Stephen J. Dubner | Review Column

Tag Archive | "Stephen J. Dubner"

Tags: book review, freakonomics, Stephen J. Dubner, Steven D. Levitt

Freakonomics

Posted on 16 June 2007

ReviewColumn's rating :
3 stars

While browsing through the shelves of the library, I came across this book with an eye-catching orange coloured cover: Freakonomics - A Rogue Economist Explores The Hidden Side Of Everything. At first glance, I initially thought it was just another book about the speculation of economic trends but one thing that eventually attracted me to flip open the book was its front cover, featuring a lime with an apple skin.

The bulk of the content is on how Steven Levitt, a John Bates Clark medal holder (awarded every two years to the best American economists under forty), views certain issues differently as compared to other leading economists. What do you think is the reason behind the drop in crime rates in the USA in the 1980s? Steven Levitt attributes it to the legalisation of abortion, which is the first question that he answers in the book, this therefore creates a certain level of suspense in order to cause readers to continue reading. His opinion is clearly explained, with data to back it up. However, when he aired his opinions to the mass media, he was criticised for his view.

You should not give this book a miss even if you are not an expert with statistics. This book is full of actual incidents, while Levitt gives his own opinion as to why they occurred. Thankfully, the statistics used in this book about economics can be understood, as Levitt and his co-writer have tried to avoid using economic theories and delving deeply into microeconomics because it would be too confusing for most readers with no knowledge of economics at all.

Once you have finished reading this book, you might find the economics is not that hard after all, as Levitt manages to highlight many different aspects of economics and simplifies them till the point where it almost seems like common sense. This book will really enlighten you about certain aspects of economics.

After you have read this book, you'll think things that comes to you twice, not wanting to follow the "conventional wisdom" as others or professional data and research that comes out from either some experts or the government. Everything will deserve a second look at that time. More research might come out from you and you might take any views into your consideration and argue with your peers sensibly over an issue.

How a name relates to a family's economic status? Ever wondered why a crack dealer (drugs dealer) wanted to sell cracks and involved in gang violence, risking their lives even the return is low? Is allowing your kids going to a house with a pool or to a home with guns is more dangerous? Which parenting books by all the parenting experts out there is correct? How a sumo wrestler and school teacher cheats? If you have trouble finding this out or maybe the answer you are having now may just be conventional wisdom then check out Freakonomics for some surprising answers!

Click here to buy this book
Rate this book, give us your rating:
1 Star 2 Stars 3 Stars 4 Stars 5 Stars (2 votes, average: 3.5 out of 5)
Loading ...