And I have issues with Freakonomics: they excel at doing a surface-level read of research, finding something to pick at, blow it completely out of proportion and sit back feeling clever about themselves. They're asses. That study, for example: Daycare cost: $380/mo = 8.5h/day x 5 days x 4 weeks = 170hrs = $2.23/hr Fine: $2.71 per child for any infraction over 10 minutes See, and none of that comes up when the Freakonomics guys bring it up. They just say "a small fine." They don't say "more than the hourly rate if you're 11 minutes late." It's like the serfs in the middle ages who went on pillaging sprees as soon as they were guilty of a nominal crime: if you're going to be executed anyway, might as well make it worth it. Know how many times I've been 11 minutes late to pick up my daughter? If you're going to hit me with the hourly for 11 minutes but nothing more for an hour or two, I'm getting some errands done. After all, I'm paying for it. These are the sorts of things Kahneman and Ariely study, but the Freakonomics guys just go "herp derp academics are stupid just look at this double-digit n study done out of that bastion of behavioral economics, UC San Diego!"