Freakonomics [Revised and Expanded]: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything
by Steven D. Levitt
![Freakonomics [Revised and Expanded]: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51Z1scnqz1L._SL160_.jpg)
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List Price: $27.95
Our Price: $14.99
Your Save: $ 12.96 ( 46% )
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Manufacturer: William Morrow
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Binding: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 330
EAN: 9780061234002
ISBN: 0061234001
Label: William Morrow
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 336
Publication Date: 2006-10-02
Publisher: William Morrow
Release Date: 2006-10-17
Studio: William Morrow
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: Computers
Comment: Computers, not abortion are the reason for the drop in crime in the 90's.
Think about it.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Rogue? What rogue?
Comment: Even if his research interests are cheating, corruption, and crime, Steven D. Levitt - MIT PhD, John Bates Clark Medal winner and father of four - makes a poor rogue. And it is sometimes hard to tell if he is an economist, statistician or sociologist. Other than those minor points, the title is fairly accurate.
Levitt is best known for his controversial argument that legalized abortion was largely responsible for the unexpected drop in US crime rates during the 1990s. But the book covers many other topics. Suspicious patterns of right and wrong answers on multiple choice tests are used to catch cheating (by teachers!). Consistent wins against the odds in crucial sumo bouts put the finger on colluding wrestlers. Real estate agents keep their own homes on the market longer, and sell them for higher prices, than they do with clients' homes. And a retired economist and college educated gang leader happen to keep unusually good records of their respective bagel and crack cocaine businesses.
Like Seinfeld, Freakonomics claims not to be about anything. This disclaimer, however, is somewhat undermined by the list of themes (conveniently highlighted in italics) in the introduction. Themes, moreover, stunning in their banality and vacuity. "Incentives are the cornerstone of modern life . . . The conventional wisdom is often wrong . . . Dramatic effects often have distant, even subtle, causes . . . Experts use their informational advantages to serve their own agenda . . . Knowing what to measure and how to measure it makes a complicated world much less so . . . morality represents the way we would like the world to work, and economics represents the way it does work."
The authors liked the last line so much they could not resist repeating it throughout the book, even when what they are writing shows the exact opposite. Economic incentives can backfire if they weaken social and moral incentives - imposing a small fine on tardy parents at a day-care centre or paying donors for blood. And their explantion of incentives is gruesomely bad:
"If you toddle over to the hot stove and touch it, you burn a finger. But if you bring home straight A's from school, you get a new bike. If you are spotted picking your nose in class, you get ridiculed. But if you make the basketball team, you move up the social ladder." (Followed by three more pairs of totally unrelated opposites.)
Freakonomics is full of interesting stories, even if each finding could be (and has been) questioned individually. (After all, is there anything interesting in the social sciences that has not attracted criticism?) If anecdotes are all you want, the book is great. If you want anything more . . .
Originally published in the Economic Record, March 2006.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Freakonomics
Comment: This is the most fascinating book I have read this year. I could not resist sending copies to my friends and relatives
Customer Rating:
Summary: Good with flaws
Comment: For those that don't know, the basic idea behind this book is that it applies economics to weird questions that aren't normally thought of as economics, like:
- Are teachers cheating on standardized exams?
- Are sumo wrestlers rigging matches?
- Will real estate dealers get the best deal for clients? (Hint: they tend to get better prices when selling their own houses than when selling clients' houses).
His results are often intriguing, and this results in a very interesting and readable book. Even people who hated economics in college or swore they would never take it will enjoy this book.
However, it seems like the authors let their own political views bias their work in places. For example, one of their more controversial claims is that abortion led to decreases in crime because the people most likely to be aborted are also the people most likely to be criminals. While this may be intuitive, other economists, such as Dr. John Lott, have largely discredited this finding. One of the many problems with their finding is that the decrease in crime in the 90's (which the authors chalk up to abortion) was greatest among people born before Roe v. Wade, which is exactly the opposite of what you'd expect if their analysis was correct.
Other than their occasional slips to political bias, this book is very well written and makes for a good read, and I recommend it overall.
Customer Rating:
Summary: DANGEROUS BOOK
Comment: This would be a dangerous book if Americans werent stupid and corrupt.
Its a page-flipper and definitely interesting.
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Editorial Reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: Computers
Comment: Computers, not abortion are the reason for the drop in crime in the 90's.
Think about it.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Rogue? What rogue?
Comment: Even if his research interests are cheating, corruption, and crime, Steven D. Levitt - MIT PhD, John Bates Clark Medal winner and father of four - makes a poor rogue. And it is sometimes hard to tell if he is an economist, statistician or sociologist. Other than those minor points, the title is fairly accurate.
Levitt is best known for his controversial argument that legalized abortion was largely responsible for the unexpected drop in US crime rates during the 1990s. But the book covers many other topics. Suspicious patterns of right and wrong answers on multiple choice tests are used to catch cheating (by teachers!). Consistent wins against the odds in crucial sumo bouts put the finger on colluding wrestlers. Real estate agents keep their own homes on the market longer, and sell them for higher prices, than they do with clients' homes. And a retired economist and college educated gang leader happen to keep unusually good records of their respective bagel and crack cocaine businesses.
Like Seinfeld, Freakonomics claims not to be about anything. This disclaimer, however, is somewhat undermined by the list of themes (conveniently highlighted in italics) in the introduction. Themes, moreover, stunning in their banality and vacuity. "Incentives are the cornerstone of modern life . . . The conventional wisdom is often wrong . . . Dramatic effects often have distant, even subtle, causes . . . Experts use their informational advantages to serve their own agenda . . . Knowing what to measure and how to measure it makes a complicated world much less so . . . morality represents the way we would like the world to work, and economics represents the way it does work."
The authors liked the last line so much they could not resist repeating it throughout the book, even when what they are writing shows the exact opposite. Economic incentives can backfire if they weaken social and moral incentives - imposing a small fine on tardy parents at a day-care centre or paying donors for blood. And their explantion of incentives is gruesomely bad:
"If you toddle over to the hot stove and touch it, you burn a finger. But if you bring home straight A's from school, you get a new bike. If you are spotted picking your nose in class, you get ridiculed. But if you make the basketball team, you move up the social ladder." (Followed by three more pairs of totally unrelated opposites.)
Freakonomics is full of interesting stories, even if each finding could be (and has been) questioned individually. (After all, is there anything interesting in the social sciences that has not attracted criticism?) If anecdotes are all you want, the book is great. If you want anything more . . .
Originally published in the Economic Record, March 2006.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Freakonomics
Comment: This is the most fascinating book I have read this year. I could not resist sending copies to my friends and relatives
Customer Rating:
Summary: Good with flaws
Comment: For those that don't know, the basic idea behind this book is that it applies economics to weird questions that aren't normally thought of as economics, like:
- Are teachers cheating on standardized exams?
- Are sumo wrestlers rigging matches?
- Will real estate dealers get the best deal for clients? (Hint: they tend to get better prices when selling their own houses than when selling clients' houses).
His results are often intriguing, and this results in a very interesting and readable book. Even people who hated economics in college or swore they would never take it will enjoy this book.
However, it seems like the authors let their own political views bias their work in places. For example, one of their more controversial claims is that abortion led to decreases in crime because the people most likely to be aborted are also the people most likely to be criminals. While this may be intuitive, other economists, such as Dr. John Lott, have largely discredited this finding. One of the many problems with their finding is that the decrease in crime in the 90's (which the authors chalk up to abortion) was greatest among people born before Roe v. Wade, which is exactly the opposite of what you'd expect if their analysis was correct.
Other than their occasional slips to political bias, this book is very well written and makes for a good read, and I recommend it overall.
Customer Rating:
Summary: DANGEROUS BOOK
Comment: This would be a dangerous book if Americans werent stupid and corrupt.
Its a page-flipper and definitely interesting.
Which is more dangerous, a gun or a swimming pool? What do schoolteachers and sumo wrestlers have in common? Why do drug dealers still live with their moms? How much do parents really matter? How did the legalization of abortion affect the rate of violent crime? These may not sound like typical questions for an econo-mist to ask. But Steven D. Levitt is not a typical economist. He is a much-heralded scholar who studies the riddles of everyday life—from cheating and crime to sports and child-rearing—and whose conclusions turn conventional wisdom on its head. Freakonomics is a groundbreaking collaboration between Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner, an award-winning author and journalist. They usually begin with a mountain of data and a simple question. Some of these questions concern life-and-death issues; others have an admittedly freakish quality. Thus the new field of study contained in this book: freakonomics. Through forceful storytelling and wry insight, Levitt and Dubner 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. In Freakonomics, they explore the hidden side of . . . well, everything. The inner workings of a crack gang. The truth about real-estate agents. The myths of campaign finance. The telltale marks of a cheating schoolteacher. The secrets of the Klu Klux Klan. What unites all these stories is a belief that the modern world, despite a great deal of complexity and downright deceit, is not impenetrable, is not unknowable, and—if the right questions are asked—is even more intriguing than we think. All it takes is a new way of looking. Freakonomics establishes this unconventional premise: If morality represents how we would like the world to work, then economics represents how it actually does work. It is true that readers of this book will be armed with enough riddles and stories to last a thousand cocktail parties. But Freakonomics can provide more than that. It will literally redefine the way we view the modern world.
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