Freakonomics on Banning Tipping

I couldn’t sleep last night, so around two in the morning I took half a Sominex tablet and put on the most recent podcast episode of Freakonomics (public radio voices are soothing). I ended up listening to the entire 40-minute episode because there was so much to think about and unpack.

The episode’s main guest was a professor at Cornell named Michael Lynn who has written more than 50 academic papers on tipping that examines a long list of things, such as:

• Are Christian/religious people poor tippers? (Yes.)
• Does putting candy next to the tip jar increase tipping? (Yes.)
• Do women get tipped better than men? (Women get tipped better by men and men get tipped better by women.)
• Who gets tipped better, blonds or brunettes? (Blonds.)
• Do people tip better when their server touches them (like, on the shoulder)? (Yes.)
• Is race a factor? (Yes.)

Because race is a factor that can result in a form of discriminatory tipping, Lynn says that tipping should be outlawed. The Freakonomics team talks to a lawyer named Justin Swartz about whether or not such a case would be viable. (Yes.)

Photo: omello_pics

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