Competition And Efficiency In Steven D. Levitt's Freakonomics

Competition and efficiency are two things that tend to sometimes go hand in hand because when there is competition work is usually has a lot of efficiency. However, when something is efficient it is not always competitive. I believe that healthy competition is good and that it leads to a more efficient and effective work ethic. In Freakonomics, authors Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner, write about competition and how people feel as they are forced under certain pressures to have a certain level of efficiency. For example, the authors write about how competitive it is for teachers to make sure their students pass in an efficient way. This has lead to teachers filling in answer sheets to give their students passing grades so that the teacher …show more content…
Previously, when I thought of winner-take-all I would think of politics and how in some states the electoral votes are winner take all. As I began, to read Freakonomics I quickly realized that Levitt and Dubner would change the ways I thought of and approached things. One example of a winner-take-all market in Freakonomics is how in the sports industry millions of people want to play at a professional or even college level. However, these people have a very low chance of making it to that level but if they do, they make millions of dollars. Another example, is how in the Black Disciples, only the gang leader J.T. was making $66 an hour while the footmen or crack dealers were making $3.30 an hour. This shows that since J.T. was at the top he made it big therefore was the only person benefiting and taking all the profit. Another example that is briefly mentioned in the book as a comparison, is the the structure of large corporations such as McDonalds. The executives that are in charge of McDonalds are taking home all the profits while the employees at each location are getting paid minimum wage and can barely take care of their