In the summer of 2003, the New York Times Magazine sent Stephen J. Dubner, an author and journalist, to write a profile of Steven D. Levitt, a heralded young economist at the University of Chicago. Levitt was not remotely interested in the things that interest most economists. More...
Instead, he studied the riddles of everyday lifefrom cheating to crime to child-rearingand his conclusions turned the conventional wisdom on its head. For instance, he argued that one of the main causes of the crime drop of the 1990s was the legalization of abortion twenty years earlier. Unwanted children have a greater likelihood of becoming criminals; with so many unwanted children being aborted in the 1970s, the pool of potential criminals had significantly shrunk by the 1990s. The Times article yielded an unprecedented response, a deluge of interest from thousands of curious, inspired, and occasionally distraught readers. Levitt and Dubner collaborated on a book that gives full play to Levitts most compelling ideas. Through forceful storytelling and pungent insight. FREAKONOMICS reminds us all that economics is, at root, the study of incentiveshow people get what they want, or need, especially when other people want or need the same thing. Among the questions it answers: Which is more dangerous, a gun or a swimming pool? If drug dealers make so much money, why do they still live with their mothers? What makes a perfect parent? And, of course: What do schoolteachers and sumo wrestlers have in common? Answer: they both cheat.
目錄:
AN EXPLANATORY NOTE
INTRODUCTION: THE HIDDEN SIDE OF EVERYTHING
Chapter 1 WHAT DO SCHOOLTEACHERS AND SUMO WERSTLERS HAVE IN COMMON?
Chapter 2 HOW IS THE KU KLUX KLAN LIKE A GROUP OF REAL-ESTATE AGENTS?
Chapter 3 WHY DO DRUG DEALERS STILL LIVE WITH THEIR MOMS?
Chpater 4 WHERE HAVE ALL THE CRIMINALS GONE?
Chapter 5 WHAT MAKES A PERFECT PARENT?
Chapter 6 PERFECT PARENTING, PART II; OR: WOULD A ROSHANDA BY ANY OTHER NAME SMELL S SWEET?
NOTES
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
INDEX