In Brief Levitt, Steven D. & Stephen J. Dubner. Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything. New York: HarperCollins Publisher, 2005. 242 pp.
aegis 2006 114 in brief
Steven Levitt is an economist who asks unusual questions: “Which is more dangerous, a gun or a swimming pool?” and “Why do drug dealers still live with their moms?” Stephen Dubner, a New York Times writer, helped Levitt put the answers into a fascinating and entertaining narrative. The introduction sets forth a simple explanation for the genesis of this book, stating “if morality represents how people would like the world to work, then economics shows how it actually does work.” This is followed by Levitt’s examination of the decrease in violent crimes during the early 1990’s, which were not due to any political or police action, but came about because the ancient criminals were never born. He contends that the Roe vs. Wade decision stopped a new generation of unwanted hooligans from taking to the streets. The chapters that ensue address other interesting correlations, such as how Sumo wrestling scores and school test scores can be analyzed for cheating by looking for scoring patterns. As to the drug dealers still living with their mothers, this data comes from several notebooks collected from a gang in Chicago called the Black Disciples. These legers revealed an organization as highly structured as any international corporation, with pricing for drugs, extortion dues, weapons purchases and even death benefits for the families of gang members who were murdered. In reality, the average street dealer only made $3.30 an hour; only those in the top of the gang structure took home any significant amount of money. Even parenting is called into question, using test score data collected by the US Department of Education to show that certain assumptions, such as a child having an intact family or a stay at home mother, does not make the child a better student. Freakonomics is not a dull lesson in economics and statistics, but a delightful read that is both engaging and humorous. ~Michelle Yost
