Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything

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Overview

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? What kind of impact did Roe v. Wade have on violent crime?

These may not sound like typical questions for an economist to ask. But Steven D. Levitt is not a typical economist. He is a much heralded scholar who studies the stuff and riddles of everyday life -- from cheating and crime to sports and child rearing -- and whose conclusions regularly turn the conventional wisdom on its head. He usually begins with a mountain of data and a simple, unasked 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 co-author Stephen J. 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 set out to 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 Ku Klux Klan.

What unites all these stories is a belief that the modern world, despite a surfeit of obfuscation, complication, 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. Steven Levitt, through devilishly clever and clear-eyed thinking, shows how to see through all the clutter.

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.

Editorial Reviews

From Barnes & Noble

Is this book's appeal due to its wacky revisionist title, its unsettling take on Roe v. Wade, or just its compulsively readable argument that economics does nothing more than study the incentives that drive us? Probably all of the above. What we do know is that it's the only economics book we've ever labeled a page-turner. An extraordinary work of social science explanation without oversimplification.

Associated Press Staff

“An unconventional economist defies conventional wisdom.”

More Reviews (1) Fewer Reviews

From The Critics

“Provocative… eye-popping.”

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780060731335
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date: 8/25/2009
Pages: 352
Sales rank: 588
Series: P.S. Series
Product dimensions: 5.20 (w) x 7.90 (h) x 0.90 (d)

Meet the Author

Steven D. Levitt is a professor of economics at the University of Chicago and a recipient of the John Bates Clark Medal, awarded to the most influential economist under the age of forty.

Read an Excerpt

Chapter One

What Do Schoolteachers
and Sumo Wrestlers
Have in Common?

Imagine for a moment that you are the manager of a day-care center. You have a clearly stated policy that children are supposed to be picked up by 4 p.m. But very often parents are late. The result: at day's end, you have some anxious children and at least one teacher who must wait around for the parents to arrive. What to do?

A pair of economists who heard of this dilemma -- it turned out to be a rather common one -- offered a solution: fine the tardy parents. Why, after all, should the day-care center take care of these kids for free?

The economists decided to test their solution by conducting a study of ten day-care centers in Haifa, Israel. The study lasted twenty weeks, but the fine was not introduced immediately. For the first four weeks, the economists simply kept track of the number of parents who came late; there were, on average, eight late pickups per week per day-care center. In the fifth week, the fine was enacted. It was announced that any parent arriving more than ten minutes late would pay $3 per child for each incident. The fee would be added to the parents' monthly bill, which was roughly $380.

After the fine was enacted, the number of late pickups promptly went ... up. Before long there were twenty late pickups per week, more than double the original average. The incentive had plainly backfired.

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. Economists love incentives. They love to dream them up and enact them, study them and tinker with them. The typical economist believes the world has not yet invented a problem that he cannot fix if given a free hand to design the proper incentive scheme. His solution may not always be pretty -- it may involve coercion or exorbitant penalties or the violation of civil liberties -- but the original problem, rest assured, will be fixed. An incentive is a bullet, a lever, a key: an often tiny object with astonishing power to change a situation.

We all learn to respond to incentives, negative and positive, from the outset of life. 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. If you break curfew, you get grounded. But if you ace your SATs, you get to go to a good college. If you flunk out of law school, you have to go to work at your father's insurance company. But if you perform so well that a rival company comes calling, you become a vice president and no longer have to work for your father. If you become so excited about your new vice president job that you drive home at eighty mph, you get pulled over by the police and fined $100. But if you hit your sales projections and collect a year-end bonus, you not only aren't worried about the $100 ticket but can also afford to buy that Viking range you've always wanted -- and on which your toddler can now burn her own finger.

An incentive is simply a means of urging people to do more of a good thing and less of a bad thing. But most incentives don't come about organically. Someone -- an economist or a politician or a parent -- has to invent them. Your three-year-old eats all her vegetables for a week? She wins a trip to the toy store. A big steelmaker belches too much smoke into the air? The company is fined for each cubic foot of pollutants over the legal limit. Too many Americans aren't paying their share of income tax? It was the economist Milton Friedman who helped come up with a solution to this one: automatic tax withholding from employees' paychecks.

There are three basic flavors of incentive: economic, social, and moral. Very often a single incentive scheme will include all three varieties. Think about the anti-smoking campaign of recent years. The addition of a $3-per-pack "sin tax" is a strong economic incentive against buying cigarettes. The banning of cigarettes in restaurants and bars is a powerful social incentive. And when the U.S. government asserts that terrorists raise money by selling black-market cigarettes, that acts as a rather jarring moral incentive.

Some of the most compelling incentives yet invented have been put in place to deter crime. Considering this fact, it might be worthwhile to take a familiar question -- why is there so much crime in modern society? -- and stand it on its head: why isn't there a lot more crime?

After all, every one of us regularly passes up opportunities to maim, steal, and defraud. The chance of going to jail—thereby losing your job, your house, and your freedom, all of which are essentially economic penalties -- is certainly a strong incentive. But when it comes to crime, people also respond to moral incentives (they don't want to do something they consider wrong) and social incentives (they don't want to be seen by others as doing something wrong). For certain types of misbehavior, social incentives are terribly powerful. In an echo of Hester Prynne's scarlet letter, many American cities now fight prostitution with a "shaming" offensive, posting pictures of convicted johns (and prostitutes) on websites or on local-access television. Which is a more horrifying deterrent: a $500 fine for soliciting a prostitute or the thought of your friends and family ogling you on www.HookersAndJohns.com ...

The foregoing is excerpted from Freakonomics by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J Dubner. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced without written permission from HarperCollins Publishers, 10 East 53rd Street, New York, NY 10022

	Introduction : the hidden side of everything	3
1	What do schoolteachers and sumo wrestlers have in common?	19
2	How is the Ku Klux Klan like a group of real-estate agents?	55
3	Why do drug dealers still live with their moms?	89
4	Where have all the criminals gone?	117
5	What makes a perfect parent?	147
6	Perfect parenting, Part II; or : would a Roshanda by any other name smell as sweet?	179
	Epilogue : two paths to Harvard	205

First Chapter

Freakonomics Rev Ed
A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything

Chapter One

What Do Schoolteachers and Sumo Wrestlers Have in Common?

Imagine for a moment that you are the manager of a day-care center. You have a clearly stated policy that children are supposed to be picked up by 4 P.M. But very often parents are late. The result: at day's end, you have some anxious children and at least one teacher who must wait around for the parents to arrive. What to do?

A pair of economists who heard of this dilemma—it turned out to be a rather common one—offered a solution: fine the tardy parents. Why, after all, should the day-care center take care of these kids for free?

After the fine was enacted, the number of late pickups promptly went . . . up. Before long there were twenty late pickups per week, more than double the original average. The incentive had plainly backfired.

Economics is, at root, the study of incentives: how people get what they want, or need, especially when other peoplewant or need the same thing. Economists love incentives. They love to dream them up and enact them, study them and tinker with them. The typical economist believes the world has not yet invented a problem that he cannot fix if given a free hand to design the proper incentive scheme. His solution may not always be pretty—it may involve coercion or exorbitant penalties or the violation of civil liberties—but the original problem, rest assured, will be fixed. An incentive is a bullet, a lever, a key: an often tiny object with astonishing power to change a situation.

We all learn to respond to incentives, negative and positive, from the outset of life. 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. If you break curfew, you get grounded. But if you ace your SATs, you get to go to a good college. If you flunk out of law school, you have to go to work at your father's insurance company. But if you perform so well that a rival company comes calling, you become a vice president and no longer have to work for your father. If you become so excited about your new vice president job that you drive home at eighty mph, you get pulled over by the police and fined $100. But if you hit your sales projections and collect a year-end bonus, you not only aren't worried about the $100 ticket but can also afford to buy that Viking range you've always wanted—and on which your toddler can now burn her own finger.

An incentive is simply a means of urging people to do more of a good thing and less of a bad thing. But most incentives don't come about organically. Someone—an economist or a politician or a parent—has to invent them. Your three-year-old eats all her vegetables for a week? She wins a trip to the toy store. A big steelmaker belches too much smoke into the air? The company is fined for each cubic foot of pollutants over the legal limit. Too many Americans aren't paying their share of income tax? It was the economist Milton Friedman who helped come up with a solution to this one: automatic tax withholding from employees' paychecks.

Some of the most compelling incentives yet invented have been put in place to deter crime. Considering this fact, it might be worthwhile to take a familiar question—why is there so much crime in modern society?—and stand it on its head: why isn't there a lot more crime?

After all, every one of us regularly passes up opportunities to maim, steal, and defraud. The chance of going to jail—thereby losing your job, your house, and your freedom, all of which are essentially economic penalties—is certainly a strong incentive. But when it comes to crime, people also respond to moral incentives (they don't want to do something they consider wrong) and social incentives (they don't want to be seen by others as doing something wrong). For certain types of misbehavior, social incentives are terribly powerful. In an echo of Hester Prynne's scarlet letter, many American cities now fight prostitution with a "shaming" offensive, posting pictures of convicted johns (and prostitutes) on websites or on local-access television. Which is a more horrifying deterrent: a $500 fine for soliciting a prostitute or the thought of your friends and family ogling you on www.HookersAndJohns.com?

So through a complicated, haphazard, and constantly readjusted web of economic, social, and moral incentives, modern society does its best to militate against crime. Some people would argue that we don't do a very good job. But . . .

Freakonomics Rev Ed
A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything. Copyright © by Steven Levitt. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved. Available now wherever books are sold.

Interviews & Essays

A Message from the Coauthor

Steven Levitt doesn't think like you and me. (Well, I can't vouch for you, but I can vouch for me.) He has a brain that seems to hum along on its very own frequency. He can look at some scenario -- the rise and fall of crime, the real-estate market, the modern obsession with competitive parenting -- and instantly begin to ask questions, and come up with answers, that are simply astounding. In retrospect, you may scratch your head and say, "Why didn't I think of that?" This is what makes his work so intoxicating: He answers the questions we haven't yet figured out how to ask.

Yes, it's true that Levitt is an economist. But never before has the so-called dismal science been given a less dismal presentation. As Levitt sees it, economics is a science with excellent tools for gaining answers but a serious shortage of interesting questions. His particular gift is the ability to ask such questions. For instance: If drug dealers make so much money, why do they still live with their mothers? Which is more dangerous, a gun or a swimming pool? What really caused crime rates to plunge during the past decade? Do real-estate agents have their clients' best interests at heart? Why do black parents give their children names that may hurt their career prospects? Do schoolteachers cheat to meet high-stakes testing standards? Is sumo wrestling corrupt?

Levitt works with data, mountains of it, and from his data he teases out stories that are often surprising and may even make us uncomfortable, but which are most likely true. Several years ago, for instance, he wrote a paper linking Roe v. Wade with a drop in crime. His thinking went like this: the women most likely to seek an abortion in the wake of Roe v. Wade -- poor, single, or teenage mothers -- were the very women whose children, if born, have been shown most likely to become criminals. But since those children weren't born, crime began to decrease during the years they would have entered their criminal prime.

Unlike a politician or a theologian or a paid pundit, Levitt is free to come up with answers based on nothing more complicated than the truth. Morality, it could be argued, represents the way that people would like the world to work -- whereas economics represents how it actually does work. The modern world, despite a surfeit of obfuscation, complication, and downright deceit, is not impenetrable, is not unknowable, and -- if the right questions are asked -- is even more intriguing than one might think. All it takes is a new way of looking. Stephen J. Dubner

Reading Group Guide

About the Book

These may not sound like typical questions for an economist to ask. But Steven D. Levitt is not a typical economist. He is a much-heralded young scholar who studies the riddles of everyday life -- from cheating and crime to sports and child-rearing -- and whose conclusions regularly turn the conventional wisdom on its head. He usually begins with a mountain of data and a simple, unasked 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 co-author Stephen J. 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 set out to 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 Ku Klux Klan.

What unites all these stories is a belief that the modern world, despite a surfeit of obfuscation, complication, 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. Steven Levitt, through devilishly clever and clear-eyed thinking, shows how to see through all the clutter.

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.

Discussion Questions:

Most people think of economics as a dry subject matter concerning monetary and fiscal matters. How does Freakonomics change this definition?

Freakonomics argues that morality represent the way we'd like the world to work, whereas economics can show how the world really does work. Do you agree?

Freakonomics lists three varieties of incentives: social, moral, and financial. Can you think of others?

Freakonomics shows how the conventional wisdom is often shoddily formed. What are some instances of conventional wisdom that you've always doubted?

Does it seem as though "experts" truly hold too much power in the modern world, or are we lucky to have them?

What are some issues in your daily life toward which you can apply some Freakonomics-style thinking?

What were some of the most convincing arguments put forth in Freakonomics? What were some of the least convincing?

How does the argument linking Roe v. Wade to a drop in crime change your thinking about abortion?

How does the view of parenting in Freakonomics jibe with your own view?

After reading Freakonomics, do you think that cheating is more prevalent or less prevalent than you thought it was before you read the book?

About the authors

Steven Levitt is a Professor of Economics at the University of Chicago and an editor of The Journal of Political Economy. In January 2004 he was awarded the John Bates Clark medal -- for the economist under 40 who has made the greatest contribution to the discipline -- by the American Economic Association.

Stephen J. Dubner is the author of Confessions of a Hero Worshiper and Turbulent Souls and is a former writer and editor at the New York Times Magazine. He lives in New York City with his family.

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Anonymous

Posted December 9, 2009

Fun and entertaining!

It was a very interesting and fun book. Some of the information wasn't new to me but it was far from repetitive or boring!

1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
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nima

Posted May 22, 2009

Great book to read!

When I first started reading this book, I didn't expect it to be good at all but after reading it more, I was surprised by the information the author provides the readers with. I thought I would be reading a book with mostly statistics and numbers about economy but it's the exact opposite.This book teaches you how incentives can affect people's behaviors and why people act the way they do.It also gives you interseting examples, such as teachers who cheated in order to win bonuses and how abortions caused crime rates to decreae. By reading this book,you will be able to understand more about the strategies that economists and real estate agents use in order to gain profits. Basically The authors relate random real life examples to economy. I would suggest everyone to read this book because it's interesting and informative.

1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
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ellengunn

Posted February 7, 2012

Essential!

i received this book as a gift when I was 17 and was completely obsessed with it. Five years later, I still consider it a favorite. Freakonomics shows the invisible hand at work while hilariously commentating on fascinating discoveries. I can't think of anyone who shouldn't read this book!
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Allison_Peters

Posted January 8, 2012

freakonomics

In the book Freakonomics written by Steven Levitt who is an economist who has a unique way of looking at the world, he explores “ the hidden side of everything” including the drop in crime in the 1990’s, he concludes the it had little to do with what everybody was thinking such as new police tactics, more police on the streets cracking down on crime, or even a better and stronger economy. He reveals that it all began 20 years earlier with one woman from Dallas named Norma McCorvey and that that it was actually her court case years earlier that caused the severe drop in crime: Roe vs. Wade, the court case that legalized abortion. He says that most mothers getting the abortions are low income young women, who would give birth to children who were most likely to become criminals. Since abortion became legal many of these potential criminals were not being born Therefore, creating less crime, hence the substantial drop in the crime rate.
He also explores how the no child left behind act can make teachers cheat by teaching to the test or even changing their students answers to benefit themselves. He also reveals the corruption involved in sumo wrestling. How good parenting has nothing to do with your parenting skills at all, and a name given at birth can determine your child’s future, he provides details of gang drug dealing and how it is almost like a franchise. The further up you are in the gang the more money you make, and everybody aspires to be on the board of directors. He describes how “foot soldiers” or street-salesmen make less than minimum wage and have a 1 in 4 chance of being killed, yet there is a waiting list to become one. He even explains corruption through a story about bagels. I enjoyed reading the book and I would recommend that others read it too.
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NIC-LIKES-TO-READ

Posted November 11, 2011

more from this reviewer

Recommended for anyone

Highly sophisticated read!
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Book_Surfer

Posted October 31, 2011

Problem: Crime. Solution: Abortion. (Spoiler Alert)

My mother is an economics teacher, and ever since she discovered the book "Freakonomics", I've been hearing about its humorous studies that would make even me, like economics. In this book, the authors Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner, redefine the whole purpose and study of economics. Instead of looking for the obvious and easiest answer, they dig deep and look for the less obvious, but plausible answer. Instead of giving the public the answer they want to hear, they give them the "ugly truth" something that has caused this book to be a huge success, but also controversial.
One study investigated how names can affect your opportunities in life. For example if you have a very obvious black sounding name, will it make you less successful? The authors tested this idea by sending out two sets of identical résumés. One set with a black name the other set with a white sounding name. The set of résumés with the black sounding name received fewer call-backs than the resumes that had obvious white sounding name. This is interesting because it shows how bigotry and racism are still alive in America today. And finally the most shocking study in the book is the one that correlates the drop in crime in the early 1990's to the passage of Roe vs. Wade in the 1970's. Legalized abortion, according to Levitt, is directly related to a drop in crime. Legalizing abortion made it easier for women, especially poor women, to obtain an abortion and prevent unwanted children from being born. Unwanted children have higher rates of truancy, do poorly in school, and are more likely to become criminals. Children of poor, uneducated, unwed teenage mothers are the most likely to grow up to become criminals. If these children are never born, then they cannot commit crimes. He compared states that legalized abortion before Roe vs. Wade and saw that those states crime rates decreased earlier than the rest of the nation. He also noted that states that not only legalized abortion but also made abortion less restrictive saw even greater drops in crime. Although this study may seem morally objectionable, it's difficult to argue with the data.
These studies, and many others that the authors did, are what captivated me while reading this book. I believe that anyone with a sense of humor will love the approach that Levitt takes to answer questions and analyze things that people would never consider. Personally, I think the book is amazing, and everyone should read it because it really makes you pause and think that the causes behind some things you hear are not always true. After reading "Freakonomics" I am now looking forward to taking some economics classes in college. This is a book everyone should read.
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Anonymous

Posted October 31, 2011

Recommended

I would recommend Freakonomics because it is interesting. Levitt and Dubner correlate various seemingly different subjects together to prove an economic phenomenon. It is humorous at times as well as informative.
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Anonymous

Posted October 30, 2011

I highly recommend this book!

This book is interesting and extremely thought provoking. It forces you to connect things in life that you never thought were similar. The comparisons that Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner use are wild at first, but they help you learn about the root of economics, incentives, in a way that all readers will find fascinating.
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selina2416

Posted October 26, 2011

more from this reviewer

Who knew econ could be so funny...?

The authors had such a great sense a humor that made me want to keep on reading. This book was mandatory for my economics class and I was really dreading to have to read a book about economics because I figured it would be so boring that it would make me fall asleep. Surprisingly, this book was the exact opposite! I totally recommend this book for any teenager that has to read an econ book for class because this one doesn't even seem like it's about econ. It literally made me laugh out loud about some of the things the authors said. This has to be one of my favorite mandotory books that I had to read for school.
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Anonymous

Posted August 8, 2011

Great read! Highly recommend!

Really thoughtful and insightful book. Will make you think! Highly recommend!
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risuena

Posted July 28, 2011

One of the best business books I've read!

Sometimes it's difficult to read business and finance books, but this one is a really quick read. It's so fascinating and engaging, applied economics like I've never seen. I love the comparisons, examples, and writing style. I enjoy reading about how his theories and research connect.
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LaurenShields

Posted June 1, 2011

I Also Recommend:

Thoughts to Ponder

Freakonomics is a very insightful book. It makes you think outside of the box in a way that can only be healthy for the human mind. Not only is the book educating, but it is entertaining and thought provoking. I recommend it. In addition to this book, I've also been recommending Generational Wealth: Business & Investing Guide to Building an Empire. I love that book!
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dukecubs

Posted April 18, 2011

Freakonomics Review

Freakonomics, by Steven D. Levitt & Stephen J. Dubner, is a fascinating book. The mission of the book is to "explore the hidden side of everything." Freakonomics certainly accomplishes its' mission and much more. Some topics the Levitt & Dubner explore are: high stake testing in the Chicago public school system; Real-Estate Agents; drug dealers; sumo wrestlers; and parenting. Amazingly, by examining data from existing studies, these topics are logically interwoven and successfully connected by the authors. The main idea that connects all of these topics is incentives. The authors contest you can predict human behavior by knowing what a persons incentives are. For example: often times Real Estate agents do not encourage their clients to hold out for another offer that may be higher, because they typically only receive $100 per every $10,000 of a sold home, however when selling their own homes, they hold out for that higher offer; parents often follow trends in naming and raising their children, such as buying parenting books, or consulting naming experts, because they feel it will make them better parents and lead their child to a better life, when in fact it is the parents attitude and commitment to their children that make the difference, not the books or name; school teachers fill in unanswered questions and change answers on standardized tests for the students, because their job and bonuses are based on the results of the test. Freakonomics is filled with these types of examples. For educators, this book is very useful because it is all about human behavior, or why we do the things we do. The book can help educators think of an incentive structure in their classrooms to get the behavior they desire out of their students. The incentives could be for positive or negative behavior. For example, if your students are not following the classroom rules, they go to lunch late, or lose outside time. On the flip side, if they are following rules, they get an extra 15 minutes of outside time; or if they class average is a B for a nine weeks period, the students get to go on a field trip. Additionally, the book explores ethical issues both in and out of the classroom, which everyone,not just educators, can benefit from.
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aaronf1993

Posted April 5, 2011

A Great Overall Read!!!

Levitt and Dubner's Freakonomics provides various examples of insightful thinking and goes to the core of every question in a very unorthodox and original manner. Levitt proposes questions majority of people have never successfully been able to give explanations for and gives it his own twist. He comes up with explanations to certain economic situations that no one else in the world has been able connect together and he does it in a casual, slightly humorous manner. Overall this book was a wonderful read and I strongly beleieve would be beneficial to anyone who picks it up and reads it!!
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mf06

Posted April 5, 2011

Fun Approach to Everyday Problems

How are crime rates and abortions related? Do school teachers and sumo wrestlers have the same incentives? Is the Ku Klax Klan like real estate agents? Are drug dealers actually rich? Is parenting important? These are seemingly unrelated questions one might throw out, but surprisingly these can all be answered with the fundamental ideas of economics presented in this book. Crime rates are related to the legalization of abortion because those children who would have been born would most likely have been criminals, but due to abortion they are not born; therefore, the crime rate shows a steady decline. School teachers and sumo wrestlers are also alike in the way that they both will cheat if there is a good incentive. Levitt and Dubner prove that cheating can be predicted through the certain incentives presented. The KKK and real estate agents are similar in the way that they have tremendous amount of power because they hold information that others cannot access. But once those information is released to the public, they lose their immediate power because they cannot use the information to their advantage. Even though these information do not directly relate to our lives, the fundamental ideas can help us understand the underlying cause and effect of events that make up our society. In Freakonomics these ideas are laid out in an orderly fashion with fun, creative examples that allow anyone to understand it easily. Freakonomics will help people look at more than just the surface of things. It may even prevent people from being fooled by luring ads or life insurance deals that may be deceiving underneath.
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AndrewBravo

Posted April 5, 2011

Its a great book and i recomend it for anyone who wants to see things in a different perspective.

The part of the book i liked the most was when he explained the chances people had on cheating and that most people that think that they can get away with cheating they will ultimateky try it and try to get away with it. This book is great. i heard this book was good throuh my cousin and she never ceases to disapoint me with book recomendations. another great book. It has a reading style that can take some time to get used to but once you got it your hooked and dont want to put it down. a definite must read book.
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nbarany

Posted April 5, 2011

Awesome Book-Informative and Interesting

This is truly and enlightening book on how economics permeates through just about everything we do. Levitt and Dubner uncover secrets behind scams and false conventional wisdom through the use of some extremely interesting observational studies and common knowledge. This book really opened my eyes about things I had never even considered to be related to each other (specifically legalizing abortion and lowered crime rates). At first you make think this is a dry economics book, but once you read the first chapter you won't be able to set it down. A must read!
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6052186

Posted January 30, 2011

Very insightful

enjoyable read.
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Anonymous

Posted November 18, 2010

awesome

great book
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Anonymous

Posted May 15, 2010

very informative

great book.

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything

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What Do Schoolteachers and Sumo Wrestlers Have in Common?

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Fun and entertaining!

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freakonomics

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Problem: Crime. Solution: Abortion. (Spoiler Alert)

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Who knew econ could be so funny...?

Great read! Highly recommend!

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Freakonomics Review

A Great Overall Read!!!

Fun Approach to Everyday Problems

Its a great book and i recomend it for anyone who wants to see things in a different perspective.

Awesome Book-Informative and Interesting

Very insightful

awesome

very informative

What Do Schoolteachers
and Sumo Wrestlers
Have in Common?