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|  | Authors: Steven D. Levitt, Stephen J. Dubner
Publisher: Harper Perennial
List Price: $15.99
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Rating:  1697 reviews
Sales Rank: 74
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Published)
Media: Paperback
Edition: 1
Pages: 352
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 8 x 5.2 x 0.7
ISBN: 0060731338
Dewey Decimal Number: 330
EAN: 9780060731335
ASIN: 0060731338
Publication Date: September 1, 2009
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Showing reviews 21-25 of 1697
Good Ideas. Great insights. Good evidence. September 24, 2009
Amazonian (USA)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Freakonomics, by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner is an entertaining book that will also teach you a thing or two about the world and the reasons behind many intriguing aspects of society. The book tries to explain different aspects of how and why people behave the way they do and also tries to explain different societal trends, such as "name cycles" and crime rates. The book places a lot of emphasis on crime rates and their relationship to legalized abortion, sometimes too much emphasis. Too much of the book's pages are dedicated to this topic. Given the fact that a lot of reviewers have praised this book, and that it has had a recent surge in popularity, I had my expectations. I wanted to be "dazzled" (like it says on the back cover). How was it? The book makes a significant number of good (and not so good) points, but it so just happens that I already knew, had heard of, or had figured out most of them through my life experience. As a result, unfortunately, I was left undazzled. I do however, believe that it is truly a good book. It is both, insightful and entertaining, one of my favorite combinations.
My two favorite chapters were chapter one and chapter three. I liked chapter one in part because of its variety of topics, but mostly because of Paul Feldman's story and experiences while running an "honor system" bagel business which he started from scratch. As somebody who is planning to start a business soon, I liked this entrepreneurial story and the way it was told. It did, however, seem too short for me since only part of the chapter pages are used on the subject. I liked it, I wanted it to be longer and to go into more detail. This chapter strengthened my already firm belief that Psychology, Economics, and Finance are intrinsically linked at their root. What is their root? The human participant and the choices he makes (or should make). Many economic models are based on the assumption of an always rational participant that also happens to posses perfect knowledge and understanding of the marketplace and the utility he derives from products. As you might guess, the models need refinement. It is here were Psychology can lend a helping hand. The models will ultimately loose simplicity, but they will gain accuracy. Paul Feldman's story is a highlight in the book and the insights that can be obtained from it, could, by themselves, be the subject of a different book. It could certainly fit nicely in a Social Psychology textbook.
Then there is chapter three. This chapter, especially pages 91 and 92, was my favorite part of the whole book. The chapter is quite entertaining and a couple of passages are just hilarious. This chapter explains why a drug dealer engages in high risk activities (Apparently a 25% chance of being killed during a four year period) for which he is seemingly not well compensated (less than 4 dollars an hour). How do the authors explain this seemingly irrational behavior? They compare a career in drug dealing to that of an actor, athlete, or musician. Most do not receive high economic compensation, but if you manage to climb up the ladder... The book even mentions that some people even paid fees just to have a chance of being considered for a position as "foot soldiers" for a gang. The explanation for the drug dealer's behavior was quite enlightening, but the main reason I like this chapter is because of its entertainment value.
I have to say, however, that the book did not convince me of some of the points it makes. For example, in chapter four Levitt argues that gun control laws have very little effect because a healthy black market for guns exists. To support his view, he cites a study done before the Brady Act (gun control). The study, he argues, showed that "only about one-fifth of the criminals had bought their guns through a licensed dealer" (p.132). My mental response to this was: That is 20 percent! Isn't that a big chunk? Also, another thing I didn't like in this chapter is that Levitt (or Dubner?) seems seriously biased towards his ideas. This can be easily seen when Levitt dismisses the Broken-Window Theory without sufficient evidence. While I agree with Levitt's theory, I don't think its fair to dismiss other valid ideas. Levitt does not mention any psychological studies done on the validity of the Broken-Window Theory. Levitt's implicit argument seems to be: I am obviously right. Therefore, they are obviously wrong. This is not always the case, especially with non-mutually-exclusive ideas.
Also, chapter two does a poor job in explaining the source of the Ku Klux Klan's power. Here, Levitt argues that the KKK (Ku Klux Klan) derived its power from information asymmetry and that Stetson Kennedy seriously damaged the clan by making secret clan information public. While I agree with this statement, I don't agree with the way it was presented and argued. In other words, there are stronger reasons behind the information asymmetry and its relationship to the clan's power than those given by the author's. The book seems to place too much value on passwords, codes, key-words, secret meetings, infiltration, etc... The book does not place enough emphasis on the idea that one of the main advantages the clan had over its enemies is that the clan members were mostly secret, often even between clan members (Think white masks). The outside world did not know who most of the clan members were. This was probably the main source of the clan's power, not passwords, secret meetings and hierarchy. Many psychological studies have shown that people will often do things they wouldn't otherwise do if they think they will remain anonymous. This explains to a great extent the clan's power, actions and why Stetson Kennedy's efforts impacted the clan the way they did. It also explains Paul Feldman's (bagel business from chapter one) collection differences between small and big businesses. Small businesses had lower default rates. Why was this the case? Psychology would tell us, just like Freakonomics, that the reason the small businesses had higher collection rates is that people in the smaller offices has a bigger perceived risk of being caught not paying for their bagels. The information given by Levitt seems to support this conclusion as well, but this conclusion is not reached when talking about the Ku Klux Klan. These two last points however, should not make you think that the book's claims are not well supported. Almost all of them seem clear and well supported. The book doesn't just list answers to intriguing questions, it gives evidence to support its various claims. Overall, this is a book that I would recommend and now I am waiting for the next installment from Levitt and Dubner, SuperFreakonomics!
 Thorougly entertaining, yet enlightening September 23, 2009
Amanda Wurtzberger (California)
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
This guy is a card. He brings economics down to a level that makes me want to read about it. Never in a million years would I want to read about economics, however I would buy another book written by him again in a heartbeat. What he talks about makes sense, in a way I would never consider in a million years, but makes me think, "why didn't I think of that?" A must read for new points of view on everything from real estate agents to the crack industry.
 Affirming the Consequent Applies to Econ too.... September 22, 2009
Matthew Hickok
3 out of 12 found this review helpful
If P, then Q
Q
----------------
Therefore P
This pretty much sums up the idiotic case book makes.
Freakonomics - economics September 15, 2009
Darrel R. Griffin (Los Angeles, CA, USA)
2 out of 4 found this review helpful
I hated economics in college. Supply and demand, GNP, elasticity and all the other terms that go with the study of economics dropped from my memory and vocabulary the instant I walked out of my economics class for the last time. The collaboration between the journalist Steven Dubner and the heralded young economist Steven Levitt created one of the most entertaining books I have read lately. I almost forgot that I was reading about economics. An example of the use of economics in every day life is given by the authors give in their chapter "What Do Schoolteachers and Sumo Wrestlers have in common. In this chapter one of the examples is about a school that was trying to come up with a way to reduce the number of late pickups by parents. They came up with the bright idea of fining parents $3 every time they were late. Once they instituted the fine process the late pickups actually went up. Why? As the authors point out there were two problems with the fine approach that was instituted. One problem was that many parents quickly calculated that at $3 a day it would only cost them an extra $60 a month to be late every day. The second problem was the fine approach substituted an economic incentive (the $3 fine) for a moral incentive (the guilt that parents were supposed to fell when they came late). For a few dollars parents could buy off their guilt. They book is full of interesting examples like this to prove his concepts. An awesome read.
Seeing the world through the eyes of numbers... September 11, 2009
JFGrissom (San Diego, CA. USA)
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
Wow! This book is a delight to read if you like seeing quantifiable measurements on life...
It is a great read and remarkably entertaining. Especially for the subject matter.
I highly recommend it because it is both eye opening and entertaining.
It is a great paradigm through which to see the world.
Showing reviews 21-25 of 1697
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