Freakonomics, a book review

If the thought of a book on political economy is about as exciting as watching your toenails grow, or is under-whelmed with statistics and theory of numbers crunching, then the bestseller Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist explores the hidden side of everything could be just the book for you to wake up without that extra cup of Starbucks 'best'. Actually, Freakonomics is a fascinating reading, because it seems to be more on sociology and psychology than boring numerical analysis. With his style of well-paced and easy read, this book shows how the resulting correlation and causation data impact our lives and certainly makes us think differently about the facts and figures. The authors, Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner, say, "What this book is about is stripping a layer or two from modern life and seeing what is going on underneath," exposing why the conventional wisdom is often wrong. In fact, there are real tangible benefits in thinking laterally. Actually, their seemingly off-the-wall comparisons are definitely attention grabbers. Who would have thought to do the unlikely comparison of teachers and sumo wrestlers to show that the economy is, in essence, the study of incentives. But for those of you who want a book that runs smooth, with the concepts build to a final conclusion, you might be disappointed. In fact, the book presents six totally different topics without a unifying theme. And while Freakonomics blasts apparently randomly from question to question, there are some lessons to learn. For example, the book shows that the most obvious reason why something happens is not always the real reason. Actually, sometimes the real reason it does not even make the list of possibilities. Or, as is often true in the case studies reported in Freakonomics, the case is not the cause of everything, but the effect.

Perhaps the most incisive and controversial enigma faced Freakonomics explores the cause of the drastic drop in crime rate in the United States in the chapter "Where have all the criminals?" The book explains that since 1990 violent crime had grown to epic proportions in the United States. Experts everywhere, from law enforcement government agencies could not foresee that it would be worse. The American way had somehow produced and coined the term "superpredator". "Death by firearms", intentional or not, had become a commonplace. And then, instead of rising, the crime rate suddenly began to fall deeply, more than 40 percent in a few years. By studying the statistics of crime from all over the country in comparison with the statistics abortion age after the 1973 Supreme Court decision Roe v. Wade, Freakonomics comes to a surprising conclusion. The book argues that the much-publicized decline in the rate of violent crime in America since 1990 is due almost entirely to the legalization of abortion, rather than police work better, new gun laws, or a number of other factors raised agencies of all stripes eager to take credit for this. Although the authors concede they have "managed to offend almost everyone," by the conservatives (because "abortion could be interpreted as an instrument in the fight against crime") to liberal (because "women are poor and black been identified "), which adhere strictly to the evidence, admitting that this point of view" should not be construed as an endorsement of abortion or a request for intervention by the state in the fertility decisions of women. " The book verifies the conclusion by the constant dismantling argument after argument for the other touted factors and keeps coming back to the cause and effect of evidence at hand. After all, the "truth", as the authors see it, is not always convenient.

Other themes explored in Freakonomics, but not so controversial, are equally interesting. In fact, some could be considered funny. If you're looking to spruce up you mind for the next cocktail party, or widen your eyes to the world around you, then this book is required reading. However, what might be considered a crossroads of some annoying is the inclusion of quotations from external sources of innovative or creative as the authors of each chapter as a precursor. That said, it is refreshing to have an economist strange, or at least one economist who ask questions to make fun of the strange facts about the most fascinating mysteries of the world around us.

A word of advice: do not buy this book in paperback. At list price of $ 25.00, rings up at only 95 cents less than the bound book, a volume that is much more attractive and sturdy. Moreover, because the hardcover is available for much longer, you can actually find the hardcover of a lot cheaper (more than $ 7) If you search a bit libraries.

After nearly a year in publication, Freakonomics continues to make the charts, which currently holds (as of writing this review) the much-vaunted Amazon ranked # 1 seller. If nothing else, this is an important fact to keep in mind .......