full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Michael Sandel: Why we shouldn't trust markets with our civic life

Unscramble the Blue Letters


There's a second reason apart from the worry about inequality, and it's this: with some soaicl goods and practices, when market thinking and market values enter, they may change the meaning of those practices and crowd out attitudes and norms worth caring about.

I'd like to take an example of a controversial use of a makert mhisneacm, a cash incentive, and see what you think about it. Many scohols struggle with the challenge of motivating kids, especially kids from disadvantaged backgrounds, to study hard, to do well in school, to apply themselves. Some economists have proposed a market solution: Offer cash iceenvntis to kids for getting good grades or high test seocrs or for reading books. They've tried this, actually. They've done some experiments in some mjaor amciearn cities. In New York, in Chicago, in Washington, D.C., they've tried this, offering 50 dollars for an A, 35 dollars for a B. In Dallas, txaes, they have a program that offers eight-year-olds two dollars for each book they read.

Open Cloze


There's a second reason apart from the worry about inequality, and it's this: with some ______ goods and practices, when market thinking and market values enter, they may change the meaning of those practices and crowd out attitudes and norms worth caring about.

I'd like to take an example of a controversial use of a ______ _________, a cash incentive, and see what you think about it. Many _______ struggle with the challenge of motivating kids, especially kids from disadvantaged backgrounds, to study hard, to do well in school, to apply themselves. Some economists have proposed a market solution: Offer cash __________ to kids for getting good grades or high test ______ or for reading books. They've tried this, actually. They've done some experiments in some _____ ________ cities. In New York, in Chicago, in Washington, D.C., they've tried this, offering 50 dollars for an A, 35 dollars for a B. In Dallas, _____, they have a program that offers eight-year-olds two dollars for each book they read.

Solution


  1. major
  2. incentives
  3. schools
  4. texas
  5. market
  6. american
  7. scores
  8. mechanism
  9. social

Original Text


There's a second reason apart from the worry about inequality, and it's this: with some social goods and practices, when market thinking and market values enter, they may change the meaning of those practices and crowd out attitudes and norms worth caring about.

I'd like to take an example of a controversial use of a market mechanism, a cash incentive, and see what you think about it. Many schools struggle with the challenge of motivating kids, especially kids from disadvantaged backgrounds, to study hard, to do well in school, to apply themselves. Some economists have proposed a market solution: Offer cash incentives to kids for getting good grades or high test scores or for reading books. They've tried this, actually. They've done some experiments in some major American cities. In New York, in Chicago, in Washington, D.C., they've tried this, offering 50 dollars for an A, 35 dollars for a B. In Dallas, Texas, they have a program that offers eight-year-olds two dollars for each book they read.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
market thinking 4
civic life 3
worth caring 3
cash incentive 3
market mechanisms 2
market economy 2
market values 2
cash incentives 2
good grades 2
stopped paying 2
social practices 2
attitudes worth 2

ngrams of length 3

collocation frequency
attitudes worth caring 2

Important Words


  1. american
  2. apply
  3. attitudes
  4. backgrounds
  5. book
  6. books
  7. caring
  8. cash
  9. challenge
  10. change
  11. chicago
  12. cities
  13. controversial
  14. crowd
  15. dallas
  16. disadvantaged
  17. dollars
  18. economists
  19. enter
  20. experiments
  21. good
  22. goods
  23. grades
  24. hard
  25. high
  26. incentive
  27. incentives
  28. inequality
  29. kids
  30. major
  31. market
  32. meaning
  33. mechanism
  34. motivating
  35. norms
  36. offer
  37. offering
  38. offers
  39. practices
  40. program
  41. proposed
  42. read
  43. reading
  44. reason
  45. school
  46. schools
  47. scores
  48. social
  49. struggle
  50. study
  51. test
  52. texas
  53. thinking
  54. values
  55. washington
  56. worry
  57. worth
  58. york