Review: Freakonomics by Steven Levitt & Stephen Dubner
Freakonomics
by Steven D. Levitt & Stephen J. Dubner
An economist and a journalist team up to tackle some rather odd ball questions:
- 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?
Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner label their research into the hidden side of everything “Freakonomics”, a study of incentives and how people get what they want. Whether they’re looking at the Klu Klux Klan or lives of crack dealers, the writers always uncover a new way to look at the story.
Since I started listening to the Freakonomics podcast, I’ve seen the occasional criticism of the team from various economists who say their methodology is flawed or the work is more in line with sociology. This is probably true. I’m mostly listening to these guys because I want a little bit of entertainment and I want to learn something new. They usually provide enough facts that even if I don’t agree with their conclusions I know enough to go off and do my own research.
There are some really interesting stories in this book. I think the chapter I found the most intriguing was one in which they describe what a child’s name reveals about the parents. As we all know, names go in and out of vogue. Certain names become trendy with certain socioeconomic groups. I’ve heard that individuals with an “ethnic” name often have a harder time getting job interviews, a theory that Freakonomics supports. What I found fascinating is that names move down the economic ladder; a name popular with upper middle class families one year starts popping up as a top name for lower middle class children a few years later. That’s something I’ve never really considered before.
When the Freakonomics team gets something wrong, they try to own up to it. The version of this book that I listened to (since I’m used to the podcast I opted for an audiobook) is the ‘Revised and Expanded Edition’, which corrects some misinformation regarding a story about information control and the Klu Klux Klan. The first edition of the book had some statements that later proved to be exaggerations, so the authors went back and corrected the affected chapters. They also removed the quotes at the beginning of each chapter that were taken from an article Dubner wrote about Levitt. It was very pretentious and pompous, and once the authors realized the negative effect the quotes had on readers, they were gone.
So is this “proper” economics? No. I imagine that my economics professors in college would have had fits about the methodology. But it sure is some darn good storytellin’.
3.5 out of 5 stars
To read more about Freakonomics, buy it or add it to your wishlist click here.
Peeking into the archives...today in:
2014: Three Souls by Janie Chang
2013: Metamorphoses by Ovid
2012: Cinder by Marissa Meyer
2011: The Titan's Curse (Percy Jackson #3) by Rick Riordan
2010: Halo: An Angel's Story by Christopher Knowles
2009: Guest Post: Fool by Christopher Moore
by Steven D. Levitt & Stephen J. Dubner
An economist and a journalist team up to tackle some rather odd ball questions:
- 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?
Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner label their research into the hidden side of everything “Freakonomics”, a study of incentives and how people get what they want. Whether they’re looking at the Klu Klux Klan or lives of crack dealers, the writers always uncover a new way to look at the story.
Since I started listening to the Freakonomics podcast, I’ve seen the occasional criticism of the team from various economists who say their methodology is flawed or the work is more in line with sociology. This is probably true. I’m mostly listening to these guys because I want a little bit of entertainment and I want to learn something new. They usually provide enough facts that even if I don’t agree with their conclusions I know enough to go off and do my own research.
There are some really interesting stories in this book. I think the chapter I found the most intriguing was one in which they describe what a child’s name reveals about the parents. As we all know, names go in and out of vogue. Certain names become trendy with certain socioeconomic groups. I’ve heard that individuals with an “ethnic” name often have a harder time getting job interviews, a theory that Freakonomics supports. What I found fascinating is that names move down the economic ladder; a name popular with upper middle class families one year starts popping up as a top name for lower middle class children a few years later. That’s something I’ve never really considered before.
When the Freakonomics team gets something wrong, they try to own up to it. The version of this book that I listened to (since I’m used to the podcast I opted for an audiobook) is the ‘Revised and Expanded Edition’, which corrects some misinformation regarding a story about information control and the Klu Klux Klan. The first edition of the book had some statements that later proved to be exaggerations, so the authors went back and corrected the affected chapters. They also removed the quotes at the beginning of each chapter that were taken from an article Dubner wrote about Levitt. It was very pretentious and pompous, and once the authors realized the negative effect the quotes had on readers, they were gone.
So is this “proper” economics? No. I imagine that my economics professors in college would have had fits about the methodology. But it sure is some darn good storytellin’.
3.5 out of 5 stars
To read more about Freakonomics, buy it or add it to your wishlist click here.
Peeking into the archives...today in:
2014: Three Souls by Janie Chang
2013: Metamorphoses by Ovid
2012: Cinder by Marissa Meyer
2011: The Titan's Curse (Percy Jackson #3) by Rick Riordan
2010: Halo: An Angel's Story by Christopher Knowles
2009: Guest Post: Fool by Christopher Moore