Freakonomics [Revised and Expanded]: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything by Steven D. Levitt @ .::ManagementOnly.com::.

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Freakonomics [Revised and Expanded]: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything

Steven D. Levitt Stephen J. Dubner

Economics

Sales rank 4,806 Customers rating

(based on 1796 reviews)

Freakonomics [Revised and Expanded]: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything

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.

Publisher	William Morrow
Release date	10/2006
Availability	Usually ships in 24 hours
Edition	Hardcover

List price	$29.95
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Comments by amazon customers about Freakonomics [Revised and Expanded]: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything

Humorous, Insightful, and Informative
Quite simply, this would definitely be one of the best books you would ever read. You would really appreciate the way in which Levitt and Dubner pines over and analyses data gathered on some interesting issues. It is refreshing, insightful, definitely funny, and provides a different, yet welcome and informed view. I'd have to say, that it is great seeing others think outside of the box, and being able to so well, articulate that thinking.

i like it
i like this book. it inspired me to take up Economics in college. a recommended read for my fellow students in schools and universities. if you haven't had a close idea what economics is or if you have something in mind about it, this is a great book for you.

The hidden side of everything (besides the free market)
Although the main topic of Freakonomics is the economy I feel the most valuable lessons can be found in the presentation of the book. I will admit I was skeptical about the book when I began. I consider myself a fair person and prefer to look at both sides of every argument. Although I did find most of the examples in this work conspiracy based, the way in which they were presented was very believable. Levitt did a great job in presenting information to drive home his hypothesis. Although the hypotheses was often far fetched, he did stand his ground and gave relatable examples. The fact of the matter is that nobody really knows how the economy works. Conservative or liberal, if we really know how the economy worked we would be able to control it. And looking at the last few years and events throughout history we clearly can not. This is a great read if your looking for another point of view, or a fresh look at the "hidden side of everything"

Just the facts!
An amazing analysis of circumstances that could never be matched in a laboratory. The author uses real-world happenings to explain the cause and effect of different variables. The author keeps a cool, clear head and examines issues that are not always politically correct. There are no biases, only the facts. A facinating read, especially for those that appreciate critical thinking!

trendy and shallow
Freakonomics is a book on popular social statistics research. Michael Levitt is an economist by training, but the subjects of his research and this book are much more sociology or even market research (that said, a lot of ongoing sociology and market research is much more substantial than this book.) The book seems to have been bought by an incredible amount of people that did so to seem smart (the cover and title are much more the sell than the content). Now they can think they are sharp, I guess. The book seems like a collection of articles or really an overgrown article itself (Dubner had already written a long one praising Levitt). There are good books of essays (Feymnan, C.S. Lewis), but this is not one. In all likelihood, if the writers had pushed themselves for a theme, they would have ended up constructing more interesting insights. Basically, the book is intellectually lazy. It lacks footnotes. Methodology is not even described in summary. The one "blockbuster" topic (the assertion that crime dropped because of abortion) lacks convincing proof. In general, social and historical effects can have many confounding factors and causes and this is why history is so amathematical and story-like (and arguable). But the authors seems naively confident that they can ascribe social effects to something happening in a general society with a 20 year lag. The other short topics are often about cheating and statistics to show it and are much stronger in terms of very high statistical significance, immediate cauase and effect, lack of confounding factors, etc. However, they are pretty trivial. And even here, there is no good synthesis of the insights, no connection to literature, to other studies, etc. To put it all in a context. I'm not sure if it is braggadicio or ignorance that leads the authors to act as if these "aha"s are so new. Actually there is a lot in the book that reminds of the typical business book...in the triumphalism of "newness", in the breathy assertion vice support of arguments, the glorification of a (pretty shallow) appearance of neoliberal "smartness" as opposed to actual hard thinking and learning and growing. The sad thing is there is so much interesting to learn in the world. And so much that can be done by good non-fiction books to popularize learning. But Freakonomics is not a good non-fiction book. I forced myself to finish it, just to write this review. And as I persevered, nothing changed to make me appreciate it more. Maybe the dolts buying it for the cover and to mention at parties were brighter than I.