Tag: Freakonomics

According to an extensive book on a variety of topics named Freakonomics, real estate brokers and agents are “fiduciaries” for their clients, meaning roughly that they are to do what is best for their clients and put their clients’ interests over their own. If that is the case, what do you make of the theory that agents statistically hold their own houses longer and get a better price for essentially the same home? Is this theoretically a violation of their fiduciary duties to be compensated in this way?

After watching the Freakonomics video clip on the incentives that sumo wrestlers face, it shows that there are times when rational people will choose to cheat in order to get a greater payoff.

Has there ever been a situation that you faced where the incentives before you were such that the cheaters had an advantage? Describe how you handled the situation, and how Saint Leo’s core value of responsible stewardship could help you when facing a similar situation in the future.