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Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything is a book by economist Steven Levitt and journalist Stephen J. Dubner published in 2005. Freakonomics peaked at number 2 among nonfiction on the New York Times bestseller list, and was named the 2006 Book Sense Book of the Year in the Adult Nonfiction category.
Overview
The book is a collection of economic articles written by Levitt, translated into prose meant for a wide audience. Levitt had already gained a reputation in academia for applying economic theory to diverse topics usually not covered by "traditional" economists. (Note that Levitt is actually not at all a "rogue" economist in that he entirely accepts the standard microeconomic paradigm of rational utility-maximization; he is merely applying it to unconventional subjects.) The book's topics include:
- Chapter 1: Discovering cheating as applied to teachers and sumo wrestlers (See below)
- Chapter 2: Information control as applied to the Ku Klux Klan and real-estate agents
- Chapter 3: The economics of drug dealing, including the surprisingly low wages and abject working conditions of crack cocaine dealers
- Chapter 4: The controversial role legalized abortion has played in reducing crime. (Levitt explored this topic in an earlier paper entitled "The Impact of Legalized Abortion on Crime.")
- Chapter 5: The negligible effects of good parenting on education (instead, the authors assert that it is what the parents are, not what they do, that makes a difference)
- Chapter 6: The socioeconomic patterns of naming children
One striking example of the authors' creative use of economic theory involves demonstrating the existence of cheating among Sumo wrestlers. In a Sumo tournament, all wrestlers compete in fifteen matches. Those who win a majority of the matches receive preferential treatment; those who don't must perform humiliating duties, such as washing hard-to-reach places on the bodies of their betters. The authors looked at the final match, and considered the case of a 7-7 wrestler fighting against an 8-6 wrestler. Statistically, the 7-7 wrestler should have a slightly below even chance, since the 8-6 wrestler is slightly better. However, the 7-7 wrestler actually wins around 80% of the time. Levitt concludes that those who already have 8-6 collude with those who are 7-7 and let them win, since they have already secured preferential treatment.
Reappraisals
In Chapter 2 of Freakonomics, the authors wrote of their visit to folklorist Stetson Kennedy's Florida home where the topic of Kennedy's investigations of the Ku Klux Klan were discussed. However in their January 8, 2006 column in the New York Times Magazine Dubner and Levitt wrote of questions about Stetson Kennedy's research ("Hoodwinked" pp 26-28) leading to the conclusion that Kennedy's research was at times embellished for effectiveness. The implication of the reappraisal of their source was that Kennedy's claims and conclusions should be reviewed for accuracy and verified, rather than being accepted at full face value.
External links
- Official site A student guide is here provided too, for free.
- critical review of book by n+1 magazine
- review of book by Orson Scott Card
- review of book by Yale Economic Review magazine
- seminar on the book at Crooked Timber
References
"Freakonomics"