John Galbraith's Freakonomics

Summary
Chapter 3 of Freakonomics begins with a quote from John Kenneth Galbraith,who argued that ”we associate truth with convenience.” Then, the authors discuss way people exaggerate the concepts of different controversial things like sexual assault, homelessness, and even the corruption of the police department. The authors then go on to discuss factors in the wage determination and community jobs that have many open slots, but they do not pay well enough wages. Next, the chapter discusses University of Chicago student Sudhir Venkatesh, who follows the members of the Black Gangster Disciple Nation, and he gets to know a man named J.T. J.T. is a college educated “crack” dealer and he is also the gang’s head leader. The authors then describe the gang that J.T. is in charge of. He pays his foot soldiers very low wages in order to show them who’s boss. The authors explain that these foot soldiers continue to work for low wages because many of them aspire to move up in the ranks. The end of the chapter discusses the relationship between nylon stockings and crack cocaine. Nylon stockings are a derivative of expensive silk stockings, which were usually only worn by rich people in the high class.

To begin with, stockings were made out of silk. They used to be only worn by wealthy people, because they were the only one who could afford it. Then, the invention of nylon stockings came to be. It was made readily acceptable, and it was very affordable to obtain. Soon after the invention of nylon stockings, it seemed like every woman was wearing them, because people could afford them. With cocaine, it is extremely expensive, around $70 per gram. Only celebrities and wealthy people could use cocaine, because of its exorbitant price. However, with the creation of crack cocaine, the price was able to go down a little bit, so it became more accessible for drug gangs and