Question

Read the following excerpt from Levitt and Dubner’s Freakonomics.

When he started his business, he expected a 95 percent payment rate, based on the experience at his own office. But just as crime tends to be low on a street where a police car is parked, the 95 percent rate was artificially high: Feldman’s presence had deterred theft. Not only that, but those bagel eaters knew the provider and had feelings (presumably good ones) about him. A broad swath of psychological and economic research has shown that people will pay different amounts for the same item depending on who is providing it. . . .

In the real world, Feldman learned to settle for less than 95 percent. He came to consider a company “honest” if its payment rate was above 90 percent. He considered a rate between 80 and 90 percent “annoying but tolerable.”

The excerpt helps the authors arrive at their conclusion by
restating their claim about cheating.
presenting facts about the bagel business.
providing statistical evidence.
using deductive reasoning.

Answer 1

presenting facts about the bagel business.

The passage gives concrete details (payment rates, Feldman’s presence deterring theft, his thresholds for “honest” vs. “annoying”) to support the authors’ conclusion.