Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything

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Is this book's appeal due to its wacky revisionist title, its unsettling take on Roe v. Wade, or just its compulsively readable argument that economics does nothing more than study the incentives that drive us? Probably all of the above. What we do know is that it's the only economics book we've ever labeled a page-turner. An extraordinary work of social science explanation without oversimplification.

People: Great Reads

“Principles of economics are used to examine daily life in this fun read.”

New York Times Book Review: Inside the List

“Provocative… eye-popping.”

Business World

"An easy, funny read. Many unsolvable problems the Americans have could be solved with simple means."

Fort Worth Star-Telegram

"Freakonomics was the ‘It’ book of 2005."

Entertainment Weekly

"The funkiest study of statistical mechanics ever by a world-renowned economist... Eye-opening and sometimes eye-popping"

Book Sense Picks and Notables

"Freakonomics challenges conventional wisdom and makes for fun reading."

Salon.com

"A showcase for Levitt’s intriguing explorations into a number of disparate topics…. There’s plenty of fun to be had."

Wall Street Journal

"If Indiana Jones were an economist, he’d be Steven Levitt… Criticizing Freakonomics would be like criticizing a hot fudge sundae."

Inside the List

"The trivia alone is worth the cover price."

Philadelphia Daily News

"Levitt is a number cruncher extraordinaire."

The Daily Standard

"One of the decade’s most intelligent and provocative books."

Washington Post Book World

"The guy is interesting!"

Financial Times

"Levitt is one of the most notorious economists of our age."

Associated Press Staff

"An unconventional economist defies conventional wisdom."

Malcolm Gladwell

"Steven Levitt has the most interesting mind in America... Prepare to be dazzled."

Kurt Andersen

"Freakonomics is politically incorrect in the best, most essential way.... This is bracing fun of the highest order."

Great Reads

"Principles of economics are used to examine daily life in this fun read."

San Diego Union-Tribune

"Levitt dissects complex real-world phenomena, e.g. baby-naming patterns and Sumo wrestling, with an economist’s laser."

Associated Press Staff

“An unconventional economist defies conventional wisdom.”

New York Times Book Review: Inside the List

“Provocative… eye-popping.”

People: Great Reads

“Principles of economics are used to examine daily life in this fun read.”

Jim Holt

Economists can seem a little arrogant at times. They have a set of techniques and habits of thought that they regard as more ''rigorous'' than those of other social scientists. When they are successful -- one thinks of Amartya Sen's important work on the causes of famines, or Gary Becker's theory of marriage and rational behavior -- the result gets called economics. It might appear presumptuous of Steven Levitt to see himself as an all-purpose intellectual detective, fit to take on whatever puzzle of human behavior grabs his fancy. But on the evidence of Freakonomics, the presumption is earned.
— The New York York Times

Publishers Weekly

Though the idea of listening to an economics text may bring to mind nightmarish visions of incomprehensible facts, figures and graphs, this audiobook is refreshingly accessible and engrossing. Journalist Dubner reads with just the right mix of enthusiasm and awe, revealing juicy morsels of wisdom on everything from what sumo wrestlers and teachers have in common (a propensity to cheat) to whether parents can really push their kids to greatness by buying them Baby Einstein toys and enlisting them in numerous before- and after-school activities (not really). The only section that doesn't translate well to the format is the final one on naming conventions. The lists of "White Girl Names" and "Black Girl Names," and "Low-End" names and "High-End" names can be mind-numbing, though the text that breaks up these lists will intrigue. Overall, however, these unusual investigations by Levitt, the "rogue" of the subtitle, make for meaty-and entertaining-listening. Simultaneous release with the Morrow hardcover (Reviews, Mar. 14). (May) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

Economist Levitt and Dubner (Turbulent Souls) team up in this intriguing, quirky look at life and how to understand better the world in a new way. In 2003, the New York Times Magazine sent Dubner to do a profile of Levitt, and the idea for this book was born. Levitt looks at a variety of data, including KKK membership rolls, online dating services, and names for children, and finds in the math underlying answers to difficult questions that have a freakish quality. The quirky chapters include the commonality between schoolteachers and sumo wrestlers, why drug dealers still live with their mothers, and what makes a perfect parent. The crisp, bright narration by Dubner enlivens this title, which will appeal to fans of Malcolm Gladwell's The Tipping Point as well as to economists. Recommended for university libraries supporting a business and economics curriculum and larger public libraries.-Dale Farris, Groves, TX Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

Why do drug dealers live at home? Levitt (Economics/Univ. of Chicago) and Dubner (Confessions of a Hero Worshiper, 2003, etc.), who profiled Levitt for the New York Times, team up to demolish conventional wisdom. To call Levitt a "rogue economist" may be a tad hyperbolic. Certainly this epitome of antistyle ("his appearance is High Nerd: a plaid button-down shirt, nondescript khakis and a braided belt, brown sensible shoes") views the workaday world with different eyes; the young economist teases out meaning from juxtapositions that simply would not occur to other researchers. Consider this, for instance: in the mid-1990s, just when the Clinton administration projected it was about to skyrocket, crime in the U.S. fell markedly. And why? Because, Levitt hazarded a few years ago, of the emergent effects of the Roe v. Wade decision: legalized abortion prevented the births of millions of poor people who, beset by social adversity, were "much more likely than average to become criminals." The suggestion, Dubner writes, "managed to offend just about everyone," conservative and liberal alike, but it had high explanatory value. Levitt hasn't shied away from controversy in other realms, either, preferring to let the numbers speak for themselves: a young man named Jake will earn more job interviews than one with the same credentials named DeShawn; the TV game show The Weakest Link, like society as a whole, discriminates against the elderly and Hispanics; it is human nature to cheat, and the higher up in the organization a person rises, the more likely it is that he or she will cheat. Oh, yes, and street-level drug dealers live at home with their moms because they have to; most earn well belowminimum wage but accept the bad pay and dangerous conditions to get a shot at the big time, playing in what in effect is a tournament. "A crack gang works pretty much like the standard capitalist enterprise," Levitt and Dubner write, "you have to be near the top of the pyramid to make a big wage." An eye-opening, and most interesting, approach to the world.

Associated Press

“An unconventional economist defies conventional wisdom.”

New York Times Book Review: Inside the List

“Provocative… eye-popping.”