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What Chen had seen wasn’t altruism at all, but rather the first instance of monkey prostitution in the recorded history of science.

And then, just to prove how thoroughly the monkeys had assimilated the concept of money, as soon as the sex was over—it lasted about eight seconds; they’re monkeys, after all—the capuchin who’d received the coin promptly brought it over to Chen to purchase some grapes.

This episode sent Chen’s mind spinning. Until now, the researchers had run narrowly defined money experiments with one monkey at a time. What if Chen could introduce money directly into the monkeys’ lives? The research possibilities were endless.

Alas, Chen’s dream of capuchin capitalism never came to pass. The authorities who oversaw the monkey lab feared that introducing money to the capuchins would irreparably damage their social structure.

They were probably right.

If the capuchins were so quick to turn to prostitution as soon as they got hold of some money, just imagine how quickly the world would be overrun with monkey murderers and monkey terrorists, with monkey polluters who contribute to global warming and monkey doctors who fail to wash their hands. Future generations of monkeys, of course, would come along and solve these problems. But there would always be something to fix—like the monkeys’ pigheaded insistence that all their children ride in car seats…

SuperFreakonomics

SuperFreakonomics

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Jointly, we’d first like to thank all the people who let us tell their stories in this book. For every person named in the text, there were usually five or ten more who contributed in various ways. Thanks to all of you. We are also greatly indebted to the many scholars and researchers whose work is cited in the book.

Suzanne Gluck of William Morris Endeavor is an agent like no other, and we are lucky to have her. She has many extraordinary colleagues, including Tracy Fisher, Raffaella De Angelis, Cathryn Summerhayes, Erin Malone, Sarah Ceglarski, Caroline Donofrio, and Eric Zohn, all of whom have been a big help, as have others at WME, past and present.

At William Morrow/HarperCollins, we’ve had a great time working with our wonderful editor Henry Ferris, and Dee Dee DeBartlo is unfailingly hardworking and cheerful. There are many others to thank—Brian Murray, Michael Morrison, Liate Stehlik, Lynn Grady, Peter Hubbard, Danny Goldstein, and Frank Albanese among them—as well as those who’ve moved on, especially Jane Friedman and Lisa Gallagher. For tea, sympathy, and more, thanks to Will Goodlad and Stefan McGrath at Penguin UK (who also provide excellent British children’s books for our offspring).

The New York Times has allowed us, in its pages and on our blog, to run some of this book’s ideas up the flagpole. Thanks especially to Gerry Marzorati, Paul Tough, Aaron Retica, Andy Rosenthal, David Shipley, Sasha Koren, Jason Kleinman, Brian Ernst, and Jeremy Zilar.

To the women of Number 17: what fun! And there is more to come.

The Harry Walker Agency has given us more opportunities to meet more incredible people than we ever thought possible, and they are a joy to work with. Thanks to Don Walker, Beth Gargano, Cynthia Rice, Kim Nisbet, Mirjana Novkovic, and everyone else there.

Linda Jines continues to prove that she has no peer when it comes to naming things.

And thanks especially to all the readers who take the time to send along their clever, fascinating, devious, and maddening ideas for us to pursue.

PERSONAL ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I owe an enormous debt to my many co-authors and colleagues, whose great ideas fill this book, and to all the kind people who have taken the time to teach me what I know about economics and life. My wife, Jeannette, and our children, Amanda, Olivia, Nicholas, and Sophie, make every day a joy, even though we miss Andrew so much. I thank my parents, who showed me it was okay to be different. Most of all, I want to thank my good friend and co-author Stephen Dubner, who is a brilliant writer and a creative genius.