Question

"As soon as a mayor announced his/her 'get tough on crime' policy on New Year's day, criminals got scared and the crime rate went down." Suppose that the lower crime rate was actually caused by freezing cold temperatures in January⎯it was just too cold for anybody to be out robbing other people. Which fundamental hazard of the economic way of thinking did the mayor make?a. believing that what's good for one person is good for the whole group (the fallacy of composition)b. failing to take into account the benefits of crime (the payoff fallacy)c. believing that association is the same as causationd. failing to understand the difference between positive and normative economics.

Answer 1

Answer:

C) believing that association is the same as causation

Explanation:

Two completely independent events can be associated because just by chance they occurred during the same period of time, e.g. I found a $5 bill on the park and I bought lottery ticket and I won a prize. That doesn't mean that every time I will find money on the ground I will win a lottery prize.

Causation on the other hand refers to a strict cause and effect relationship, e.g. I don't like to wash my hands before eating and I have the tendency of getting sick. The fact that I don't wash my hands is directly related to getting sick.