Freakonomics《魔鬼经济学》阅读笔记CH2-Part2

Chapter2 Part2阅读笔记

第二章上半部分讲经济学中的“信息不对称”，下半从节益智节目The Weakest Link到征友网站，政治投票，画风一转，部忽然怎么变成“歧视”的话题了。

问题1：“歧视“跟经济学中的”信息不对称有什么关系？为什么作者放到一起？

通过对The Weakest Link这个电视节目的数据分析，经济学家发现两种歧视，分别是taste-base discrimination(品味歧视)和information-based discrimination

The first type is called taste-based discrimination, which means that one person discriminates simply because he prefers to not interact with a particular type of other person.

In the second type, known as information-based discrimination, one person believes that another type of person has poor skills, and acts accordingly.

information-based discrimination从字面上理解信息歧视，从后面的文字解释看应该是行为能力歧视），可是这跟“信息不对称有什么关系”？

当信息不对称时，专家们会利用自己的信息优势吓唬普通民众，房屋中介利用信息优势制约客户，在我们日常生活，针对个人存在＂信息不对称＂同样表现在我们对信息的选择性表达上，有所讲有所不讲。

“It would be naïve to suppose that people abuse information only when they are acting as experts or agents of commerce. Agents and experts are people too-which suggests that we are likely to abuse information in our personal lives as well, whether by withholding true information or editing the information we choose to put forth.

我们在公众场合下所说的跟我们内心所思有巨大的鸿沟，简单说就是说一套做一套。

图片发自App

通过对the Weakest Link节目和征友网站的数据分析，＂歧视＂的根源是人们表达信息和内心真实想法的差异。

人际关系，商业交易，政治中都存在信息不对称。

“The gulf between the information we publicly proclaim and the information we know to be true is often vast. (Or, put a more familiar way: we say one thing and do another.) This can be seen in personal relationships, in commercial transactions, and of course in politics.”

问题2: 如何从道德和经济角度解读歧视经济学？

道德代表了我们心目中期望的社会运行模式，而经济学告诉我们社会到底是如何运行的。

我们在公众场合表达的是基于道德层面，内心真实的想法与其的冲突造成的结果恰好解释了歧视经济学。

从道德和经济两方面解释，第一个问题迎刃而解。