The Ku Klux Klan and Real-Estate Agents Essay - 911 Words

At first glance the Ku Klux Klan and real-estate agents vary greatly in their motives, profession, and even morals which influence different actions. However, when glancing at the human characteristics of each group’s actions and the incentives behind each approach, microeconomics links the two correlations on one common ground: information. Information can be both beneficial and costly depending on the viewpoint as either the household or firm. When considering, for instance, information regarding housing prices available to the public on the internet, real-estate agents lose a portion of asymmetry where information which is known by the agent is not necessarily known by the household. This use of information as a scarce resource can†¦show more content†¦Once the purpose of the Ku Klux Klan shifted from a focus on lynching to a more social aspect, the group survived through using information as a scare resource. The advantage of becoming a Ku Klux Klan member theref ore decreased when this secret information became public with the assistance of Stetson Kennedy and his insider John Brown. The situation can be viewed in terms of the law of demand comparing the quantity of secrets exposed to the public, to the value of membership. As displayed by an inverse relationship, an increase in the amount of secrets exposed to the public created a decrease in the value of the Klan membership. With the growing amount of once secret information presented on the radio, members had less incentive to stay in the organization. Similar to the Ku Klux Klan, real-estate agents survive on the basis of asymmetrical advantages. However unlike the Ku Klux Klan, most information for selling or buying a home is available on the internet for any individual to see. Despite this public availability, people still chose to hire a real-estate agent. Considering the time spent to sell/buy a home increases if an individual was to alone make this decision, the benefit of another more specialized consultant often outweighs the initial cost. People therefore rely on the real-estate agent to make the best choices for that client, even if it is of human nature for the agent to act in his/her best interests. The agents themselves also evaluate theShow MoreRelatedKu Klux Klan And Real Estate Agents915 Words   |  4 Pages Most people, when hearing the title Ku Klux Klan, think of White Moderates in robes attacking the homes of minorities in the 1860s. But, when journalist Stephen J. Dubner and economist Steven Levitt hear Ku K lux Klan, they recall the resemblances of the terrorist group to Real-Estate agents. These two companies make the most unlikely comparisons to one another. Both groups use the select transfer of information, fear to scare people, and discriminate people not included in their â€Å"circles.† EachRead MoreThe KKK and Real Estate Essay1227 Words   |  5 PagesTo what extent are real estate agents similar to the Ku Klux Klan? There is no stronger incentive than fear. Clans and secret societies are everywhere; Lawyers, police man, business man, politicians, life insurance sellers, car sellers and real estate agents are just some examples .The difference between them and the Ku Klux Klan is the aim and the means used to achieve their objective. The Klan’s aims is â€Å"by force and terror ,to prevent al political action not in accord with the views of memberRead MoreAnalysis Of The Book Freakonomics By Steven D. Levitt1195 Words   |  5 Pagessurprising, occasionally funny, and always enlightening. They do so by drawing unexpected connections between two greatly different but complementary aspects of sociology and economics, such as sumo wrestlers to school teachers, KKK members to the real estate agents, and lastly, crack gangs to McDonalds. In chapter one of Freakonomics, the comparison between school teachers and sumo wrestlers is a juxtaposition that was introduced in this book. The Chicago Public School System is an example of how teachersRead MoreThe Book That Caught My Eye Was Freakonomics : A Rogue Economist1967 Words   |  8 Pageschapter has one main example expressing commonalities between groups. The next example we see in chapter two is how is the Ku Klux Klan is like a group of real-estate agents. This chapter was harder for me to grasp so I had to read it multiple times to fully understand the point that the author was trying to get across. The overall commonality between the Ku Klux Klan and real-estate is this: false public proclamations. The economic term related to this is information asymmetry. The term is defined asRead MoreFreakonomics Essay737 Words   |  3 Pageswriter. The two met in Chicago, and the result was Freakonomics, a book that claims to explore the hidden side of everything, using r eal-life examples such as studies and polls conducted by Levitt to explain how economics is everywhere, that economics is how the world really functions. Through everything from analyzing the inner thought processes of real-estate agents and crack dealers, to predicting the next popular baby names, Levitt and Dubner guide readers to think differently, ask questions,Read MoreFreakonomics by Steven D. Levitt Stephen J. Dubner  Is Based  on These Fundamental Ideas: Incentives, Conventional Wisdom, â€Å"Experts†-Use Their Informational Advantage897 Words   |  4 Pagesof intense lynchings given the decade’s racial strife â€Å"Experts†Ã¢â‚¬â€from criminologists to real-estate agents—use their informational advantage to serve their own agenda. However, they can be beat at their own game. And in the face of the Internet, their informational advantage is shrinking every day—as evidenced by, among other things, the falling price of coffins and life-insurance premiums. A real-estate agent’s job would seem to persuade the homeowner to sell for less than he would like, at theRead MoreRhetorical Devices in Freakonomics1293 Words   |  6 Pagesdifferent. It did present a victim. The victim was Paul Feldman.† (Levitt/Dubner 46) Argument: How is the Ku Klux Klan like a Group of Real-Estate Agents? The second chapter of Freakonomics states that, though this is not a common ideal, information is one of the most valuable currencies. The author proves this point by dissecting the informational advantages real estate agents and the Ku Klux Klan once withheld during the peak of their existences. Both zeniths occurred BEFORE the birth of the internet’sRead MoreThesis Of Freakonomics1352 Words   |  6 PagesThere are five important principles in this book which are â€Å"Incentives are the cornerstone of modern life†, â€Å"The conventional wisdom is often wrong†, â€Å"Dramatic effects often have distant, even subtle, causes†, â€Å"Experts—from criminologists to real-estate agents—use their informational advantage to serve their own agenda†, and â€Å"Knowing what to measure and how to measure it makes a complicated world much less so†. The thesis of this book is that it is important to question and think sensibly about theRe ad MoreFreakonomics by Steven Dubner and Steven Levitt990 Words   |  4 PagesSide of Everything† which is the best phrase to describe the books purpose. The book doesn’t have a set plot line like most books. The book makes people think about things different from how they normally would; for instance, the concept of real estate agents as the KKK. In the book Levitt and Dubner prove many times that correlation does not mean causation. However the book then goes in and provides of examples of how two unrelated items could in fact be connected. Thus, they are able to prove mostRead MoreFreakonomics by by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dunbar Essay1723 Words   |  7 Pagesreciprocating in less important matches, so that top wrestlers can maintain their status. Levitt points out that both groups under the right circumstances will cheat for similar reasons. In Chapter 2 the question is How is the Ku Klux Klan like a group of real estate agents? This chapter is all about information and how it can be used as one of the most powerful economic tools. The author claims that much of the KKK’s power came from the fact that so much of what was done was a mystery to most people