Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything (P.S.)

Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything (P.S.) Review

This is an informative and entertaining attack on the conventional wisdom -- which is less concerned with the truth than with reinforcing popular political agendas. For the authors, one can only believe in the numbers, and they delight in demonstrating the counterintuitive through statistical analysis.

The most interesting insight is the thesis that the drop in crime rate in the 1990s is causally related to 37 million legal abortions occurring after Roe v. Wade: unwanted babies prone to crime who would have come of age in the 1990s were thereby eliminated. Such an argument is a nonstarter in a politically charged environment. But the authors do a great job of explaining it statistically. Also interesting is the use of statistics to catch cheaters -- teachers who want to improve school scores, realtors who sell out their clients to get a quick commission, assorted other experts who misuse their positions. I wished there was more discussion of forensic economics, which is apparently something that Leavitt does on a consulting basis. On the other hand, Levitt does analyze the drug dealer business and demonstrates that it is an enormous pyramid scheme, with those at the bottom being paid less than minimum wage.

There is an irritating tone of self promotion to the book -- as we are repeatedly told how great Levitt is. It reminds me of the what Catfish Hunter said when it was revealed that a new "Reggie" candy bar would be marketed to celebrate Reggie Jackson's arrival in New York. Hunter said: "The Reggie bar is the only candy bar which, when you open it up, tells you how good it is." The book would have benefitted from challenging the reader more, and indulging in a little less self promotion.

Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything (P.S.) Feature

• ISBN13: 9780060731335
• Condition: New
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Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything (P.S.) Overview

Which is more dangerous, a gun or a swimming pool?

What do schoolteachers and sumo wrestlers have in common?

How much do parents really matter?

These may not sound like typical questions for an economist to ask. But Steven D. Levitt is not a typical economist. He studies the riddles of everyday life—from cheating and crime to parenting and sports—and reaches conclusions that turn conventional wisdom on its head. Freakonomics is a groundbreaking collaboration between Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner, an award-winning author and journalist. They set out to explore the inner workings of a crack gang, the truth about real estate agents, the secrets of the Ku Klux Klan, and much more. Through forceful storytelling and wry insight, they show that economics is, at root, the study of incentives—how people get what they want or need, especially when other people want or need the same thing.

Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything (P.S.) Specifications

Economics is not widely considered to be one of the sexier sciences. The annual Nobel Prize winner in that field never receives as much publicity as his or her compatriots in peace, literature, or physics. But if such slights are based on the notion that economics is dull, or that economists are concerned only with finance itself, Steven D. Levitt will change some minds. In Freakonomics (written with Stephen J. Dubner), Levitt argues that many apparent mysteries of everyday life don't need to be so mysterious: they could be illuminated and made even more fascinating by asking the right questions and drawing connections. For example, Levitt traces the drop in violent crime rates to a drop in violent criminals and, digging further, to the Roe v. Wade decision that preempted the existence of some people who would be born to poverty and hardship. Elsewhere, by analyzing data gathered from inner-city Chicago drug-dealing gangs, Levitt outlines a corporate structure much like McDonald's, where the top bosses make great money while scores of underlings make something below minimum wage. And in a section that may alarm or relieve worried parents, Levitt argues that parenting methods don't really matter much and that a backyard swimming pool is much more dangerous than a gun. These enlightening chapters are separated by effusive passages from Dubner's 2003 profile of Levitt in The New York Times Magazine, which led to the book being written. In a book filled with bold logic, such back-patting veers Freakonomics, however briefly, away from what Levitt actually has to say. Although maybe there's a good economic reason for that too, and we're just not getting it yet. --John Moe

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