“People respond to incentives, although not necessarily in ways that are predictable or manifest. Therefore, one of the most powerful laws in the universe is the law of unintended consequences. This applies to schoolteachers and realtors and crack dealers as well as expectant mothers, sumo wrestlers, bagel salesmen, and the Ku Klux Klan.”

The bombastic tone of this quote sets the stage for the broad, eclectic range of topics encompassed by this narrative. The authors immediately introduce the main thesis of the book and deliberately combine it with references to vividly disparate examples, and this aggressive approach promises similar discussions in the succeeding chapters as well. These initial comments also strengthen their contention that microeconomic incentives are universally relevant and often misunderstood.

“The economic approach isn’t meant to describe the world as any one of us might want it to be, or fear that it is, or pray that it becomes—but rather to explain what it actually is. Most of us want to fix or change the world in some fashion. But to change the world, you first have to understand it.”

This quote describes the economic approach, the fundamental tool that the authors use to explore all the topics in this book. This approach showcases the curious, nonjudgmental attitude of the authors, who are interested in everyone who engages in the economy, from sex workers to terrorists to doctors to monkeys.

“Much has been said of the Internet’s awesome ability to ‘disintermediate’—to cut out the agent or middleman—in industries like travel, real estate, insurance, and the sales of stocks and bonds. But it is hard to think of a market more naturally suited to disintermediation than high-end prostitution.”

This quote illustrates the authors’ talent for pulling in economic theory in unexpected ways. The concept of disintermediation is quite relevant to earlier problems in this chapter, given that sex workers suffer the most violence when they have to negotiate with clients in person. Ally therefore utilizes the internet as an economic tool to navigate the dangerous world of sex work, and her approach shows the benefits of applying technological innovation to a commonly stigmatized profession.