Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything
Author	Steven D. Levitt Stephen J. Dubner
Country	United States
Language	English
Subject(s)	Economics
Genre(s)	Non-fiction
Publisher	William Morrow
Publication date	April 12, 2005
Media type	Hardback & Paperback
Pages	336 pp (hardback edition)
ISBN	ISBN 0-06-123400-1 (Hardback), ISBN 0-06-089637-X (large print paperback)

Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything is a 2005 book by University of Chicago economist Steven Levitt and New York Times journalist Stephen J. Dubner that has been described as melding pop culture with economics.^[1] As of 2007, it has sold 3 million copies worldwide.^[2] Image File history File links Cover of Freakonomics by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner. ... Steven Levitt Steven Levitt (born May 29, 1967) is prominent American economist best known for his work on crime, in particular on the link between legalized abortion and crime rates. ... Stephen J. Dubner (born 1963) is an American journalist who has written three books and numerous articles. ... For other uses, see Country (disambiguation). ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... Face-to-face trading interactions on the New York Stock Exchange trading floor. ... For the book by Chuck Palahniuk titled Non-fiction, see Stranger Than Fiction: True Stories. ... A publisher is a person or entity which engages in the act of publishing. ... Wiliam Morrow and Company is an American publishing company founded by William Morrow in 1926. ... is the 102nd day of the year (103rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... ISBN redirects here. ... Year 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... For other uses, see University of Chicago (disambiguation). ... Alan Greenspan, former chairman, United States Federal Reserve. ... Steven Levitt Steven Levitt (born May 29, 1967) is prominent American economist best known for his work on crime, in particular on the link between legalized abortion and crime rates. ... The New York Times is an internationally known daily newspaper published in New York City and distributed in the United States and many other nations worldwide. ... For other uses, see Journalist (disambiguation). ... Stephen J. Dubner (born 1963) is an American journalist who has written three books and numerous articles. ... Popular culture, or pop culture, is the vernacular (peoples) culture that prevails in a modern society. ... Face-to-face trading interactions on the New York Stock Exchange trading floor. ... 2007 is a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Overview

The book is a collection of economic articles written by Levitt, translated into prose meant for a wide audience. Levitt had already gained a reputation in academia for applying economic theory to diverse subjects not usually covered by "traditional" economists. Levitt is not actually a "rogue" economist, however, in that he accepts the standard microeconomic model of rational utility-maximization. The book's topics include: Academia is a collective term for the scientific and cultural community engaged in higher education and research, taken as a whole. ... Microeconomics (or price theory) is a branch of economics that studies how individuals, households, and firms make decisions to allocate limited resources,[1] typically in markets where goods or services are being bought and sold. ... In microeconomics, the utility maximization problem is the problem consumers face: how should I spend my money in order to maximize my utility? Suppose their consumption set has L commodities. ...

• Chapter 1: Discovering cheating as applied to teachers and sumo wrestlers (See below)
• Chapter 2: Information control as applied to the Ku Klux Klan and real-estate agents
• Chapter 3: The economics of drug dealing, including the surprisingly low earnings and abject working conditions of crack cocaine dealers
• Chapter 4: The controversial role legalized abortion has played in reducing crime. (Levitt explored this topic in an earlier paper entitled "The Impact of Legalized Abortion on Crime.")
• Chapter 5: The negligible effects of good parenting on education
• Chapter 6: The socioeconomic patterns of naming children

One striking example of the authors' creative use of economic theory involves demonstrating the existence of cheating among Sumo wrestlers. In a Sumo tournament, all wrestlers compete in 15 matches and stay in the top league if they win at least 8 of them. The Sumo community is very close-knit, and all of the wrestlers at the top levels tend to know each other well. The authors looked at the final match, and considered the case of a wrestler with seven wins, seven losses, and one fight to go, fighting against an 8-6 wrestler. Statistically, the 7-7 wrestler should have a slightly below even chance, since the 8-6 wrestler is slightly better. However, the 7-7 wrestler actually wins around 80% of the time. Levitt uses this statistic and other data gleaned from Sumo wrestling matches and the effect allegations of corruption have on match results, to conclude that those who already have 8 wins collude with those who are 7-7 and let them win, since they have already secured their place in the league. Members of the second Ku Klux Klan at a rally during the 1920s. ... A pile of crack cocaine ‘rocks’. Crack cocaine is a solid, smokeable form of cocaine and is a highly addictive drug popular for its intense psychoactive high. ... The legalized abortion and crime effect is the highly controversial theory that the legalization of abortion in the United States, due to Roe v. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Legalized_abortion_and_crime_effect. ... For other uses, see Sumo (disambiguation). ...

The authors attempt to demonstrate the power of data mining. Many of their results emerge from Levitt's analysis of various databases, and his creativity in asking the right questions. For example, cheating in the Chicago school system is inferred from detailed analysis of students' answers to multiple choice questions. But first Levitt asks, "What would the pattern of answers look like if the teacher cheated?" The simple answer: difficult questions at the end of a section will be more correct than easy ones at the beginning. Data mining is the principle of sorting through large amounts of data and picking out relevant information. ... For other uses, see Chicago (disambiguation). ...

Reappraisals

In Chapter 2 of Freakonomics, the authors wrote of their visit to folklorist Stetson Kennedy's Florida home where the topic of Kennedy's investigations of the Ku Klux Klan were discussed. However in their January 8, 2006 column in the New York Times Magazine Dubner and Levitt wrote of questions about Stetson Kennedy's research ("Hoodwinked" pp 26-28) leading to the conclusion that Kennedy's research was at times embellished for effectiveness. The implication of the reappraisal of their source was that Kennedy's claims and conclusions should be reviewed for accuracy and verified, rather than being accepted at full face value. Stetson Kennedy (born October 5, 1916 in Jacksonville, Florida) is an award-winning author and human rights activist from Florida. ... Members of the second Ku Klux Klan at a rally during the 1920s. ... is the 8th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The New York Times is an internationally known daily newspaper published in New York City and distributed in the United States and many other nations worldwide. ...

In the "Revised and Expanded Edition" this embellishment was noted and corrected: "Several months after Freakonomics was first published, it was brought to our attention that this man's portrayal of his crusade, and various other Klan matters, was considerably overstated....we felt it was important to set straight the historical record." (pp. xiv, Revised Edition)

Publishing history and blog

Freakonomics peaked at number two among nonfiction on the New York Times bestseller list and was named the 2006 Book Sense Book of the Year in the Adult Nonfiction category. The book received positive reviews from critics. The review aggregator Metacritic reported the book had an average score of 67 out of 100, based on 16 reviews.^[3] Non-fiction is a truthful account or representation of a subject which is composed of facts. ... The New York Times bestseller list is a weekly chart in The New York Times newspaper that keeps track of the best-selling books of the week. ... Book Sense is a family of independent booksellers who organized in order to better compete with the large book chains. ... Metacritic is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows, DVDs and books. ...

The success of the book has been partly attributed to the blogosphere. In the campaign prior to the release of the book in April 2005, the publisher (William Morrow and Company) chose to target bloggers in an unusually strategical way, sending galley copies to over a hundred of them, as well as contracting two specialized word of mouth (buzz marketing) agencies.^[1] Blogosphere is a collective term encompassing all blogs and their interconnections. ... Wiliam Morrow and Company is an American publishing company founded by William Morrow in 1926. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... For other uses, see Word of mouth (disambiguation). ...

The authors started their own Freakonomics blog, which is "meant to keep the conversation going", in 2005. In May 2007, blogger Melissa Lafsky was hired as a full time editor.^[4] In August 2007, the blog was incorporated into the New York Times' web site (the authors had been writing joint columns for the New York Times Magazine since 2004), and the domain freakonomics.com became a redirect there.^[5] In March 2008, Annika Mengisen replaced Lafsky as the blog editor.^[6] Melissa Lafsky Melissa Lafsky is the author of the formerly prominent Opinionistas blog, which focuses on the dehumanizing aspects of law firms. ... The New York Times is a daily newspaper published in New York City and distributed internationally. ... URL redirection, also called URL forwarding, domain redirection and domain forwarding, is a technique on the World Wide Web for making a web page available under many URLs. ...

In fall 2006, the Revised and Expanded Edition of the book was published, with the most significant corrections in the second chapter (see above).^[7]

In April 2007, co-author Stephen Dubner announced that there will be a sequel to Freakonomics. It will contain further writings about street gang culture from Sudhir Venkatesh, as well as a study of the use of money by capuchin monkeys.^[8] Dubner has said the title would be Superfreakonomics,^[9] and that one topic will be what makes people good at what they do. Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ... -1... Type species Simia capucina Linnaeus, 1758 Species Cebus capucinus Cebus albifrons Weeper uolivaceus Cebus kaapori Cebus apella Cebus libidinosus Cebus nigritus Cebus xanthosternos Cebus queirozi Tufted Capuchin (Cebus apella) The capuchins are the group of New World monkeys classified as genus Cebus. ...

References

Metacritic is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows, DVDs and books. ... 2008 (MMVIII) is the current year, a leap year that started on Tuesday of the Anno Domini (or common era), in accordance to the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 70th day of the year (71st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... CNET Networks, Inc. ... is the 109th day of the year (110th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) is the current year, a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and the AD/CE era in the 21st century. ...

Further reading

• Steven Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner (2005). Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything. William Morrow/HarperCollins. ISBN 0-06-073132-X. 
• Ariel Rubinstein (2006): "Freak-Freakonomics," The Economists' Voice: Vol. 3 : Iss. 9, Article 7
• Freedomnomics: why the free market works and other half-baked theories don't / John Lott (2007) ISBN 9781596985063 (arguments against those found in Freakonomics)

Steven Levitt Steven Levitt (born May 29, 1967) is prominent American economist best known for his work on crime, in particular on the link between legalized abortion and crime rates. ... Stephen J. Dubner (born 1963) is an American journalist who has written three books and numerous articles. ... Sir William Morrow DSO ED was a leading Australian surgeon and specilist in Gastroenterology he also served as president of the Royal Australian College of Physicians. ... HarperCollins is a publishing company owned by News Corporation. ... Ariel Rubinstein (born April 13, 1951) is an economist who works in game theory. ... Freedomnomics by John R. Lott, Jr. ... John R. Lott Jr. ...

External links

• Official site (including guide for students)
• Freakonomics blog
• Freakonomics Author Interviews by About.com
• Critical review of the book by n+1 magazine
• Seminar on the book at Crooked Timber