems.