Why do crack dealers still live with their moms?

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/steven_levitt_analyzes_crack_economics.html

by tyn • 17 years ago

47 20 17 years ago

Short answer: because drug dealing gangs are organized like McDonalds franchises where most "foot soldiers" make minimum wage or less while the leaders make hundreds of thousands of dollars.

vaksel• 17 years ago

its a typical case of multi level marketing

time_management2• 17 years ago

I'd be surprised if the average McDonald's franchiser is making anything close to $100,000 per year. I'd guess that it's around $60,000 in a good location and year. McDonalds is known to be especially bad at fleecing franchise owners.

I worked at a chain grocery store one summer and had observations pretty similar to Barbara Ehrenreich's in Nickel and Dimed. "Four digits" (per week) was considered to be rarefied compensation. The #3 man in the store was making around $50k, and this was a huge store with about 150 employees.

netcan3• 17 years ago

Would you? Down here (Australia) it takes $0.5m-$1.5m to start one. I'd expect more thent 100k

zaius• 17 years ago

The best part of that was hearing Steven Levitt say 'bling bling'

brentr• 17 years ago

Would your mom narc on you?

auston• 17 years ago

Although it isn't true - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blow_(film)

medearis• 17 years ago

There are a number of other interesting (though perhaps dubiously supported) similar arguments (including this one) in his book freakonomics.

gritzko• 17 years ago

Another explanation why Google underpays its employees.

josefresco• 17 years ago

Google underpays because they have a 'cult' following similar to Apple which allows them to recruit not based on pay, but on their credibility as a cool-smart company, and other non financial perks.

albertcardona• 17 years ago

For those not acquainted with the book: "Freakonomics"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freakonomics

point• 17 years ago

Let's not jump to conclusions here. Maybe they are just saving money to make their own web 2.0 todo list app, so they can finally get rich.

jwesley• 17 years ago

Side note: I wish TED talks were available in text format. They're always interesting, but most of the time I'm unable (or unwilling) to hunker down and watch a 20 minute video. Web content needs to be scan-able.

cdr• 17 years ago

This particular talk, at least, is from chapter 3 of Freakonomics.

Why do crack dealers still live with their moms?

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