»In which we don't cheat

Not entirely about donuts, not entirely about economics, but I like Kottke's anecdote about the coffee-and-donut vendor who has the customers make their own change.

This reminded me of the anecdote in Freakonomics about the suburban D.C. bagel-delivery fellow, who found that customers really did leave the correct sum more than 95% of the time. Over the course of several years, he collected data while delivering bagels to office complexes; the lean years resulted in less honesty than the fat, but overall people paid what they owed.

I am surprised at the honesty (but not at the coffee-and-donut vendor's popularity: efficiency is important, especially in the United States, especially in New York).