Economics is not widely considered to be one of the sexier sciences. The annual Nobel Prize winner in that field never receives as much publicity as his or her compatriots in peace, literature, or physics. But if such slights are based on the notion that economics is dull, or that economists are concerned only with finance itself, Steven D. Levitt will change some minds. In Freakonomics (written with Stephen J. Dubner), Levitt argues that many apparent mysteries of everyday life don't need to be so mysterious: they could be illuminated and made even more fascinating by asking the right questions and drawing connections. For example, Levitt traces the drop in violent crime rates to a drop in violent criminals and, digging further, to the Roe v. Wade decision that preempted the existence of some people who would be born to poverty and hardship. Elsewhere, by analyzing data gathered from inner-city Chicago drug-dealing gangs, Levitt outlines a corporate structure much like McDonald's, where the top bosses make great money while scores of underlings make something below minimum wage. And in a section that may alarm or relieve worried parents, Levitt argues that parenting methods don't really matter much and that a backyard swimming pool is much more dangerous than a gun. These enlightening chapters are separated by effusive passages from Dubner's 2003 profile of Levitt in The New York Times Magazine, which led to the book being written. In a book filled with bold logic, such back-patting veers Freakonomics, however briefly, away from what Levitt actually has to say. Although maybe there's a good economic reason for that too, and we're just not getting it yet. --John Moe

Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner Answer The Amazon.com Significant Seven

Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner, author and co-author of this season's bestselling quirky hit, Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything, graciously answered the Amazon.com Significant Seven questions that we like to run by every author.

Levitt and Dubner answer the Amazon.com Significant Seven questions

Well worth the read

Many other reviews on this so this will be short. It is well worth the read- went through it in a couple of days. I am personally glad it did not have the type statistical detail that would have put me to sleep- I was looking more for "surprises" in life based on unexpected causes- and this book provides this. It's actually fun to read and you will take this information and pass it on to friends and family as interesting conversation. I did tire of the breaks between chapters that talked about how wonderful and brilliant the author is- it's like why can't we figure this out ourselves after reading the book.

Read the reviews...

Freaknomics is basically pop social sciences literature written by an extremely accomplished young economist. It is not very deep, not especially analytical, but it is pretty entertaining. And even though it was written for general readers, rather than specialists, in reading it critically some of the depth of the arguments shine through (even if much of the underlying analysis is thankfully omitted). Many of the reviewers here have failed to look past the reader-friendly approach of levitt and his partner. For example, here is a quote from a reviewer on amazon who has assumed that, because this is a pop social science book, he can singlehandedly refute steven levitt (a professor at the most-respected economics institution in the country):

"While some of the correlations noted are interesting, there is no mention of the statistical predictive power of the variables being discussed, or of variables that were tossed out because they did not influence the result: was it the legalization of abortion that resulted in a decline in violent crime, as the authors assert, or was it the widespread availability of The Pill and prophylactic contraceptives?"

Fine... but Levitt himself states that conceptions have increased 30 percent while births have declined 6 percent. Last time I checked, the pill and contraceptives DECREASED conception. If conceptions are increasing (i.e. more people are getting pregnant) and yet births are declining, only one factor could be responsible--one that terminates pregnancy. Abortion.

We may disagree with some of Levitt's conclusions (and many economists do) but we should not assume that we are more intelligent than he is. Just enjoy the book for what it is. If you want something deeper, read Levitt's scholarly work in economic journals (he edits one of the best economic journals in the country, by the way).

Mind Numbing Conclusions

Economics is boring, I wonder why anyone would read an entire book about it. It was my worst subject in middle school, and I'm not much better at it now. That being said, saying that crime went down due to a decline in the number of criminals is akin to saying that the sun is hot because there's so much heat there.

Duh!