Freakonomics (Freakonomics, #1)

Posted on 09 November 2018 by Steven D. Levitt

Which is 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 What kind of impact did Roe v Wade have on violent crime Freakonomics will literally redefine the way we view the modern world.These may not sound like typical questions for an economist to ask But Steven D Levitt is not a typical economist He is a much heralded scholar who studies the stuff and riddles of everyday life from cheating and crime to sports and child rearing and whose conclusions regularly turn the conventional wisdom on its head He usually begins with a mountain of data and a simple, unasked question Some of these questions concern life and death issues others have an admittedly freakish quality Thus the new field of study contained in this book freakonomics.Through forceful storytelling and wry insight, Levitt and co author Stephen J Dubner show that economics is, at root, the study of incentives how people get what they want, or need, especially when other people want or need the same thing In Freakonomics, they set out to explore the hidden side of well, everything The inner workings of a crack gang The truth about real estate agents The myths of campaign finance The telltale marks of a cheating schoolteacher The secrets of the Ku Klux Klan.What unites all these stories is a belief that the modern world, despite a surfeit of obfuscation, complication, and downright deceit, is not impenetrable, is not unknowable, and if the right questions are asked is even intriguing than we think All it takes is a new way of looking Steven Levitt, through devilishly clever and clear eyed thinking, shows how to see through all the clutter.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 than that It will literally redefine the way we view the modern world. Best Read Freakonomics (Freakonomics, #1) [ by ] Steven D. Levitt [ Kindle ePUB or eBook ] – kino-fada.fr This was an interesting book I say it was interesting because I started liking it a lot when I first read it, as time passed I liked it less and less In that way I call it a candy book, tastes good at first but leaves you worse off for reading it In my opinion, there are two problems with the book First, Stephen Dubner comes across as a sycophant Way to much of the book is spent praising Levitt Secondly, I was disappointed in the lack of deta...Yes, zero stars.There is one segment of this book that reports use of a dataset I know very well the Fatality Analysis Reporting System FARS data From what details they put into the book, it s fairly clear that the researchers did not research the reliability of the data elements they chose to use from FARS In particular, their analysis rests on the ability to identify uninjured children in vehicles that were involved in fatal crashes FARS has data elements for this, but the reliability Yes, zero stars.There is one segment of this book that reports use of a dataset I know very well the Fatality Analysis Reporting System FARS data From what details they put into the book, it s fairly clear that the researchers did not research the reliability of the data elements they chose to use from FARS In particular, their analysis rests on the ability to identify uninjured children in vehicles that were involved in fatal crashes FARS has data elements for this, but the reliability of the data in those data elements is suspect at best If you go back beyond around 2002 s data, you are missing quite a bit of data And the data errors are not randomly distributed In other words, it s not a usable dataset for the purpose it was put to.It s a rookie mistake We all make them from time to time But, when you are going out on a limb and finding results that directly contradict the prevailing wi...Sure, this book was a compelling read that offered us all some great amo for cocktail party conversation But ultimately I think most of what Leavitt claims is crap He dodges accoutability with the disclaimer about his book NOT being a scholarly work, but then goes on to drop statistics, theories and expert opinions These assertions laid, he doesn t provide readers with enough information to critically examine his perspectives.Ultimately I have a problem with the unquestioned, unaccoutable rol Sure, this book was a compelling read that offered us all some great amo for cocktail party conversation But ultimately I think most of what Leavitt claims is crap He dodges accoutability wit...I loved this book, though I think the title is a bit misleading It s not really about economics In fact, he s showing you what interesting things you can discover when you apply statistical analysis to problems where you wouldn t normally think of using it I use statistical methods a fair amount in my own work, so I found it particularly interesting The most startling and thought provoking example is definitely the unexpected reduction in US urban crime that occurred towards the end of the 2 I loved this book, though I think the title is a bit misleading It s not really about economics In fact, he s showing you what interesting things you can discover when you apply statistical analysis to problems where you wouldn t normally think of using it I use statistical methods a fair amount in my own work, so I found it particularly interesting The most startling and thought provoking example is definitely the unexpected reduction in US urban crime that occurred towards the end of the 20th century Crime rates had been rising for decades, and people were really worried about what would happen if the trend continued Then, suddenly...Jesus H Tittyfucking Christ on a bike Could these two tossers be anysmarmy and self indulgent Levitt and Dubner and probably the kind of smart arse nerds who snigger at you because you don t understand linux but sneer at you because you ve actually spoken to a woman This book is much like the Emperor s New Clothes, people are so scared about being left out if they don t like or understand it because some sanda...Well,this is the most terrible book I have ever seen,it was too terrible to read.It s so terrible that I just want to burn it as fast as I can,and it cost me 58RMB.That was 58RMB,it was to expensive for me to afford.At first.I thought it was a good book,and I spend all my money on this book.And I was pretty...I assumed Freakonomics would be a book that used statistics to debunk various societal hysterias and fearmongering in a semi humorous way I quickly realized what I was in for when early in the book when the authors gave their background as Harvard Jews and profiled a guy that infiltrated the KKK for the ADL The story sounds at least partially made up It then jumped into predictable white guilt inducing trash and goes into mental contortions using data and sociological explanations for black I assumed Freakonomics would...I guess some people don t like this book because it s not centered around one theme Instead, it sabout the seemingly diffuse academic work of one of the authors Steven D Levitt the other author is a journalist, Stephen J Dubner Levitt is something of an economist butlike a social scientist using the tools of Microeconomics applied to other fie...The most interesting part of this book was the introduction Sad, but true.Four stars for presentation The prose is nearly invisible, which I suppose in this genre is preferable to the alternative And the content is mildly interesting, in a Huh Wouldja look at that sort of way, as though you saw a duck waddling through your back yard with jam on its head.But insofar as it s meant to be the vehicle for a larger framework for viewing the world, this book is old news You mean shit s connected The most interesting part of this book was the introduction Sad, but true.Four stars for presentation The prose is nearly invisible, which I suppose in this genre is preferable to the alternative And the content is mildly interesting, in a Huh Wouldja look at that sort of way, as though you saw a duck waddling through your back yard with jam on its head.But insofar as it s meant to be the vehicle for a larger framework for viewing the wor...The experts are evil, have agendas, will trick you talk got old real fast, especially when points are later being backed up with experts research There s not enough discussion on the data itself, no distinction between quantitative and qualitative, and not enough discussion on the many flaws of data and how we analyze it Pretty interesting how much he dislikes criminologists but then if I remember correctly , only mentions the same one or two names over and over when giving examples of crim The experts are evil, have agendas, will trick you talk got old real fast, especially when points are later being backed up with experts research There s not enough discussion on the data itself, no distinction between quantitative and qualitative, and not enough d...

English
09 November 2018

Steven D. Levitt