1) Read "What Do Schoolteachers and Sumo Wrestlers Have in Common?" from Freakonomics.
2) Find another credible source on the internet that connects to the reading above or to terms or concepts from this past week's classes.
3) After you read the source that you find, answer the following questions as a blog entry below:
- How does the text connect to that week’s topic or to the other text you have read? (relevant)
- What evidence do you have that the text you found is credible? (credible)
- Create a clear, specific argument based on the text. (argument)
- Support the argument with thoughtful analysis, using cause/effect, compare/contrast, problem/solution, part/whole, or other methods of analysis. (analysis)
Keep in mind that everyone else will see what you write below, so please keep it professional. This post is due Thursday, 2/14, by 12:00am.
4) Come to class on Friday ready to discuss the reading and the text you found!
If you need support or have questions, my office hours are Monday and Wednesday from 3:15-4:15 in Room 229.
The article I found this week was, "Employee Retention -- How to Retain Employees" by the Wall Street Journal. This article explains how employee retention depends on incentives and defining a clear path for an employee's advancement in the company. In connection to this week's focus on "The Profit Motive", this article shows how our society is gradually adopting the idea of the triple bottom line where people, plan, and profit are key. Today's entrepreneur is concerned with maximizing an employee's experience at work to improve employee retention and productivity. The entrepreneur improves his/her employee’s work experience with the expectation that the single bottom line, profit, will increase.
ReplyDeleteThis article is credible because it was written by the Wall Street Journal. The Wall Street Journal is famous for its journalism in regard to business and the stock market. It has an extensive history that dates back to the 19th century. The Wall Street Journal has also won multiple Pulitzer Prizes, a prestigious journalism award, because of its focus on finance, the economy, and business in general. Therefore, "Employee Retention--How to Retain Employees" because the Wall Street Journal is the go to news organization when it comes to all things business related.
The triple bottom line takes into account employees, consumers, and how a company should conduct itself. When an entrepreneur makes decisions based on the triple bottom line he/she always has profit in sight. Once one acquires employees, it is very important for the entrepreneur to retain these employees because, "High employee turnover costs business owners in time and productivity"(Wall Street Journal). Since entrepreneurs are focused on increasing profit they in turn want to minimize costs and maximize revenue. An entrepreneur has to increase costs to replace employees and that results in a loss in profit for the entrepreneur unless the company manages to increase revenue as well. A small incentive goes a long way to retain employees and maximize productivity like, "Free bagels on Fridays and dry-cleaning pickup"(Wall Street Journal). Although this might seem insignificant to the employer the employees will work harder out of the gratitude that they feel. In actuality, incentives are ways for employers to maximize their profit through small investments in employees. The article states that financial incentives such as raises and promotions show employees that they have a bright future in the companies they work for. The effect of this incentive is that employees will compete with each other for raises and promotions, thus increasing productivity. The cost of increasing wages is only a fraction of what a company will gain in revenue, assuming that the raise isn't ridiculously high, from the increase in productivity. Therefore, profit will increase and the entrepreneur will be satisfied with his/her decision to provide financial incentives. Incentives have an almost uncanny ability to motivate workers and that is why they are the best way to maximize profit in a business.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/05/sports/soccer/investigation-finds-suspected-fixing-in-680-soccer-matches.html?_r=1&
ReplyDeleteThe article “Police Call Match-Fixing Widespread in Soccer” by Sam Borden reveals cheating and dishonesty in a world wide sport. Match-fixing has been occurring more often in recent years and has stained the image of the sport known as “the beautiful game”. This article relates to this weeks reading “What Do Schoolteachers and Sumo Wrestlers Have in Common?” for two reasons. Cheating and dishonesty are central ideas of both text as it has led to questioning the integrity of the sports. The bribes, an incentive of money, has resulted in fixed results and foul play.
“Police Call Match-Fixing Widespread in Soccer” is credible because it comes from a prestigious news source like The New York Times. Any misinformation would hurt their business. People would stop purchasing and reading from The New York Times, a decrease in demand would mean a loss in revenue. Furthermore, Sam Borden is the author of this article. Borden has vast experience as a sports columnist, he was lead sports columnist in The Florida Times-Union and The Daily News. He also wrote the books The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Soccer Basics and Ace in America. Has also won the A.P.S.E. award three times. Borden has strong credentials that can be jeopardized along with his job if he publishes inaccurate information.
Incentives can fuel corruption, therefore if incentives are used the wrong way it can lead to cheating and match-fixing. There are cases of cheating in a lot of sports, but what makes soccer susceptible to match-fixing is that cheating is not easily detected. There is a higher risk of match-fixing with more people willing and able to get involved. “Nearly $11 million in profits and nearly $3 million in bribes were discovered during the investigation, which uncovered “match-fixing activity on a scale we have not seen before,” Wainwright said”(Borden). Money is an incentive that motivates someone to act, a bribe has such an influence in a positive or negative way. In this case it ruins the spectacle of the sport and it hurts the businesses that make money legally while benefiting those that do business illegally and unfairly. “Individual bribes were, in some instances, higher than $136,000, and fixers would place bets on the tainted matches through bookmakers in Asia”(Borden). There is high reward for cheating, using bribes and then placing bets on those fixed matches can generate a high enough profit to make people willing to do something that is illegal. If bribes of that magnitude are being used then it is hard for some athletes to refuse so it should be left to legal officials to stop match-fixing. However, legal action has not been so successful either as the only deterrent of cheating. “They said Tan had been implicated in match-fixing cases dating to 1999. Interpol has issued an international arrest warrant for Tan, but Tan has not yet been detained”(Borden). An international arrest warrant is an example of a negative incentive because it helps deter match-fixing. This targets the masterminds behind the operations, but negative incentives can also affect the athletes who accept to be part of this operation. “Last month, FIFA, the sport’s governing body, barred 41 players for fixing matches in South Korea...”(Borden). Match-fixing remains a global threat to the sport. A solution is to use stronger negative incentives to promote that cheating will not be tolerated to overshadow and overpower the incentives that encourage cheating. Additionally, stricter regulations on betting should be implemented to help catch people that are involved in match-fixing. Harsh punishment and stricter regulations on betting can decrease match-fixing and restore honor and integrity to soccer.
The article “Cisco Struggles To Adapt, Even as Profit Rises” by Quentin Hardy speaks on how this corporation that designs, manufactures and sells Internet protocol based networking and other products is having trouble supplying customers with better management of internet
ReplyDeleteservice that connects to sensors and mobile devices not just computers.
This article connects to this week’s topics of marginal cost and marginal revenue, as written by Hardy,”Cisco does appear to be garnering the sales and cash for such a move, however. As of Jan. 26, Cisco had a cash pile of over $46 billion, and some of the highest gross profit margins in high tech.” This indicates that the companies job of controlling marginal costs was done fairly well meaning that the amount of money it took to actually produce the products was reasonable. Erik Suppiger, an analyst with JMP Securities in San Francisco, said Cisco “did a good job managing costs, and keeping their margins up, but there’s a lot of concern about what they can do to build revenue.” This means that the company must improve their ability to maintain their marginal revenue greater than the marginal costs in order for the company to be able to be enlarged. Furthermore Cisco is part of an oligopoly with other companies considered “tech giants” including Microsoft and Dell. This means that Cisco along with these companies account for a large percentage of sales in the industry. Since they are part of an oligopoly they are in fierce competition with a few other companies and must advertise, such as their, “...latest ad campaign [which] extols “the Internet of Everything,” in which even trees are connected to scientists, to solve global warming, and cars talk to traffic lights. This type of advertising would influence consumers to purchase Cisco products in order to be connected to internet service that has become so popular as stated in the advertisement.
This article is credible because it comes from the New York Times which is an American daily newspaper which has been published since 1851. Moreover they wouldn’t want to publish false information because their reputation could be damaged, creating a decrease in their profits. “Cisco Struggles To Adapt, Even as Profit Rises” was written by Quentin Hardy who is a journalist that has worked in Forbes magazine this indicates he is very familiar with finances, he has also written for the Wall Street Journal which revolves around business and the stock market making him a knowledgeable individual in regard to writing about the Cisco business.
As implied by the article Cisco is a company that is concerned with the triple bottom line, meaning they want to satisfy people, the planet and themselves by making a profit. As stated in the article Mr. Chamber who has been the leader of Cisco for 18 years,is aware that people are transitioning from computers to wireless devices this causes him along with the company to try and adapt to how people now use wireless products rather than traditional product lines. This demonstrates the public's transitions being carefully taken into the account for the purpose of making the business flourish and earning a larger profit off products the public actually demands which they are willing and able to purchase. Furthermore the company is breaking away from tradition such as traditional players that leads to new methods of producing goods that can come about that would be more beneficial to the planet.
“Rewards and Incentives in the Workplace” is about the positive incentives companies offer that make workers work productively. This connects to this week’s text because incentives are used in the workplace to encourage workers to work efficiently in order to produce the most amount of high quality goods in a period of time, which was what “What Do School Teachers and Sumo Wrestlers Have in Common?” was applying that people are urged by incentives to do more of a good thing and less of a bad thing.
ReplyDeleteThis text belongs to The Houston Chronicle. It is the premier local news provider for the country's 4th largest city; Houston, and it is currently the nation's sixth-largest newspaper. The Houston Chronicle reach millions of people each month. The Houston Chronicle is owned by the Hearst Corporation, one of the nation's largest diversified media and information companies. The author, Sherrie Scott, is a freelance writer in Las Vegas with articles appearing on various websites. She studied political science at Arizona State University, assuring her expertise on this topic.
This idea of incentives mostly benefits the company and not the workers. Workers are promised, and do receive incentives, such as profit sharing plans, flexible work hours, paid time off, cash rewards, employee assistance programs and more according to “Rewards and Incentives in the Workplace,” but businesses only do those perks to get their workers to produce efficiently, increasing production and getting satisfied customers, therefore increasing demand of that specific company. Beneficial if the business was part of the perfect competition, where it would have to compete against many other similar businesses. Regardless, the incentives are still extremely beneficial to the workers, as they will receive many perks for doing their job, but as a whole, it is the business that will succeed.
-ASHLEY PRENZA
Lewis Krauskopf’s article, “Hospital Pay Incentives Don't Improve Patient Outcomes: Study”. Explains how a program was made to pay hospitals a bonus for meeting up to the “key performance measures” and give penalties if the hospitals failed to improve the health of their patients. However it seemed to back fire and potentially cause policymakers, to have a re-examination of financial incentives in healthcare. This article is an example of a bad incentive; it connects to this week’s reading “What Do Schoolteachers and Sumo Wrestlers Have in Common?” which talks about different incentives weather good or bad. It also talks about how incentives have different flavors weather social, economic, or moral. The article is an example of an economic incentive, this week’s reading also talks about groups of people cheating and being untruthful just to abuse the incentives placed.
ReplyDeleteThe site is a credible source because, The Huffington Post is an international well known trusted news website that is ran in New York City; it started publishing on May 9, 2005 and remains publishing today. It is ranked the world’s most powerful blog in the world by the Observer. The author of this article Lewis Krauskopf is a journalist who has background on working with the healthcare industry. Before writing for the Huffington Post he was an U.s Healthcare Teal Leader in 2007 for Reuters a global news site. Making this article more credible because the author has outside knowledge on the topic he wrote about in the article giving him more advantages.
Incentives are things that motivate a person toward action. In this week’s reading there were teachers who were motivated to cheat for their students who did poorly on standardized test in order to prevent the penalty of getting fired if the results of the test scores were bad. Lewis Krauskopf’s article is about hospitals that are under a finical incentive for all the service they provide each patient. Even though Krauskopf’s article doesn't mention cheating or untruthful actions like the article of the week does, in a way this program is committing an untruthful fraud. Many people associated with the healthcare system analyzed the point of the program and many did not approve Krauskopf writes “There was no evidence that patient outcomes got better under this different financing scheme"(Dr. Ashish Jha), a professor at the Harvard School of Public Health and the study's lead author). The program was paying doctors and other providers for each service they provided, meaning if the patient had a “diagnostic” done the doctor or nurse whoever provided the help would be paid a bonus for just running the test. Which made the incentive go wrong because, then people who worked in those hospitals were more concerned about the extra money on their checks and didn't even bother to pay attention to the patients health after things like diagnostics were ran. The people working for the hospitals benefited because they were getting paid more but, “It really didn't move the needle very much on patient outcomes”( Krauskop),because the incentive made the workers lose interests in what really mattered which was the patient’s health. They both connect through the negative motivation each incentive gave them. While they are different in the fact that, the group of teachers incentive led them to make her students pass the state exam in order for her to keep her job, causing them to cheat and lie which got all of them fired. Vs. the incentive program for hospitals, the incentive didn't really affect the groups of people working in hospitals like the groups of teachers because there were “suggestions [to]… design new incentives” (Jha). This is different because there were different outcomes for both of the groups dealing with incentives.
The article I found this week was titled, “Starbucks To Open 1,500 More Cafes In U.S. Over Next 5 Years” by Candice Choi. This article was concerning the anticipated expansion Starbucks hopes to ensue nationally and internationally, specifically its locations and options it will provide for consumers. This article is related to this week’s reading, “What do Sumo Wrestlers and Teachers Have in Common?” because these two readings relate to the idea of incentives. The chapter of Freakonomics discusses how incentives influence individuals to get what they want or need. Choi’s article provides a current example of the incentives of a business and their need for expansion. Starbucks’ desire to expand has influenced its methods of increasing revenue, demand and even improvement among competitors.
ReplyDeleteThis source is credible because the Huffington Post published it. The Huffington Post is a well-known news website that was launched in 2005. Because of this news organization’s eminent status, it would avoid publishing false information to not only avoid tarnishing its reputation, but also prevent the loss of its readers. Additionally, the Huffington Post is credible as it has been the first United States digital media enterprise to win a Pulitzer Prize along with several other awards, suggesting it is admired, trusted, and respected nationally.
Starbucks’ current plans of expansion has not only affected the incentives of the franchise, but has also influenced its consumers and competition’s incentives. In a business, the priority of its owners is to increase profits. Starbucks is known as one of the largest companies with over 18,000 stores globally. Because Starbucks hopes to continue to expand its locations and influence, it knows that it needs to increase its revenue. For this reason, Starbucks has begun to adopt new products to attract new customers. For example, Starbucks has begun in investing in bakeries, tea bars, and even beer and wine to add to their stores. Additionally, “Since Starbucks already has a broad footprint, the company's expansion is intended to "deepen" its presence… establishing stores – including drive-thrus and smaller cafes – in more convenient locations for customers”(Choi). By including this new variety of food as well as easy access cafes, Starbucks is broadening its range of customers. Because it is increasing its supply in products, it is now increasing its demand. With the new additions, it is now probable Starbucks will increase its revenue and become a common source for products as now customers won’t have to go to other businesses if they want a coffee, a croissant, or even a beer; Starbucks has it all. This provides incentives to the franchise’s competition, as they do not want to be put out of business or outsold by Starbucks. These additions made by Starbucks not only influence other businesses to increase their own revenue and expansion, but also offer more options to their customers, meeting the expectations Starbucks has set for cafes everywhere. Starbucks’ anticipated expansion has also influenced the incentives of its customers. The article states, “To build its packaged-goods business, Starbucks plans to let customers earn points on their My Starbucks loyalty card starting next year when they purchase Starbucks bagged coffees in supermarkets and other outlets” (Choi). Now that Starbucks allows its customers to earn points on their cards in stores other than Starbucks, this motivates its customers to buy even more Starbucks products. With the My Starbucks card, customers are awarded points for the purchases they make, all which add up and result in a reward such as free drinks, refills or food for their points. With the incentive that reward will come to them if they continue to purchase from Starbucks, customers are coaxed into additional purchases from the franchise.
The article “Chicago Teacher Incentive Program Boosts Staff Retention, With No Impact On Student Performance” by discusses how the education is being reformed in Chicago by a program that gives teachers more aid to increase their performance while increasing their retention rates. Similar to the reading “What Do Schoolteachers and Sumo Wrestlers Have in Common?” both texts highlight the idea how individuals take it upon themselves to perform actions depending on the situation that benefits them. For example, “Chicago Teacher Incentive Program Boosts Staff Retention, With No Impact On Student Performance” addresses how teachers should take part of the The Teacher Advancement Program in order to improve their skills, while “What Do Schoolteachers and Sumo Wrestlers Have in Common?” points out how individuals make actions that is powered by the economic motivation.
ReplyDeleteThe article is a legitimate source to get information due to the fact that The Huffington Post is an American website that was founded in 2005 which covers politics and has a high reputation, being #1 on the 15 Most Popular Political Sites over the internet for local news, adding to the credibility, if inaccurate news were posted, it will consequently reduce the high reputation the news organization has earned.
Incentives are a great way to increase motivation of a person which allows them to positively impact themselves and others around him. In an economy, many workers try to pursue the highest pay using the right amount of skill set they have. In some instances workers try to pursue their own bottom line that increases their total annual income, for example “Chicago Teacher Incentive Program Boosts Staff Retention, With No Impact On Student Performance” states that “Teachers were meant to have more access to leadership positions, and offered financial rewards for improved student performance on standardized tests” (Huffington Post), because of higher rewards due to the idea that if students were to succeed, it becomes an incentive to pursue a higher value of education towards the students, as well as rewarding teachers with the motivation for higher pay. Similar to the reading, “What Do Schoolteachers and Sumo Wrestlers Have in Common?”, highlights how a teacher cheated in order to receive a higher pay, potentially foreshadowing how the Teacher Advancement Program could be a incentive to cheat standardized testing to be rewarded higher pay.
Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/09/chicago-teacher-incentive_n_1332544.html
The article that I found this week was “Wiping out teachers’ student loan debt” by Kathy M. Kristof. This article explains how people who took out loans in college to continue their education towards becoming a teacher have a debt, but are slowly getting rid of that through different programs that allow them to participate in an activity that gives back to the community. This article relates to the text from this week “What Do Schoolteachers and Sumo Wrestlers Have in Common?” from Freakonomics because this text reveals that arrangements also known as incentives are made in order for one person or a whole group to benefit themselves. For example, in the article that I found, there was a case study about a couple that has been paying $23,000 in student loans. Incentives for eliminating the loans include working for AmeriCorps or the Peace Corps, providing services to the disabled, or working in early-childhood education in a poor area. Indeed, the greater output of the loan situation is that although there is a large demand for the forgiving of loans, there is also supply which is seen through the teachers who are using their time to provide service and this situation helps create equilibrium.
ReplyDeleteThe article I found is credible because it was written in the Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper that has been published in Los Angeles, California since 1881. In this case, the American audience wouldn’t buy this newspaper if the information in it were not reliable although some may argue that the authors of the editorials may include bias to cause controversy. Furthermore, the article that I found is credible because it was written by Kathy M. Kristof who works in the personal finance department. In addition, she has also spent a long time working in business journalism which means that she understands the clear connections between supply and demand and how these two factors affect issues that occur in the market.
Incentives can help maximize the happiness of a greater majority in terms of commitment and participation being given in return. According to the article I found by Ms. Kristof, the big problem was the number that college graduates had to pay back in loans. This itself is problematic because there is a high demand for people who need a loan but a small supply of people who are able to pay it back without enough accumulated interest. However, through providing service for the elderly and teaching in a low-income community loans can be diminished. Kristof states “It eliminates 15% of your loan balance in the first year; another 15% in the second year; 20% in the third and fourth years; and the final 30% in year five.” Based on this statement Kristof demonstrates the utilitarianistic view that if something good is done for a greater cause, greater rewards come in the end whereas Aristotelians would agree that the purpose of a great education is to pay it back not only financially but socially. Therefore, incentives have the ability to motivate people to become involved while also making sure cost and benefits are considered in situations.
The article I found this week, called “Walmart Loses Its Patience”, is about the difficulty in convincing Walmart workers to join unions. Many want Walmart’s workers to join unions because the working conditions in Walmart are far from great. However, Walmart has up a sort of fortress that is preventing all workers from joining unions, despite the incentives, something that motivates or encourages one to do something. This relates to the reading, "What Do Schoolteachers and Sumo Wrestlers Have in Common?" from Freakonomics, where there are many effects to incentives, both negative and positive. The article also connects to the fact that Walmart is cheating its workers since their employment is threatened if they attempt to join unions.
ReplyDeleteI retrieved this article from the Huffington Post which is a well known news source. In other words, the Huffington Post wouldn’t publish any false information because that would destroy its reputation and no one would find it to be a reliable news source which would be bad for its business.. Additionally, the writer of this article is David Macaray. Macaray is a labor columnist and author whose labor and entertainment articles have appeared in such periodicals as the LA Times and NY Press. Since Macaray has been published in such well known newspapers as well as the Huffington Post, a reliable source, he can also be considered credible because his reputation would be ruined if he published false information. Not only would he ruin his own but he could tarnish that of the Huffington Post if he published nonsense. therefore, Macaray makes sure he doesn’t publish false information but Huffington Post also makes sure that he does not either. The caution both take in the information published makes this article credible.
Walmart is a store that gives a lot of great discounts for its consumers. However, “Walmart's wages are low, their benefits are lousy, and, by all accounts, the working conditions at some of their stores are about two cuts above those of Haiti” (Macaray). While Walmart thrives and makes a good profit, its workers suffer. In most cases, workers who are unpleased with their working conditions might join unions, for example, in order to change the working conditions and improve them. Yet, the workers of Walmart make no such move. In fact, “At Walmart, any talk in the breakroom about wanting to join a union will get you noticed, and if you happen to be one of the union activists who's passing out literature and urging people to sign cards, you're liable to get fired.” A worker’s job is threatened if they attempt to join a union and encourage others to do the same. Even though firing someone for this reason is illegal, Walmart does not care. Their workers already have low wages, which keeps their costs low and increases their profit, thus, if they happen to lose a few workers, it wouldn’t greatly affect them. Walmart’s goal is to make as much as a profit as possible, therefore, they keep their costs low so that they can make a much greater profit than they normally would have. The reading actually states exactly what this act is. “Cheating is a primordial economic act: getting more for less” (Freakonomics). Walmart is cheating its workers by preventing them from taking advantage of the incentive that unions offer. By keeping its workers away from unions, they are able to keep wages for workers at the price they desire. That is why, even though the incentive that unions provide, such as helping workers to get better wages, workers do not take advantage of it since they fear they will lose their jobs. The reading states, “For every clever person who goes to the trouble of creating an incentive scheme, there is an army of people...who will [spend] even more time trying to beat it” (Freakonomics). Walmart is the army in this case that is greatly cheating its workers from what they deserve. In essence, Walmart’s workers are unable to take advantage of incentives because fear overcomes them due to Walmart’s greed and cheating methods.
The source that I found is titled, “Investigator Says Teachers In City Aided In Cheating” by Abby Goodnough and it’s about how teachers and principals across New York city’s public school system have given their students answers to the standardized reading and mathematics exam. The purpose of these exams are given in order to help rate the school and determine if the student should pass on to the next grade. Similarly in “What Do Schoolteachers and Sumo Wrestlers Have in Common” by Freakonomics it explains how teachers cheat throughout these exams by giving the answers to the students and/or by changing their wrong answers after the student has submitted it. These two sources are identical because teachers risk their job, career and go against their moral for their own advantage. Their incentive for cheating are to improve their reputation by getting promoted, might be praised and even get richer if they produce big test- score gains.
ReplyDeleteThe text I found is credible because it’s published by the New York Times, a very prestigious partisan news company that was established in 1851. This news company has millions of American followers and if they post false information, their reputation will suffer. The author, Abby Goodnough, is a former Miami bureau chief for and the new Boston bureau chief of the New York Times. Moreover, she is an education reporter and is the author of the book “Ms. Moffett’s First Year: Becoming A Teacher in America”.
People, specifically teachers, take risk that would harm their careers and go against their morals for their own advantage. Teachers encourage and participate in cheating for they can “improve their own reputations and further their own careers by creating the illusion that they were doing a good job” (Goodnough). Teachers and principals would do anything for them to be rewarded and not face probation or the threat of the school being shut down if the test results show that the school has low reading and math scores. According to Freakonomics it states, “A cheating teacher may tell herself that she is helping her students, but the fact is that she would appear far more concerned with helping herself”. By teachers doing this, it affects the children because they pass the student to the next grade when obviously the student is in a terrible academic shape and leads to failing miserably. Some ways teachers cheat is by giving clues, answers and by telling the students to write their answers on a separate sheet of paper and then walking around the room pointing out which questions were wrong and telling them to do them over until they were correct. These teachers that usually do this are considered young and less qualified than average. The teachers that get caught doing this should not only get fired but also they should get sued and not have a chance to be a teacher ever again. Teachers are suppose to put their student’s learning as their priority instead of what they want to be. By doing this, it will allow for students to be successful and actually be categorize as a good teacher since they are learning.
The text that I found this week was presidents Obama’s state of the Union address, that he gave a few days ago about the countries progression and his plan for the next four years. In his speech Obama, mentions incentives that would be given to different companies and individuals that use different things like green technology. This connects to this weeks reading about incentives and how they work to make get groups of individuals to do things that would help everyone. For examples schools that perform poorly on standardized test scores would be placed on probation and could face shutting down. This work as an incentive to motivate teachers to better prepare students. This text is credible, because it was a nationally published and viewed speech given by president Obama that was published on the official White House website. It would then jeopardize the trust of the American public if the president himself gave false information that was posted by the government. In his state of the Union Speech president Obama mentions the use of incentives to better the country use of energy. “the natural gas boom has led to cleaner power and greater energy independence. We need to encourage that. And that’s why my administration will keep cutting red tape and speeding up new oil and gas permits”(Obama). With this incentive more oil companies would move to the United States, that would help drive down the cost of oil because all the new competition that is created. This would also help decrease unemployment, that is currently very high. In a way Obama is being insensitive to create these kinds of policies because he was elected to president for a second term, therefore he must live the promise he made. Obama also feels pursued that the American public would also be displeased if they do not see the changes they want. This connects to how teachers try to do different things to ensure that they keep there jobs which is there students passing standardized test that connects the different standards that Obama and his administration are held to.
ReplyDeleteThe text I found this week is from the New York Times and it is called “Taking Guns to Holy Ground”. In this text, we learn that Mexico has been encountering some major issues regarding violence. Individuals are acquiring mass destructive weapons and crimes are drastically increasing. In order to help decrease the crime rates, the “Basilica of St. Mary of Guadalupe” took charge and decided to start this sort of exchange where individuals could hand off their weapons with no questions asked in return of money. This strategy in Mexico, clearly relates to this week’s topic: incentives because individuals in Mexico are prone to hand off their arms just because they know they’ll get money in return.
ReplyDeleteThe evidence that I have that the text I found is credible is that it is published in a credible news organization. The New York Times has been around since 1851. It is known all around the United States and it has even won prizes like the Pulitzer. This text is also credible because of the person who wrote it. Elisabeth Malkin is a widely recognized reporter who not only reports for the New York Times, but for the “The News” as well which is a new source published in Mexico City, Mexico.
So far, incentives have been known to encourage and even motivate individuals to take a direct course of action. Because of the drastic increase in violence in Mexico, things had to be changed. Similar to the United States, Mexico’s constitution states that individuals have the right to bear arms. However, unlike the United States, Mexico’s government has taken away that right. And it has really done nothing due to the fact that violence continues to occur. Although Mexico City is a large city, the community remains strong. That is why the Basilica of St. Mary of Guadalupe has been able to acquire a lot of arms. Individuals have certain incentives they are prepared to work for. The economic incentive for them is that when they return the weapons, they are able to gain money in return. The moral incentive is simply the fact of satisfaction. The satisfaction of doing the right thing. Everyone has morals and because of those morals we are driven to do the things we do. Which explains their social incentive. Their social incentive is the fact that despite there’s violence occurring, they do not need to be “protected” with weapons. Because as more and more people hand off their weapons, violence decreases. Thus, making it easier for people to walk around the city without the fear of being a victim to the horrifying violence.
In the article I found this week titled “Baseball still smells of drug use”, Tim Dahlberg discusses the concern over baseball players who are using performance-enhancing drugs in order to improve their chances of winning during baseball games. Dahlberg’s article relates to chapter 1 of Freakonomics titled, “What do Sumo Wrestlers and Teachers Have in Common?”, which discusses the the power of incentives over an individual, and how they use incentives to reach higher and more prestigious levels within their lives. Both readings revolve around the idea of incentives, and how they pursue individuals (specifically, sport competitors) to go after the one thing they want: to be successful.
ReplyDeleteThis article comes from The Huffington Post, a well-known website that updates its readers with current national and international events. Because The Huffington Post has provided the site’s users with accurate information over the past nine years, it would be highly unlikely for the news source to suddenly start delivering false information and ruin their strong reputation. Tim Dahlberg, who has more than twenty-five years of experience as being a national sports writer, makes the article twice as credible because of his extensive prior knowledge on the subject of sports.
Incentives are known as something that motivates a person towards action. With his article, Dahlberg is able to give his readers a look into the competitive world of Major League Baseball and explains how the incentives baseball players are provided with push them to not just attempt to win more games, but to also continue any methods that had allowed them to win in the first place. The people who bring on these incentives aren’t the first people one would think of: the owners of the baseball player’s team. According to Dahlberg, owners have been giving players who have either been proven positive for or suspected of taking PEDs “new multimillion-dollar contracts…[primarily because they] have no interest in policing the sport.” This statement alone provides us with the reason why players get motivated to continue their usage of PEDs - they are being paid to do so by individuals who are only aiming to win the game. “Those who do get busted probably figure the risk is worth the reward” (Dahlberg), which include money, fame, and a good reputation (up until their secret is out). In such a case, it is clear to see that players aren’t participating in what is actually an illegal phenomenon to continue being a part of something they love to do, but that they are participating in acts that would allow them to gain more benefits from the rest. All these players “swallow whatever pill or powder [that] may give them an edge” and ultimately cheat their way towards “a bright-line incentive” (Freakonomics), where they bask in their faked success. Additionally, if the public has no idea of their favorite player’s faked success, then the main reason why they have such “success” is because of the finite demand these players provide for an individual’s preferred team. Thus providing another reason why the player continues using PEDs, so long as their owners continue to provide them with millions of dollars in incentives.