E-Book Overview
Levitt (economics, U. of Chicago) and writing collaborator Dubner (a writer for the New York Times and The New Yorker) dub the material in this work ''freakonomics'' because Levitt uses analytical tools from economics to address a range of questions that, at first glance, might seem to be far removed from the discipline of the ''dismal science.'' They consider questions such as how to determine if teachers are aiding in students' cheating on standardized tests, the impact of information asymmetry on the operation of the Ku Klux Klan, how the organizational structure of crack gangs resemble other businesses, and the influence of parents on child development.
E-Book Content
FREAKONOMICS
A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything Revised and Expanded Edition
Steven D. Levitt and
Stephen J. Dubner
CONTENTS
AN EXPLANATORY NOTE In which the origins of this book are clarified.
vii
PREFACE TO THE REVISED AND EXPANDED EDITION
xi
INTRODUCTION: The Hidden Side of Everything 1 In which the book’s central idea is set forth: namely, if morality represents how people would like the world to work, then economics shows how it actually does work. Why the conventional wisdom is so often wrong . . . How “experts”— from criminologists to real-estate agents to political scientists—bend the facts . . . Why knowing what to measure, and how to measure it, is the key to understanding modern life . . . What is “freakonomics,” anyway? 1. What Do Schoolteachers and Sumo Wrestlers Have in Common? 15 In which we explore the beauty of incentives, as well as their dark side—cheating.
Contents
Who cheats? Just about everyone . . . How cheaters cheat, and how to catch them . . . Stories from an Israeli day-care center . . . The sudden disappearance of seven million American children . . . Cheating schoolteachers in Chicago . . . Why cheating to lose is worse than cheating to win . . . Could sumo wrestling, the national sport of Japan, be corrupt? . . . What the Bagel Man saw: mankind may be more honest than we think. 2. How Is the Ku Klux Klan Like a Group of Real-Estate Agents? 49 In which it is argued that nothing is more powerful than information, especially when its power is abused. Spilling the Ku Klux Klan’s secrets . . . Why experts of every kind are in the perfect position to exploit you . . . The antidote to information abuse: the Internet . . . Why a new car is suddenly worth so much less the moment it leaves the lot . . . Breaking the real-estate agent code: what “well maintained” really means . . . Is Trent Lott more racist than the average Weakest Link contestant? . . . What do online daters lie about? 3. Why Do Drug Dealers Still Live with Their Moms? 79 In which the conventional wisdom is often found to be a web of fabrication, self-interest, and convenience. Why experts routinely make up statistics; the invention of chronic halitosis . . . How to ask a good question . . . Sudhir Venkatesh’s long, strange trip into the crack den . . . Life is a tournament . . . Why prostitutes earn more than architects . . . What a drug dealer, a high-school quarterback, and an editorial assistant have in common . . . How the invention of crack cocaine mirrored the invention of nylon stockings . . . Was crack the worst thing to hit black Americans since Jim Crow? 4. Where Have All the Criminals Gone? 105 In which the facts of crime are sorted out from the fictions. What Nicolae Ceaus¸escu learned—the hard way—about abortion . . . iv
Contents
Why the 1960s was a great time to be a criminal . . . Think the roaring 1990s economy put a crimp on crime? Think again . . . Why capital punishment doesn’t deter criminals . . . Do police actually lower crime rates? . . . Prisons, prisons everywhere . . . Seeing through the New York City police “mira