"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 causation
D. failing to understand the difference between positive and normative economics.

Answer: C