EclectEcon

Economics and the mid-life crisis have much in common: Both dwell on foregone opportunities

C'est la vie; c'est la guerre; c'est la pomme de terre . . . . . . . . . . . . . email: jpalmer at uwo dot ca


. . . . . . . . . . .Richard Posner should be awarded the next Nobel Prize in Economics . . . . . . . . . . . .

Friday, March 25, 2005

Who Responds to What Incentives? Part II

Why do people visit pornography sites on the internet? Is it curiosity? by accident? for prurient interest? Unfortunately these data do not tell us the motives of these people or the incentives they face.
  • 51% of pastors say cyber porn is a possible temptation. 37% say it is a current struggle (Christianity Today, Leadership Survey, December 2001). 4 in 10 pastors have visited a porn site (Christianity Today, Leadership Survey, December 2001).
  • 17.8% of all "born again" Christian adults in America have visited sexually-oriented Websites (Zogby survey conducted for Focus on the Family, 2000).
[thanks to Rory for the tip]

Compare the above with this quote in "Cheap Talk" by Tyler Cowen of the Marginal Revolution:

Teenagers who take virginity pledges -- public declarations to abstain from sex -- are almost as likely to be infected with a sexually transmitted disease as those who never made the pledge, an eight-year study released yesterday found.

You can read some possible explanations here.
 
Who Links Here