Friday, May 13, 2005
Freakonomics mini-excerpt: The incentive to cheat at sumo wrestling
I'm in the middle of the blog-hot Freakonomics, the book by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner that is generating a lot of press and blog coverage for its arguments about the impact of legal abortion on the crime rate. But you should read the book because it's interesting.
For example, in a chapter that explains why sumo wrestlers throw matches, we learn about social structure of elite sumo:
I should say.
UPDATE: Steven D. Levitt writes a blog!
For example, in a chapter that explains why sumo wrestlers throw matches, we learn about social structure of elite sumo:
The incentive scheme that rules sumo is intricate and extraordinarily powerful. Each wrestler maintains a ranking that affects every slice of life: how much money he makes, how large an entourage he carries, how much he gets to eat, sleep, and otherwise take advantage of his success. The sixty-six highest-ranked wrestlers in Japan, comprising the makuuchi and juryo divisions, make up the sumo elite. A wrestler near the top of this elite pyramid may earn millions and is treated like royalty. Any wrestler in the top forty earns at least $170,000 a year. The seventieth-ranked wrestler in Japan, meanwhile, earns only $15,000 a year. Life isn't very sweet outside the elite. Low-ranked wrestlers must tend to their superiors, preparing their meals and cleaning their quarters and even soaping up their hardest-to-reach body parts. So ranking is everything.
I should say.
UPDATE: Steven D. Levitt writes a blog!
1 Comments:
By 
TigerHawk, at
Sat May 14, 06:38:00 AM:
As I said, Freakonomics is blog-hot!
