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Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything (平装)
by Steven D. Levitt, Stephen J. Dubner
| Category:
Non-fiction, Business |
| Market price: ¥ 108.00
MSL price:
¥ 98.00
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MSL rating:
 Good for Gifts |
| MSL Pointer Review:
Freaky, fun and thought-provoking, this wonderfully popular non-fiction book is full of weird insights and surprising conclusions. |
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AllReviews |
1 2 3   | Total 3 pages 23 items |
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Malcolm Gladwell (author of The Tipping Point and Blink) (MSL quote), USA
<2006-12-26 00:00>
Steven Levitt has the most interesting mind in America, and reading Freaonomics is like going for a leisurely walk with him on a sunny summer day as he waves his fingers in the air and turns everything you once thought to be true inside out. Prepare to be dazzled. |
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Kurt Anderson (author of Turn of the Century) (MSL quote), USA
<2006-12-26 00:00>
In an age of too much wishful, faith-based conventional wisdom on the right and left, and too much intellectual endeavor squeezed into prefab ideological containers, Freakonomics is politically incorrect , in the best, most essential way. Levitt and Dubner suss out all kinds of surprising truths – sometimes important ones, sometimes merely fascinating ones – by means of smart, deep, vigorous open-minded consideration of facts, with a fearless disregard for whom they might be upsetting. This is bracing fun of the highest order. |
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Bookmarks (MSL quote), USA
<2006-12-26 00:00>
"Rogue" economist might be an overstatement. As a professor of economics at the University of Chicago and the recipient of the John Bates Clark medal (presented by the American Economics Association to the nation’s most outstanding economist under 40) Steven Levitt is hardly an outsider. Yet when journalist Stephen Dubner published a profile of Levitt in The New York Times Magazine, the economist's theories struck many as, well, freaky. Levitt’s field of behavior economics tries to combine classical economics with the emotional rules of human behavior. Some critics complain that Freakonomics reads too much like an extended collection of articles without a theme; wasn't this the same complaint we heard most often about Malcolm Gladwell's Blink? Sometimes we don't mind learning about a variety of things, you know. Levitt and Dubner's continued partnership uncovers entertaining tales of the many quirks of human behavior. |
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Mike Freeman (MSL quote), USA
<2006-12-26 00:00>
Economics is brought to the masses by the two Steves - Levitt, the economist who applies his science to real-world issues, and Dubner, the journalist whose captivating style makes finishing this book easy and fun. Levitt advances some pretty far-out theories (legalized abortion helps to stem crime, for example) but he supports his assertions convincingly. The book appears on the surface to be a collection of observations tied loosely together by one common thread - economics. In this case, think of economics less as a boring analysis of mind-numbing data, and more as an application of the principle that human beings will act in their own best interests. So, teachers and sumo wrestlers cheat, crack dealers kill rivals to get promoted, middle- and lower-income families name their children after the offspring of wealthy families, and so forth. Most folks think there isn't a 'point' to the book, but if you pay attention, you will realize that Levitt and Dubner are saying that economics can be applied to everything around you. |
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George Coppedge (MSL quote), Czech Republic
<2006-12-26 00:00>
I almost never considered reading this book based on the hideous and cheesy cover. But then I thought, if this book is still a best seller there must be something great lurking beneath the awful cover. And was I happily surprised! After reading just a paragraph I was hooked. I read 20 pages right then and read the rest of the book in less than 24 hours.
The book examines why people behave the way they do in real life, especially in regards to crime. Incentives - rewards or the possibility of one and penalties or the possibility of one - are the motivators of our lives. And they come not just in financial forms, but also in emotional, social, health, moral and other forms. And incentive schemes often have profound, far-ranging unintended consequences. When abortion was re-legalized in the US in 1973, no one suspected that 20+ years later there would be a dramatic drop off in crime. The reason? Young, unwed pregnant women could suddenly get a safe, legal abortion, and with that the number of children born into poor, broken homes suddenly began dropping overnight. As it turns out, being from a poor, broken home is a good predictor (although certainly no guarantee) that young males (18-25) will embark on a life of crime.
Some of the topics he covers are: why standardized test cheating occurs (by the teachers!), why most drug dealers - despite the Hollywood stereotype - actually still live with their parents, why America's overall crime rate has steadily dropped for the past ten years, how to statistically tell when sporting events are rigged, how the KKK rose and fell, why your child's name doesn't matter, why having a swimming pool is 100x deadlier for your child than owning a gun (and no that isn't an NRA-generated statistic).
Fascinating insight written in effortless, easy style. Outstanding!
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Will Murphy (MSL quote), USA
<2006-12-26 00:00>
The authors tell you in the beginning that there is no unifying theme to the book, and that is true. There IS a common thread in that all chapters analyze some aspect of human behavior with statistics, and reach conclusions about causation and other aspects. For example, one chapter asks what sumo wrestlers and school teachers have in common. The answer is that significant numbers of both groups cheat. Statistical analysis shows it. You do not need to have a significant background in statistics or economics to follow the book. I think anyone with very, very basic knowledge could easily follow the reasoning. The book is surprisingly entertaining. I don't follow sumo wrestling at all, but I was very interested in how the authors were able to determine to a very high degree of certainty that cheating is taking place. There is analysis of drug dealers (why do they live at home?), what real estate agents have in common with the KKK, what effect does someone's name have on their life, and why crime rates fluctuate. One chapter that will rile some readers explores the connection between the availability of abortion and crime. (They are inversely correlated and the authors believe that the relationship is causal.) The authors are VERY clear to say they are not advocating for or against abortion being legal or illegal, only exploring what one of the consequences is. But if you are going to be offended, well, now you are forewarned. |
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An American reader (MSL quote), USA
<2006-12-26 00:00>
Freakonomics, by Stephen D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner, has a blurb on the cover by Malcolm Gladwell, the author of The Tipping Point. Gladwell's and Levitt's books have a great deal in common besides their huge commercial success. Both are works of non-fiction in which the authors look at the modern world from their unique viewpoints. In addition, both books have conversational, humorous, and entertaining prose styles.
Levitt, who was dubbed "the most brilliant young economist in America" in a 2003 magazine article written by Dubner, approaches his discipline in a most unconventional way. He is interested in "the stuff and riddles of everyday life," and he uses the tools of economics to "explain how people get what they want."
Just like Gladwell does in The Tipping Point, Levitt poses a series of off-beat questions, and after digging deeply for the answers, he demonstrates that the truth is anything but obvious. Levitt asks: How many schoolteachers cheat to raise their students' test scores, and is there a way to catch the wrongdoers? How and why do real estate agents exploit their clients? Why did crime plummet during the 1990s? Does nature or nurture have the greater impact on a child's success in life? Levitt explores all of these issues and more, and although he does not always provide definitive answers, his comments are usually original and thought-provoking.
On the down side, Levitt occasionally segues too quickly from one topic to the next and he sometimes obfuscates rather than clarifies. In addition, some of the topics that he covers are rather flimsy, such as the one about the significance of baby names. My favorite section deals with the reason why so many drug dealers still live with their mothers. The author recounts a study conducted by Indian-born Sudhir Venkatesh who went into the field in the poorest neighborhoods of Chicago to learn how young people form their identities. Sudhir came into contact with crack dealers, gang members, and other assorted miscreants, and he emerged with some eye-opening and counter-intuitive information about the criminal hierarchy. This section of the book is enlightening not just from an economic standpoint, but also from a sociological and psychological perspective.
For the most part, Freakonomics is amusing, politically incorrect, and provocative. Although Scottish essayist Thomas Carlyle called economics "the dismal science," Levitt and Dubner's book demonstrates that when applied with wit, style, and creative thinking, economics can be a very cool science indeed. |
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Jim Todd (MSL quote), USA
<2006-12-26 00:00>
This was a fun read, Freakonomics, so called because of the bizarre questions that Levitt poses. Such as "Why do drug dealers still live with their moms?" The answers are eye opening.
The most explosive charge in the book: Roe V. Wade heralded in a precipitous drop in crime across America in the 1990s, when the aborted fetuses from the early 1970s would have reached their crime prime.
But don't expect Levitt to apologize for offending in any of his observations. He offers that morality is the way life should be but economics is the way it is.
I wish he had explored more of the names of African-American babies. I would like to know why so many of the names have alternate spellings. Is it because they want to be different? Or is it that they don't know the correct spelling? Levitt does offer one case of a woman naming her baby "Temptress," after the actress Tempest Bledsoe of The Cosby Show. In that case, the woman had in fact erroneously misspelled the name. But what about all the others?
I'd like to see a study done. If an African American woman who just gave birth offers the name "Denice" to the attendant at the hospital, might the attendant remind her that "Denise" is the correct spelling? How often would the new mother accede to the proper spelling? Is the non questioning of these increasingly bizarre misspellings a case of not wishing to offend? Or might the attendants not know how to spell either? Whatever the case, whether it's a deliberate misspelling to appear exotic or a misspelling out of ignorance I don't think it makes the person appear educated.
Levitt analyzes people's fear of flying vs. driving and concludes that in both cases it's just the fear of death. Then he breaks it down into a "per hour" death rate and concludes that both modes of transportation are equally dangerous--or not so. But what he fails to observe is that the fear of flying is not exactly as the fear of driving. Fearing a car crash and dying is nothing compared to fearing falling 6 miles out of the sky, nose diving at 750 mph. That's a LONG way down with way too much time to anticipate the final explosion. I was surprised that this fact was not teased from the data.
But, I do love this book. What a fun read. And enlightening. |
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An American reader (MSL quote), USA
<2006-12-26 00:00>
When you combine an economist and a journalist as co-authors in one book, either one of two things will happen. The book will be a comlete disaster, or it will be a masterpiece. The combination of Levitt's application and realism to meaningful issues, with Dubner's, captivating style has resulted in the latter: A Masterpiece!
One thing lacking with a college education today is that kids do not learn how to apply the knowledge they have accumulated over the past 4 years. Regardless of their major, so many aspects of business courses can apply and help today's kids help themselves.
Unfortunately you can not require every college student to take business courses. However, this book would be a very useful requirement for every liberal art major. So many of these people study their field, with no practical guidance or education on how to survive on what they have learned. Economics is everywhere, and those that have an understanding of it, tend to be better off. Imagine if every art major studied economics as well. Perhaps the term starving artist would no longer hold any validity. |
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Will Janis (MSL quote), USA
<2006-12-26 00:00>
This book is pure brain candy. It's material for cocktail parties. And although I can't say I attend many cocktail parties myself, I enjoyed it quite a bit, found myself telling co-workers about it almost every day. Levitt is the brain here, Dubner the writer (not a comment on Dubner's intelligence).
Levitt is a heralded economist at the University of Chicago, but an odd sort of economist. Or, at least, an economist who asks odd questions. The authors promise that the book has no unifying theme. And while it does jump seemingly randomly from question to question, there are some lessons to be learned.
The most obvious reason why something happens is not always the real reason. In fact, sometimes the real reason doesn't even make the list of possibilities. Or, as is often true in the case studies given, the cause turns out not to be the cause at all, but the effect. What topics do the authors tackle? Not to give too much away, but the reason for the crime drop in the mid 1990s had more to do with Roe v. Wade than innovative police tactics. Sumo wrestling is rigged. And having an African-American may impact a person's success in life. Like I said, random topics, possibly not that useful to most of us, but they sure make for interesting reading. |
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1 2 3 | Total 3 pages 23 items |
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