Freakonomics Revised and Expanded Edition: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything

Freakonomics is a gutsy, fascinating, post-modern book even if you might not like some of the conclusions. According to the authors, there is no unifying theme, only the `thread' of people chasing incentives. In other words, it is about the effect money has on people. To put it even more simply, a guy named Paul the Apostle once famously said: `Money is the root of all kinds of evil'.Economics is called the `dismal science' because it is all about numbers, but in the hands of a rogue economist like Steve Levitt, with help from NY Times writer Steve Dubner, it yields some probable answers to a lot of questions. Why has crime decreased even though the population has increased? Why is a real estate agent in such a hurry to sell your house at a lower price, and does he do the same for his own house? How about sumo wrestlers, school teachers, on-your-honor donut clubs? Are they cheating too?I'm not giving away any secrets in saying that Roe V. Wade, the 1973 ruling making abortion legal, is declared to be the cause of crime decrease in recent years; it is very well known that the book says this. Levitt does a masterful job of shooting down the `conventional wisdom' theories of strong economy, aging of the population, gun issues, etc., to finally show that abortions among certain segments of the population has reduced the criminal population. Very simply, there are a lot of criminals who were never born because of Roe V. Wade. Although I am 100% pro-life and remain so regardless of any book, I have to agree with his conclusion. Levitt re-iterates that the study of economics has no moral base and doesn't ask any moral questions, and, in fact, asks no questions at all. He also says that people are more comfortable with root causes they can touch or feel now and not far reaching causes from the past, and I can't argue with that. I was impressed with his right-brained mentality.Levitt also tackles some sensitive issues like how unique `black' names seem to hold back the carriers of those names. Does it cause racial prejudice or is it a consequence of racial prejudice? There was a fascinating chapter about the most popular `white' names and `black' names according to the racial and economic backgrounds of the different population segments. He gives charts of the actual names even according to amount of education of the mother, or the age of the mother at her first childbirth. Also, we see that some sets of names chase other sets of names, and those other sets of names consequently move on.You'll find, if you read the book, how important `information asymmetry' or information hoarded by experts is. Is someone who is handling your money keeping your best interests or his own best interests in mind? (Three guesses!!) He gives plenty of examples in the book. I can give you one that I'm personally familiar with (not in the book because it is so obvious). Financial advisors like to get their clients into loaded funds, which essentially provide an extra commission to them; independent outfits like Morningstar will tell you never to get into loaded funds because they are a rip-off. There is nothing illegal about that but it shows you how knowledge asymmetry can work against you when you trust an `expert'.I was impressed how Levitt thought and his methods of coming to his conclusions, how he could do `regression analysis' on a topic by `controlling' for certain variables to screen out data `noise'. Thankfully, he doesn't get too technical on us, though he does give us some idea of his methodology. I think it's ingenious how he got economics to give up such useful information, and was able to explain it in a non-technical way.It was a gutsy book and a fascinating read.

I originally encountered Freakonomics in the New York Times, where the authors currently write an op-ed column to supplement their many sequels. I think I had also heard about the book in the context of its unorthodox approach to statistics, ie. that one of the causes of the decreasing crime rate the United States is the legalization of abortion. I not sure whether that supports a pro-life or a pro-choice argument, but this is not the place for that particular can of sandworms.Freakonomics is a very entertaining book. The tone is light, but also authoritative and convincing. Arguments are fully explained with detailed evidence, statistics, and respectable concessions. The topics range from the crime rate and abortion, to the economics of drug deals and living in the projects, to parenting and whether cheating occurs on a massive scale in the Chicago school system (spoiler alert: it does). But there are surprises too. For example, the cheaters in Chicago are not just students, but teachers too, and drug dealers really do still live with their moms.I would recommend this book to anyone who would like a brief overview to some principles of economics. That, or to anyone who just wants to read and interesting and funny book. If you want a deep, detailed, and technical viewpoint of some of the subjects examined in this book, you should look elsewhere to think tank studies and economics books marketed less to the general public.Another place to find this interesting viewpoint on the world, informed by economics and a bit of creativity, is in the Freakonomics blog sometimes seen in the New York Times. The Op-Ed section of the New York Times, can be a great place to see similar perspectives, or the occasional article by the authors of this book. I enjoy these just as much as the book, and find little difference in the tone or content.Freakonomics also lead me to another Kindle book, which I will have to review here shortly. Gang Leader for a Day by Sudhir Venkatesh.

This book was well priced and in excellent quality. The delivery was great

Even 17 years after the first edition, this book maintains its relevance - not just for the data, but for the way it turns upside down the way we believe in some well established "truths".

Extrem interessant!

A must read book for Leaders and decision makers.Amazed to know it's the other side of the coin which matters

I was happy to read a medley of story telling and hard-data accounts on the weirdest things. It's a lot of fun, it's very well written and it sticks to science with some good bibliography to draw from. I read it twice and am happy I got the paper copy to sift through time and again.

Te mantiene muy interesado en los temas desde el primer capítulo. Me gusto mucho como relaciona los conceptos de economía con las preguntas tan raras que plantea. En general la lectura del libro es muy fácil y rápida. Lo recomiendo mucho.