Question

read the following excerpt from levitt and dubners freakonomics
he had also-quite without meaning to-designed a beautiful economic experiment. from the beginning,
feldman kept rigorous data on his business. so by measuring the money collected against the bagels taken,
he found it possible to tell, down to the penny, just how honest his customers were. did they steal from him?
if so, what were the characteristics of a company that stole versus a company that did not? under what
circumstances did people tend to steal more, or less?
based on the excerpt, which of the following best explains why the authors included feldman in their study?
feldman designed a beautiful economic experiment
feldman kept rigorous data on his business
feldman disliked people who stole from him.
feldman encouraged people to steal less.

Explanation:

The text mentions that Feldman kept rigorous data on his business, which allowed him to measure customer honesty and analyze related factors. This data - keeping aspect is crucial for an economic study as it provides empirical evidence. The other options either focus on less relevant personal feelings (disliking thieves) or an action (encouraging less stealing) that isn't emphasized in the text as the key reason for inclusion. The "designed a beautiful economic experiment" is a more general statement, but the data - keeping is the specific detail that supports why he was included in the study.

Answer:

Feldman kept rigorous data on his business.