Freakonomics [Revised and Expanded]: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything by Steven D. Levitt, Stephen J. Dubner Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Freakonomics [Revised and Expanded]: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything
Book Review: Like no other book I've ever read.
Summary: 5 Stars
Complex ideas presented in the most straight forward, enlightening, and entertaining way possible. The topics range from interesting to fascinating, and the authors are consistent in their logical prose. The reader is encouraged to open his mind, though some of the facts he uses as a basis for his arguments are not quite as solid as he sometimes asserts.
This is a fantastic book. It definately gets you thinking.
Book Review: I've actually not yet read the book
Summary: 5 Stars
I've not read the book yet, but given that Mr. Lott and the AEI find fault with the author's methodology and conclusions, I know that Mr. Levitt and Mr. Dubner are on the right track. Folks should know that the American Enterprise Institute is a neoconservative think tank. Unbiased they are not.Book Review: An empirical book based on faulty numbers
Summary: 1 Stars
Published Thursday, April 21, 2005, in Wall Street Journal
Abortion Legalization and the Crime Rate
Not surprisingly, Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner's new book "Freakonomics" ignores their academic critics, but Steve Landsburg's review disappointingly does so too (Leisure & Arts, April 13). Take just the book's first claim: Unwanted children are more likely to grow up to be criminals and that abortion can therefore reduce crime, a plausible idea that has been around since the beginning of the abortion debate. Yet, despite Messrs. Levitt and Dubner's claims, legalization doesn't explain 75% of the drop in murder rates during the 1990s, and if anything the reverse is true.
Their data had a serious error. The Planned Parenthood affiliated organization that supplied them with the data incorrectly claimed that when abortion was legalized during the late 1960s and early 1970s, states went from a complete ban to complete legalization, but abortions had been allowed before complete legalization when the life or health of the mother was endangered. The Centers for Disease Control data show that before Roe v. Wade many states that had allowed abortions only when the life or health of the mother was endangered actually had higher abortion rates than states where it was completely "legal."
If Messrs. Levitt and Dubner were correct, crime rates should have first started falling among younger people who were first born after legalization. Only as they aged would you start seeing crime fall among older criminals. But in fact the precise opposite is true. Murder rates during the 1990s first started falling for the oldest criminals and very last for the youngest.
John R. Lott Jr.
Resident Scholar
American Enterprise Institute
Washington
Book Review: Probably the Most Readable Book on Economics Ever!
Summary: 5 Stars
This isn't a textbook on economics, but rather a brilliant example of what kinds of things economics can teach us, if we are willing to put aside the esoteric ramblings about supply and demand and marginal utility that bored us to death in college. The authors answer interesting questions, such as: "What attributes of a parent signal an academically successful child?" and uses regression analysis and other tools to develop a list of those attributes. These are explained without a single mathematical formula in the entire book. Other interesting questions include: "Why do most crack dealers live with their mothers?" and "Can a parent's selection of a child's name impact the future of a child?"
This book was extremely readable and interesting. I finished it in about a weekend and it gave me lots of interesting things to think about and talk about. Some people are dismayed about the authors' conclusion that the legalization of abortion caused a decrease in the crime rate, but you should note that the authors take pains to point out that this analysis does not constitute a justification of either side of the abortion debate. The correlations are explained and are difficult to dispute. In any event, I think this is a fabulous book.
Book Review: A Thoroughly Enjoyable Read
Summary: 4 Stars
Knowing very little about economics, I approached this book a bit timidly as a swimmer diving into cold water. After the first few pages, I was hooked; the authors make this very accessible to the masses and left me craving more I particularly enjoyed the last two chapters on parenting and the discussion of baby names, which discussed evidence for theories I'd suspected for quite some time. After reading this, I feel as though I have gained a new skill for thinking critically about the way current issues of politics and policy are presented to us in the media.