Freakonomics A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything

The subtitle of this book is a very apt, if slightly exaggerated description: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything. Steven Levitt is certainly a rogue economist in that he uses the concepts of economy to look at many ‘givens’ in a completely new way. The results are often startling and thought provoking, although he certainly doesn’t look at everything-at least in...more

The subtitle of this book is a very apt, if slightly exaggerated description: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything. Steven Levitt is certainly a rogue economist in that he uses the concepts of economy to look at many ‘givens’ in a completely new way. The results are often startling and thought provoking, although he certainly doesn’t look at everything-at least in this book. Most of us probably suffered through economics in school and the thought of reading a book about it when we don’t have to does not sound like fun. Levitt, however, takes this science and spins it on its head, making it both entertaining and informative. By taking economic theory and applying it to everyday questions Levitt comes up with some theories that sound improbable and then proceeds to prove them. Many of his theories may cause some consternation; most outrageous of all is the idea that the reduction in crime over the years has less to do with more police and far more to do with the Roe v Wade decision. This book was very entertaining, written in an engaging style. My biggest complaint is the New York Times article reprints at the end of the book, which basically re-hash what we have already read. The book is also too short and since I hated economics is school I find it ironic that I could want more!   hide

I don't have time to read this, nor would I spend a dime on this book, but I ended up listen to the audio book (thanks Toronto Public Library) for more than twice to extract each single drop of essence I could. It does provide some innovative and controversial explanation of things happened around us, but as the first chapter stated: it has NO centralized theme, and when the author said it,...more

I don't have time to read this, nor would I spend a dime on this book, but I ended up listen to the audio book (thanks Toronto Public Library) for more than twice to extract each single drop of essence I could. It does provide some innovative and controversial explanation of things happened around us, but as the first chapter stated: it has NO centralized theme, and when the author said it, it also meant he does not care if there isn't one, and he definitely would not help the readers to organize and chain all those scattering thought into knowledge. (Knowledge is a consistent systematic loss of informations... this book provides little of the former) One thing loosely repeated in the book: don't put your faith on all those experts' explanation. Look closely with YOUR watchful eyes to discern. Use math and statistics, if used right, is your friend to bisect the truth. Evidence would not lie. It would be far more interesting if only the book could show the way of what it claims!   hide

This is actually a pretty cool book. Being an economics major from UCBerkeley, I really like this guy's style and he does some really interesting studies. His studies on crack dealers was especially interesting and entertaining because its a little out of the box. But then as I got deeper and deeper into the book, I just got the sense that he was using Economics as a way to further his...more

This is actually a pretty cool book. Being an economics major from UCBerkeley, I really like this guy's style and he does some really interesting studies. His studies on crack dealers was especially interesting and entertaining because its a little out of the box. But then as I got deeper and deeper into the book, I just got the sense that he was using Economics as a way to further his political agenda. Maybe I'm wrong but I've always thought that economists can argue any (even opposing) points of view pretty effectively because the subject of Economics has a lot of interpretation and grey areas. That being said, I just felt like this guy came to conclusions that went with his political beliefs and to me lost the purity of what should have been a playful foray into the world of rogue economics. I'm not saying he is politically skewed or thats why he wrote the book but I just got that feeling and as an econ guy, I didn't like it. Thats all.   hide

I hate this book b/c, to me, it's poorly done Sociology parading as something new. There are a number of findings that Sociologists debunked a while ago (e.g. the idea that crime rates are related to abortion have been shown to be untrue and their data were not properly analyzed) or their discussion of the racial inequality in test scores is really poorly done. They include every variable and...more

I hate this book b/c, to me, it's poorly done Sociology parading as something new. There are a number of findings that Sociologists debunked a while ago (e.g. the idea that crime rates are related to abortion have been shown to be untrue and their data were not properly analyzed) or their discussion of the racial inequality in test scores is really poorly done. They include every variable and the kitchen sink and then conclude that how much you read to your kid doesn't matter, it's just how many books you have in your home. They don't even assess how intercorrelated those two variables are. If you include both it's highly unlikely that they both would be statistically significant even if they both are important. If you liked this book, I'd highly recommend taking a sociology course and forget this pop-pseudo-science.   hide

While this was definitely an interesting read, it did live up to a the disclaimer presented by the authors, in that it had no specific focus, and presented an eclectic set of examples and studies conducted to illustrate some of their unorthodox applications of economic theory. Whether it is possible for anyone to completely rework his or her beliefs in regards to cause and effect relationships,...more

While this was definitely an interesting read, it did live up to a the disclaimer presented by the authors, in that it had no specific focus, and presented an eclectic set of examples and studies conducted to illustrate some of their unorthodox applications of economic theory. Whether it is possible for anyone to completely rework his or her beliefs in regards to cause and effect relationships, related factors, etc., I do not know, but think highly unlikely. This book reminded me very much of Malcolm Gladwell's Blink, in that it presented information that should effect the way we look at our cognitive processes, and how well we trust them and also what assumptions we make about them, but will not do much in terms of actually changing any of those things. A good read, overall, but certainly not a non-fiction best. Another thing that was disappointing was that the authors present this "expanded" and "revised" version of the book, and talk about all of their add-ins with an enthusiasm that belies the repetitive nature of these additions. You'll basically get to hear about the same studies conducted over, and over, and over again. I gave up somewhere halfway through the newspaper articles they'd included for our repeated delectation.   hide

In Economics you have all the variables, sometimes you can't find or you just can't put all the variables in place for decision making thus you tend to ignore quite a few of and then that becomes a custom to ignore the same, without thinking again and then time writes those variables off. Sometimes you always think about the small things which actually COUNT rather than the all top big...more

In Economics you have all the variables, sometimes you can't find or you just can't put all the variables in place for decision making thus you tend to ignore quite a few of and then that becomes a custom to ignore the same, without thinking again and then time writes those variables off. Sometimes you always think about the small things which actually COUNT rather than the all top big things which are taken into account while making decisions for a country. Any demand is NOT the direct demand it's in sync with a hell of lot of things. I buy a new expensive pen, I don't buy this one to write (as pen are supposed to be bought to write) I bought this one "not to write" just to show off. Well there is a lot of things to write about in appreciation of the book. I am closing here.   hide

Okay, I was about to review this other book, but this one came up so I'll review it. Frankly, the topics are fascinating. Like do kids with african-american names seem to have lower average income-- and why? I mean, economics must be pretty cool if it can help us understand these things for party-conversation. But more importantly, it is a reminder of how economic thinking can be applied to...more

Okay, I was about to review this other book, but this one came up so I'll review it. Frankly, the topics are fascinating. Like do kids with african-american names seem to have lower average income-- and why? I mean, economics must be pretty cool if it can help us understand these things for party-conversation. But more importantly, it is a reminder of how economic thinking can be applied to difficult questions to actually point out the right questions, even if we don't always have the answers. This elucidating nature is more than well-presented here. The only thing is, it's like a play that never gets past Act II. Like, basically, the pre-coital excitement begins with some fascinating articles, but my problem was that it was a little too light on the data, and a little shallow on the presentation of the analysis (assuming that the original analysis by Levitt is not shallow). By making the book more "readable," perhaps the co-authors have shaved it of substance. It makes me yearn for the original, hard-core, data-encrusted original papers. But then, these books are there for lazy bastards like me who can't get off their ass to look for the original papers.   hide

Een econoom die eigenlijk door een objectieve studie van cijfermateriaal (voornamelijk regressie-analyse) niet bezig is met economie in de financiële / marktgerichte zin van het woord, maar eerder met sociologie. Bv. waarom is het misdaadcijfer in Amerika zo gedaald (niet door meer blauw op straat, de economische context... maar gewoon omdat we x aantal jaar na de legalisering van abortus...more

Een econoom die eigenlijk door een objectieve studie van cijfermateriaal (voornamelijk regressie-analyse) niet bezig is met economie in de financiële / marktgerichte zin van het woord, maar eerder met sociologie. Bv. waarom is het misdaadcijfer in Amerika zo gedaald (niet door meer blauw op straat, de economische context... maar gewoon omdat we x aantal jaar na de legalisering van abortus schrijven - de kinderen die er toen niet zijn gekomen zijn de adolescenten van nu die de meeste kans zouden maken in de misdaadstatiestieken terecht te komen). Of hoe kan je fraude achterhalen door leerkrachten bij de eindexamens aan de Amerikaanse high schools of bij sumowortelaars? Wat kan jij als ouder doen opdat je kinderen goede schoolresultaten behalen (bitter weinig, zo blijkt, het hangt er vnl. vanaf hoe intelligent je zelf bent)? Welke wetmatigheden vallen er in de naamgeving van kinderen mbt de sociale klasse waartoe ze behoren te onderkennen? Enzovoort.   hide

After all the hype about this book, and the fact that it is still (after like 2 years) getting space on the shelves at the local bookstore that shows its cover rather than just the edge of the binding, I was really expecting a great read. Unfortunately I was let down. That doesn't mean you won't like the book though. I think it may not have resonated with me the way it does with...more

After all the hype about this book, and the fact that it is still (after like 2 years) getting space on the shelves at the local bookstore that shows its cover rather than just the edge of the binding, I was really expecting a great read. Unfortunately I was let down. That doesn't mean you won't like the book though. I think it may not have resonated with me the way it does with some folks because I sort of naturally apply the kind of numeric breakdowns they do in the book to almost everything in my life, so it didn't seem that different than my regular thought stream. Give it a try, you'll know if you are going to dig it after the first 40 pages...   hide