Details
Synopsis
Economist Steven Levitt is a popularizer in the best sense of that term, and his reality-based view of economics encompasses both how it touches our daily lives (though we may not always see it) and how it can help bring clarity to that messy world we live in. In FREAKONOMICS, written with journalist Stephen J. Dubner, Levitt casts his professorial eye on a range of topics and behaviors, phrasing questions in a way that will open up the topic. The chapter "What Do Schoolteachers and Sumo Wrestlers have In Common?" explores the issue of cheating as an incentive. He examines the economics of crime in a chapter entitled "Why Do Drug Dealers Still Live with Their Moms?" Perhaps he is most controversial when, in another chapter, he connects a drop in the crime rate with a rise in abortions. Along the way, Levitt probes and challenges and delights with facts and figures as he takes us down some less-traveled pathways. He remains, however, true to his discipline, and says his approach "employs the best analytical tools that economics can offer." Reading FREAKONOMICS is like being in the classroom of one of those teachers who really make the subject come alive. You won't get a master's degree from this book but you will have a learning experience. A New York Times Notable Book of the Year for 2005.
| Size | | Length: | 242 pages | | Height: | 9.5 in | | Width: | 6.5 in | | Thickness: | 1.0 in | | Weight: | 17.6 oz |
Publisher's Notes
First Line: "Anyone living in the United States in the early 1990s and paying even a whisper of attention to the nightly news or a daily paper could be forgiven for having been scared out of his skin."
Industry Reviews
"Levitt has compiled a greatest hits mix of his research....FREAKONOMICS is accessible to people who don't understand regression analysis, the procedure statisticians use to sort through data....He relishes studying us...."
Time (05/02/2005)
"[Levitt and Dubner's] clever juxtapositions, the way they constantly mine illuminating truths by contrasting seemingly unrelated topics, is what makes FREAKONOMICS a romp to read....FREAKONOMICS is a splendid book, full of unlikely but arresting historical details that distinguish the authors from the run of pop social scientists. Readers may even find themselves developing a dose of skepticism about the world--no bad thing."
New York Times - Roger Lowenstein (06/19/2005)
"Informative, provocative and relentlessly rational...."
Ruminator Review - Susannah McNeely
"What makes Levitt's work distinctive is that he does not rest content with theory. In many domains, he offers remarkably creative empirical tests for theoretical claims, and he shows where they stand or fall....There is no such thing as freakonomics. Nor is there anything remotely freaky about Levitt's approach....Levitt stands out not because of any large claims about human motivations, but because of his remarkable ingenuity, creativity, and sheer doggedness in investigating empirical questions about which no one seems to know much at all."
New Republic - Cass R. Sunstein (07/25/2005)
"This book should be read at a single sitting: it is written with great fluency and brio....At its best, it has the pace and the mock hard-boiled charm of a collection of Hammett or Chandler detective stories."
Times Literary Supplement - Paul Seabright (08/05/2005)
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