Freakonomics, Entertaining and Full of Surprise
I just finished reading Freakonomics, revised and expanded edition one. The subtitle says what it is all about, a rogue economist explores the hidden side of everything. Let me tell you something, the book has no single unifying theme, rather it looks like a compilation of Levitt’s (the author) observation of some “seems to be not so important” data which resulted in surprising, and absolutely, interesting discoveries.
I saw this book for the first time in Gramedia last year. My curiosity was aroused when seeing its strange title, then I secretly opened its plastic cover to see what is inside. In first chapter, he raised one unasked question: “What do schoolteachers and sumo wrestlers have in common?”. I was so interested to know the answer but my empty wallet did not allow me to buy it.
I moved to Budapest, searched for Freakonomics in some English bookstores (off course after putting some money inside my wallet) but what I heard from stores’ assistants was always “sold out”. Two weeks ago, I visited my sister in Vienna and, as chance would have it, I found it in one bookstore there.
What are there in other chapters?
In introduction pages, he mentioned some fundamental ideas, on which Freakonomics based on. First, incentives are the cornerstone of modern life; Levitt believes that solving one riddle can be done by understanding the incentives of involving subjects. Second, conventional wisdom is often wrong and dramatic effect often have some distant cases. He applied this idea when he tried to find what caused declining crime rate in the USA. You think you know the answer huhh? Third, experts use information asymmetry to serve their own agendas. Fourth, knowing what to measure and how to measure it makes world less complicated.
Here I listed the title of each Freakonomics’ chapter:
- What do schoolteachers and sumo wrestlers have in common?
- How is the Ku Klux Klan like a group of real-estate agents?
- Why do the drug dealers still live with their Moms?
- Where have all the criminals gone?
- What makes a perfect parent?
- Would Roshanda by any other name smell as sweet?
You might think that you know the answer, but as Levitt said, conventional wisdom is often wrong. Have you ever thought that, if we refer to his observation, despite being cited frequently as crime drop explanations, the combination strong economy, increased reliance on prison, aging population, tougher gun control and such did not contribute as much to crime drop as ABORTION did? We should note that none of articles published in the USA cited abortion.
Some other interesting unasked questions were do sumo wrestlers cheat?, why experts in every kind are in position to exploit you?, what do online daters lie about?, why prostitutes earn more than architect?, how the invention of crack cocaine mirrored the invention of nylon stockings?, what Nicolae Ceaucescu learned from abortion, why capital punishment does not deter criminals?, if you have a really bad name should you change it? and which one is more dangerous: a gun or swimming pool?
All these questions were answered in Freakonomics. Levitt was so creative for he raised unasked questions like above, but he did not just build the conclusion based on his thoughts, beliefs, and logics. Instead, he examined massive number of data, followed its development until he came to conclusion whatever it would be and added some theoretical background which might contributed to certain results. He did not even try to manipulate data to reach favorable conclusion. To elaborate more on this, I will write down his finding on why swimming pool is much more dangerous than gun.
Little Molly has two friends living nearby, Amy and Imani. Molly’s parents know exactly that Amy’s parents have gun at their home, thus forbid Molly to play there and let her play in Imani’s swimming pool. His research shows that number of death of American under 10 years old was 550 (there are ONLY 6 million pools in America; possibility: 1 in 11.000) per year while only 175 (there are MORE THAN 200 million guns in America; possibility: 1 in 1 million plus) died because of shot by gun. He reffered to Peter Sandman’s statement:
When hazard is high and outrage is low, people underact. When hazard is low and outrage is high, people overact
It is obvious that people are more familiar with swimming pool than gun and, indeed, the death caused by gun is an outrageous one.
I guess I have written too much here, I strongly recommend this strangely fantastic book for you. I said it was entertaining because Levitt and Dubner’s (his partner) style of writing made me could not stop reading it, and it was, indeed, full of surprise. You have to read it by yourself to get what I am saying. You can also read Freakonomics’ blog here.
Image was taken from here.
Tags: Book, Economy, Freakonomics, Levitt
April 13th, 2008 at 12:49 am
Yuki, have you read Tim Harford’s the Undercover Economist? If you enjoy Freakonomics, the chance is quite high that you enjoy the Undercover Economist. This kind of books helps get “higher returns” from investment through reading as your previous article pointed. It “converts the non-believers” sort-of-thing, because it’s so daily life, entertaining, and somewhat intellectually invigorating.
bleu’s last blog post..On being indecisive
April 13th, 2008 at 1:08 am
@bleu:
Hi bleu, I haven’t read it, but have seen it twice or thrice in book store. It’s one with “who pay for your coffee” thing, isn’t it? It will be my next purchase, haha. Thank you for the recommendations.
April 14th, 2008 at 12:25 pm
sounds interesting..
especially this part…”when you secretly opend the plastic cover” (just kidding.. i thought you are good guy LOL)
how much it cost? hear that you have to put some effort to save some money to buy it, must be expnsive..
i havent read any book since my last “deception point” - Dan Brown.. think i am going to hunt it.
adite’s last blog post..18 Triliun rupiah
April 16th, 2008 at 12:19 pm
I guess this one is a must to have when going on home-leave this coming month!
Thanks for the insight…
Domba garut!’s last blog post..Patroling Liberia: The rough ride to the full vibra-sensation one! [4]
April 16th, 2008 at 9:40 pm
hehe. my Norwegian friend told me stuff about this book. she also recomend me to read. i wonder if they are scientific or rather rambling?
April 17th, 2008 at 1:00 am
@adite:
(Who told you I was good guy? 
)
I thought I would buy it on that time, thus I did not feel guilty when I opened the plastic cover.
It was not that expensive, below 50.000 Rupiah, my wallet was just empty.
@Domba Garut:
How’s Liberia Mas? Yes, I am pretty sure it will entertain you as well.
@Siapa yah?:
I think it’s neither rambling nor scientific. Well, scientific is dubious term anyway.
April 17th, 2008 at 5:40 am
hehe, sounds like you are a litle bit of post modernist.
Congrats for the blogger of the week!
you surely deserve it
April 18th, 2008 at 4:05 pm
@look@yourblogtrafficandyouwillknowwhoami
Haha, bisa aja anda, terima kasih lah. Ngomong2, ini siapa toh? Gak bisa nebak saya.
April 18th, 2008 at 5:42 pm
arggh.. so busy this week.. no time to go to gramed or even just for having fun with my huny
adite’s last blog post..18 Triliun rupiah
April 19th, 2008 at 7:47 am
[…] E-Marketing Performance Blog by Pole Position Marketing .com wrote an interesting post today on Freakonomics, Entertaining and Full of SurpriseHere’s a quick excerptI just finished reading Freakonomics, revised … The subtitle says what it is all about, a rogue economist explores the hidden side of everything. […]
April 22nd, 2008 at 11:13 pm
@adite:
Same here buddy.
April 24th, 2008 at 8:53 am
it seems more impressing to read your adventure in finding that book, desperately seeking freakonomics
will you post it on our mailing list? as book reference? thanks
yonna’s last blog post..Man Manual : Approaching Method
April 25th, 2008 at 4:21 pm
@yonna:
Yes, it was really difficult to find it here. That was why I started reading it right after I found it. I wish I can, but I do not think other people will be interested in it Yonna.
@bleu:
I just bought the undercover economist and finished reading the first two chapters. It is interesting but I love Stephen Levitt’s writing style better.
April 26th, 2008 at 9:14 am
I’m interested to buy one.
The curiosity are in my head now. May be, I can use this book for my joke (can’t I?)
I hope the green are in the wallet when in the bookstore.. haha..
Verdinand R.’s last blog post..Silakan duduk, Bu!
April 27th, 2008 at 12:01 am
Oops, sorry… any chance you can return the book or get some refund…?
bleu’s last blog post..Be careful of what you say
April 27th, 2008 at 12:58 am
@Verdinand:
I am not sure about the prices in Rupiah though, maybe you need the blue one instead of green one, haha. Blame me if you are dissatisfied.
You have to.
@bleu:
Thank you.
Haha, that’s fine bleu, I will not return it. Nor will I ask for some refund from the store. Besides, I am very enthusiastic to find the answer of those questions in the book.
April 28th, 2008 at 6:32 am
@Sherwin
ayo dong….i promise i will be the first who write thank you reply if you post it on mailing list
i think the book is not arrived to Indonesia yet
yonna’s last blog post..Stadium Empat : Indifferent
April 28th, 2008 at 10:34 am
@yonna:
Terus baru bener-bener beli di sini, hehe.
Udah lagi, kan saya pertama bacanya di Gramedia sekitar Agustus 2007 kemarin.
May 16th, 2008 at 3:25 am
hmm reading your post, makes me want to grab the book and read..
and maybe I will sleep half way through..
May 18th, 2008 at 12:46 pm
@4nt0n:
Becanda Ton.
I’m afraid Freakonomics is not your kind of book since it is neither related to Harry Potter nor Building a Website for Dummies.