The Over-Marketization of Social Behavior Posted By Flexo On April 20, 2012 @ 11:00 am In Economics | 8 Comments Do you reward your children with money for performing well in school [1]? Do you use the promise of an allowance to ancourage appropriate behavior in the family [2]? These are big issues, because they take appropriate behavior and can turn the incentive to financial gain. Children growing up believing that financial gain is the reward for correct social behavior rather than seeing the intrinsic benefit. The idea that everything has a financial value seems to have become more prevalent over the last two decades, according to a new book. In What Money Can’t Buy: The Moral Limits of Markets [3] by Michael J. Sandel, the author argues that our trend of attributing market thinking to an increasing array of behavior could be detrimental to society. The book has not yet been released as of the time of writing this article, so I haven’t read it yet. A review in Fortune … [Read more...]

http://www.boston.com/news/local/new_hampshire/articles/2012/04/23/april_noreaster_dumps_rain_snow_on_east_coast/ April nor'easter dumps rain, snow on East Coast PHILADELPHIA—A spring nor'easter packing soaking rain and high winds churned up the East Coast, unleashing a burst of winter and up to a foot of snow in higher elevations inland and sparking concerns of potential power outages and a wild commute to start the work week in the Northeast. "It's unusual, but not unheard of," said Kevin Fitzgerald, a National Weather Service meteorologist in State College, Pa., where the eastern part of the state saw a rain event, and the west, northwest and higher elevations dealt with snow. Up to 12 inches of snow was expected in the higher elevations of central and western Pennsylvania, as well as New York state, south of Buffalo. A winter storm warning was issued for parts of northeastern Ohio, where 3 to 7 inches of snow was forecast. From the New Jersey shore north through New York City … [Read more...]