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62 of 67 people found the following review helpful:
A look at things through the eyes of an economist.
This book is a general interest book- and it certainly is interesting. The book, for anyone looking for an entertaining read, will like it. In a nutshell, the book takes a look at all sorts of things in society, from crack gangs to parenting, and then attempts to make sense of them by applying econonmic principles. According to the book, economics is really the study of...
Published 13 months ago by bookhound
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158 of 195 people found the following review helpful:
The hidden side of the "Unexpected Publishing Phenomenon"
Hmmm. A very *interesting* (in the sense of the Middle Eastern curse) kettle of fish. I'm not sure what co-author Dubner's role is here - either to act as an alter ego for Levitt, allowing reproduction of fawning extracts from various newspaper articles written about Levitt throughout the book (as sole author Levitt wouldn't be able to get away with this without heaping...
Published on 10 Aug 2005 by O. Buxton
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62 of 67 people found the following review helpful:
A look at things through the eyes of an economist., 8 Oct 2008
This book is a general interest book- and it certainly is interesting. The book, for anyone looking for an entertaining read, will like it. In a nutshell, the book takes a look at all sorts of things in society, from crack gangs to parenting, and then attempts to make sense of them by applying econonmic principles. According to the book, economics is really the study of incentives, and so using this kind of angle, the book comes up with answers to why things work the way they do.
A book that's hard to put down, I'm sure many readers will enjoy it. Also recommend The Sixty-Second Motivator for a more simplistic explanation of what motivates people and gives them incentives to do what they do.
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158 of 195 people found the following review helpful:
The hidden side of the "Unexpected Publishing Phenomenon", 10 Aug 2005
Hmmm. A very *interesting* (in the sense of the Middle Eastern curse) kettle of fish.I'm not sure what co-author Dubner's role is here - either to act as an alter ego for Levitt, allowing reproduction of fawning extracts from various newspaper articles written about Levitt throughout the book (as sole author Levitt wouldn't be able to get away with this without heaping hubris on his head), or perhaps to take the material he had from his original article and pad it out into a volume just fat enough (and no more) to justify publication as a hard-back, in which case Levitt had pretty much nothing to do with this book at all. I suspect a bit of both. Most of the few points made in this book are, at best, only moderately interesting, and there are very few of them: Freakonomics doesn't even remotely live up to its billing, managing only to explore the hidden side of about five completely discrete, and only moderately uninteresting, topics (statistical evidence that there's cheating in Sumo Wrestling, anyone?) Indeed, the sumo cheating data wasn't especially compelling: it seems to me there is an entirely innocent explanation for wrestlers who have already "qualified" losing an abnormally large number of bouts to statistically weaker fighters who have not: a "qualified" wrestler simply has no incentive to try particularly hard, where as a non-qualifying wrestler does. That analysis doesn't involve any collusion at all. Elsewhere, Levitt's theorems only really work where there are huge quantities of data covering all conceivable aspects of the topic at hand. Most of the time, this just isn't the case, which is why the hidden side of everything remains, even to Levitt and Dubner, hidden. In the cases where the data are available - like Baseball - others have done a much more compelling job of writing the economist's expose. For example, try Michael Lewis' outstanding Moneyball: the Art of Winning an Unfair Game. Mean time, this one joins Lynne Truss's Eats Shoots & Leaves as the latest in a long line of quick-buck publishing pan-flashes. Perhaps the money I've wasted on this book can be put, through this review, to some good use: saving yours. Olly Buxton
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52 of 64 people found the following review helpful:
Correlation and Common Sense, 13 Jul 2005
Popular science is a literary area that is undergoing a renaissance. Akin to the explosion in interest in history of the 90s, popular science has provided the 'must reads' of the 21st century. Freakonomics is a books that is destined to join the august ranks of the best sellers of this genre, along with Guns, Germs and Steel, Collapse, Blink and the Wisdom of Crowds.For most people economics is a dimly understood science. It conjures pictures of finance, interest rates, banks and corporations. Whilst these fiscal aspects play a large role, and admittedly many job opportunities for economists, the science itself is much broader. It is essentially the study of how man chooses to live in a world of infinitate want and finate resources. Twinned with advanced statistical study, an enquiring mind and an accomplished writing partner Steven Levitt manages to forge a book that is both a fascininating insight in to academic economics, and an arresting blast to many of our pre-conceptions. Levitt is seems to be somewhat unaware or unconcerned with the chaos his theories unleash. He is an academic economist, and is unconcerned with politics, political correctness, or the niceties of society. Thus he asserts that sharp reduction in crime correlates and is predetermined by the judgement in Roe v Wade which brought federal sanction for abortions. He demonstrates how the control of information puts experts such as realtors and lawyers in the same 'industry' as members of the Ku Klux Klan. The unifying theme seems to be the shattering of deeply held, but erroneous beliefs, and the 'proving' of alternative factual situations, e.g. the much greater risk posed by swimming pools to children than guns. Combining Levitt's pioneering economic genius with Dubner's erudite and accessible writing produces a team which exposes many of the commonly held myths, and acts as something of a clarion call for the media, experts, politicians and even the general public to be a lot more responsible and diligent in their pronouncements. They are too often wrong.
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19 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
Economics made interesting..., 15 Jun 2005
As an economist myself, I'm aware of the notorious inability of 'dismal scientists' to produce text of interest to the average (or even above average!) reader. Levitt, however, (with considerable help from Dubner) manages to do just that.Winner of the John Bates Clark Medal (awarded biennially to the top US economist under 40), Levitt is no lightweight. His thinking, however, is refreshingly different from most mainstream economists. Simply put, Levitt asks questions, and uses his craft to answer them. Some of the questions are less seemingly 'relevant' (Is there cheating in professional sumo wrestling?) than others (What was the real cause of the drop in crime during the 1990's?), yet all are interesting. Levitt's topics run the gamut, from racism on 'The Weakest Link' to parallels between the KKK and real estate agents to the reason why drug dealers tend to live with their mothers, and he attacks all of his questions with ingenuity and tremendous skill. If you'd enjoy a light but engaging read on a wide variety of topics, this one might fit the bill. There's something for everyone here.
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34 of 42 people found the following review helpful:
Rogue: A deceitful and unreliable scoundrel, 24 Jun 2006
Well, that's the dictionary definition.
"Steven Levitt has the most interesting mind in America" says Macolm Gladwell. If that's true, it's a good thing they have nice scenery. Just in case you're not convinced by the chapters themselves, between these you get a helpful article or extract explaining just how great Mr Levitt is. Mr Dubner (Levitt's co-author) doth protest too much, methinks.
The authors make a virtue of having no overall theme, so this is a magpie collection of sometimes interesting observations. This lack of discipline allows Steves L. and D. to appropriate material that's more than straightforward economics.
Chapter 1 shows how statistical analysis can reveal cheating. This, and the material on Estate Agents and the Klu Klux Klan in chapter 2, is fairly well known and understood mainstream knowledge - part of Agency theory, a standard subject certainly in accounting and business management courses. It's about as radical as a Ford Mondeo, or wearing your baseball cap backwards.
Chapter 5 deals with parenting. Studies of genetically identical twins result in the same the conclusions about parenting that are presented here. Stephen Pinker in particular sets the subject out better in "The Blank Slate".
Chapter 6 suggests that parents give children aspirational names, and that (with a few wrinkles) children of affluent parents do better than those less well off. Gosh.
This is "gee whiz" writing, lightweight summer holiday stuff. The book is not the revolutionary, "dazzling" material it's sold as, unless you've only ever read beach novels so far (and no harm in that). Most of these chapters present material fairly well known and understood elsewhere - maybe this stuff is news to economists, but not to evolutionary psychologists, games theorists and accountants.
So: not a bad read if you've never thought about economics before, and don't fancy the heavy stuff. If, like me, you value authors who put time and effort into editing and structuring their thoughts - because they have something important they want to get across - this is one to miss, or borrow from the library. Not one to buy for the shelf.
If you want to read something truly bizarre, and aren't too familiar with quantum physics, try David Deutch's "The Fabric of Reality". If you are familiar with quantum physics - try to get out more!
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15 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
Interesting but a bit light, 11 April 2006
As mentioned at several points, this book is an expansion of a newspaper article that the authors wrote together. It is a very interesting gallop through new and sometimes extraordinary research by both the author and other new economists. The work on drug gangs is particularly good.However, the book is quite short and the style of writing is US magazine-lite. As a bright introduction to some of the more surprising uses of economics and statistics, it's a very good, quick read but it's all over very quickly.
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123 of 156 people found the following review helpful:
Multiple-Regression Statistical Analysis Put on a Pedestal, 4 Jul 2005
Ask most people if they want to understand statistics . . . and they run in the opposite direction. That's too bad because these days anyone who can run a personal computer can perform sophisticated statistical analysis using relatively affordable software like SPSS. Freakonomics may open a few minds by showing that much of what the conventional wisdom is . . . is wrong.Economics has been traditionally focused on writing equations to explain "how things should work" assuming that nothing else changes. That's the rub. Everything else does change . . . and the theories don't work in practice. You've all heard the resulting economist jokes. Steven Levitt does something that academics don't like anyone to do: He looks for interesting, practical questions and devises simple, straightforward solutions. His method is usually pretty simple. He looks for patterns by using regression programs and then thinks about what the regressions might mean. That often leads to a trip to some other data, and eventually the correct cause-and-effect pattern emerges. It's like the invention methods of champion tinkerer Thomas A. Edison. Keep trying until something practical works. Fortunately, with today's computers you don't have to wait very long. The biggest challenges are in finding the right data sets, as this book shows through its example of why drug dealers usually live with their mothers. The book indicts the media and many so-called experts who simply haven't done their homework. As a result, you can spend a lot of time being misinformed by reading the latest Congressional testimony, the latest think-tank study or by watching a talking head debate on television. The lesson: Be skeptical unless you see the data and the analyses, as they are displayed in this book's few examples. In the book, you will find out how statistics can identify some of those who cheat (whether they are teachers or sumo wrestlers) and how economic incentives slant behavior (how real estate brokers sell their own property versus selling yours). You will encounter a novel argument that Roe v. Wade has reduced the violent crime rate. You'll find an even more interesting argument about how to equate the value of reduced crime to the cost of abortions. More favorably, there are case studies on how accurate information trumps bad or misleading information to the benefit of us all. The book ends up on a largely unsatisfying statistical look at nature versus nurture . . . and pretty much dismisses nurture when it comes to child-raising. So it's a grab bag of topics, mixed with lots of hero worship (by co-author Stephen J. Dubner for co-author Steven D. Levitt). Why is this book selling so well? I couldn't figure it out. It doesn't have the elegance and relevance of The Tipping Point. It's about statistics, and hardly anyone wants to read about that. So I asked my wife and younger daughter. They both knew the book was a best seller (obviously it has good media play). They both loved the cover . . . especially the illustration of an apple that when you cut into it reveals an orange. They also liked the title (both finding economics pretty freaky). I nominate whoever came up with that cover concept and title for the best "you can't tell a book by its cover" award for 2005. So what does Freakonomics have to do with apples and oranges? As best I can tell, Freakonomics has very little to do with those fruits in a literal sense. The metaphor seems to be intended to be applied in two ways: First, you have to compare apples and oranges to the right reference to understand what you are examining; and second, sometimes the cause of something comes from an unexpected source when we peel back the skin of surface reality. If you want more, I discuss some applications of the book in my blog posting for today. If you already like and know statistics, you can read Professor Levitt's articles instead of this book. If you like "gee whiz" facts about things you don't know much about, this book is for you.
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21 of 26 people found the following review helpful:
Entertaining - but so what?, 20 Feb 2007
I read this in the gap between Christmas and New Year, when the brain was needing no more than mild stimulation.
It was entertaining, and very readable, but I couldn't help wondering what the point of it all was, apart from the obvious one of shifting units. There is no big idea, or unifying theme to the book, as the authors tell us up-front.
What is there to learn from it? Well, not much really. If there is a message it is that the world is messier than zealots would have us believe, with explanations and causes that don't always fit what we'd expect or want. Oh, and that peculiar patterns are often the result of individuals following their own self-interest. These are hardly new ideas, but it's useful to be reminded.
As an economics graduate I struggled to see how much of the book could be classed as economics, but that didn't greatly trouble me. It was a piece of entertainment, good for filling time on holiday or a long journey. I'm glad I didn't buy it when it was an expensive hard back. I'd have resented the over-selling and hype if I'd paid top dollar for it. However, it was enjoyable as a way of easing the brain back into gear after the Christmas excesses. If you want a series of entertaining essays, fine. If you want a revolutionary new insight into economics, then forget it.
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21 of 26 people found the following review helpful:
So where's the treatment of the hidden side of the unexpected publishing phenomenon?, 17 Jan 2007
Hmmm. A very *interesting* (in the sense of the Middle Eastern curse) kettle of fish.
I'm not sure what co-author Dubner's role is here - either to act as an alter ego for Levitt, allowing reproduction of fawning extracts from various newspaper articles written about Levitt throughout the book (as sole author Levitt wouldn't be able to get away with this without heaping hubris on his head), or perhaps to take the material he had from his original article and pad it out into a volume just fat enough (and no more) to justify publication as a hard-back, in which case Levitt had pretty much nothing to do with this book at all. I suspect a bit of both.
Most of the few points made in this book are, at best, only moderately interesting, and there are very few of them: Freakonomics doesn't even remotely live up to its billing, managing only to explore the hidden side of about five completely discrete, and only moderately uninteresting, topics (statistical evidence that there's cheating in Sumo Wrestling, anyone?) Indeed, the sumo cheating data wasn't especially compelling: it seems to me there is an entirely innocent explanation for wrestlers who have already "qualified" losing an abnormally large number of bouts to statistically weaker fighters who have not: a "qualified" wrestler simply has no incentive to try particularly hard, where as a non-qualifying wrestler does. That analysis doesn't involve any collusion at all.
Elsewhere, Levitt's theorems only really work where there are huge quantities of data covering all conceivable aspects of the topic at hand. Most of the time, this just isn't the case, which is why the hidden side of everything remains, even to Levitt and Dubner, hidden.
In the cases where the data are available - like Baseball - others have done a much more compelling job of writing the economist's expose. For example, try Michael Lewis' outstanding Moneyball: the Art of Winning an Unfair Game.
Mean time, this one joins Lynne Truss's Eats Shoots & Leaves as the latest in a long line of quick-buck publishing pan-flashes.
Perhaps the money I've wasted on this book can be put, through this review, to some good use: saving yours.
Olly Buxton
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7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
"Correlation does not imply causation", 18 Dec 2006
The above golden rule of statistics is oft reiterated in the book, but Levitt manages to gloss over the rule with intelligent commonsense application of otherwise nonsensical data, drawing conclusions based on hunches dreamed up by a bit of lateral thinking over a coffee.
That said, it's still an entertaining book, and cleverly structured, albeit a little wandering at times. Anybody with a passing interest in statistics and/or economics would certainly enjoy Freakonomics, and it's a couple of long train journeys' worth of reading for under £5.
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