Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner

Book – Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything

Author – Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner

Publisher – William Morrow

No. of pages – 314

Rating – 3.5/5

About the book –

Which is more dangerous, a gun or a swimming pool? What do schoolteachers and sumo wrestlers have in common? Why do drug dealers still live with their moms? How much do parents really matter? How did the legalization of abortion affect the rate of violent crime?

Freakonomics establishes this unconventional premise: If morality represents how we would like the world to work, then economics represents how it actually does work. It is true that readers of this book will be armed with enough riddles and stories to last a thousand cocktail parties. But Freakonomics can provide more than that. It will literally redefine the way we view the modern world.

Book Review –

The book started off really well for me. I was absolutely drenched and amazed by the conventional wisdom this book throws but as I progressed with the book, the chapters started losing its grip.

The questions discussed in the book are absurd yet very interesting. My favorite chapter was the one where the correlation was discussed between legalizing abortion and the crime rate with fell drastically all of a sudden. Another one to mention was the correlation between the money spent during elections and the chances of the politician actually winning it. The data amazed me and so did the result. And also the one where the power of incentive was discussed.

The later stories then started to bug me. They were interesting but a lot of it started to feel unasked for. Maybe the chapters should have been shorter.

However, this does not mean that the book is not worth reading. One must definitely give this book a read, but only once. Plus, the book is not to be read in one sitting or else you are definitely going to have a hard time reading this book.

The psychological and philosophical talks were another part which I enjoyed reading.

About the author – 

Steven Levitt is a famous economist who is popular for his work on crime and abortion. He was included in the Time magazine’s list of ‘100 People Who Shape Our World’ in 2006. He was also with the John Bates Clark Medal, which is offered by the American Economic Association for being the most promising U.S. economist under the age of 40. Stephen J. Dubner is a popular journalist and is well known for his work on pop-economics books. He completed his education from the Appalachian State University and Columbia University. He was one of the short-listed candidates for the Financial Times and Goldman Sachs Business Book of the Year Award.

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