Freakonomics Steven D. Levitt; Stephen J. Dubner

Freakonomics

Author: Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner

Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers

Publication Date: 24 November, 2009

ISBN: 9780061992667

Pages:

Subjects: Business

Available as: Trade Paper, 978-0-06-073133-5 Trade Cloth, 978-0-06-123400-2 Trade Cloth, 978-0-06-073132-8 Trade Paper, 978-0-06-124513-8 Trade Paper, 978-0-06-113132-5 Trade Paper, 978-0-06-089637-9 E-Book - Epublication content package, 978-0-06-199266-7 E-Book - netLibrary, 978-0-06-124663-0 E-Book - eReader (AKA Palm Reader), 978-0-06-083821-8 E-Book - eReader (AKA Palm Reader); netLibrary, 978-0-06-083824-9

Description:

Which is more dangerous, a gun or a swimming pool? What do schoolteachers and sumo wrestlers have in common? How much do parents really matter? These may not sound like typical questions for an economist to ask. But Steven D. Levitt is not a typical economist. He studies the riddles of everyday life-from cheating and crime to parenting and sports-and reaches conclusions that turn conventional wisdom on its head. Freakonomics is a groundbreaking collaboration between Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner, an award-winning author and journalist. They set out to explore the inner workings of a crack gang, the truth about real estate agents, the secrets of the Ku Klux Klan, and much more. Through forceful storytelling and wry insight, they 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.

PW Publishers Weekly

Review Source: Publishers Weekly

Review Date: 2005-03-14

Forget your image of an economist as a crusty professor worried about fluctuating interest rates: Levitt focuses his attention on more intimate real-world issues, like whether reading to your baby will make her a better student. Recognition by fellow economists as one of the best young minds in his field led to a profile in the New York Times, written by Dubner, and that original article serves as a broad outline for an expanded look at Levitt's search for the hidden incentives behind all sorts of behavior. There isn't really a grand theory of everything here, except perhaps the suggestion that self-styled experts have a vested interest in promoting conventional wisdom even when it's wrong. Instead, Dubner and Levitt deconstruct everything from the organizational structure of drug-dealing gangs to baby-naming patterns. While some chapters might seem frivolous, others touch on more serious issues, including a detailed look at Levitt's controversial linkage between the legalization of abortion and a reduced crime rate two decades later. Underlying all these research subjects is a belief that complex phenomena can be understood if we find the right perspective. Levitt has a knack for making that principle relevant to our daily lives, which could make this book a hit. Malcolm Gladwell blurbs that Levitt has the most interesting mind in America, an invitation Gladwell's own substantial fan base will find hard to resist. 50-city radio campaign. (May 1) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved