Griffin Pontius chapter 5, question 7

       Chapter 5 is titled economic information, and that's precisely what it talks about. However, while reading this chapter I drew a parallel with the examples that the author wrote about.  First, the author writes about a scenario in which two recent Harvard law school graduates are interviewing for the same job, one male, one female. The author argues that the male candidate should be hired over the female candidate because there is a lesser chance of the male leaving to start a family.   The overall story itself is not as important as one of the details within the story itself.  The fact is, both students are from Harvard, whoever doesn't get the job should acquire other oppritunity with relative ease.  That's because Harvard students have a reputation of being very good at what they do.  That's not to say other schools such as the U of M are bad, but Harvads worst students are consistently, a lot better than the U of M's worst students.  

      Later in the chapter, the author talks about McDonalds and why the firm is so successful.  The firm, as well as Harvard students, are successful for the same reason. Consistency. McDonalds is consistent in the sense that it will always taste the same, it will be open 7 days a week, and it will always have a clean bathroom. So while driving through Iowa, instead of stoping at Bobs Burgers, you will stop at McDonalds because you know what to expect.  The same assumption is made about Harvard students, it doesn't matter if they were top of their class at Harvard, the bottom line is they graduated from Harvard. Chances are you'll pick a Harvard student over a Westminster college student.

       In the end, reading this chapter has shown me how big how big of an impact consistency can have on a market, as well as economic success. Being someone who has an interest in being an entrepreneur, this chapter and the parallel I drew between these two topics has been implanted in my brain.  Especially in the case of McDonalds, personally I hate the food, consistently, but the fact of the matter is, that the consistency of the food those Golden Arches make, have the potential to make real arches, of solid gold.