“Morality, it could be argued, represents the way that the world works, whereas economics represents how it actually does work”
-Steven J. Dubner
If you are the one who is interested in economics, data science or just popular books, you may have come across the book “Freakonomics”. The book is described as a “rogue economist who explores the hidden side of everything” which is quite the claim. Freakonomics is written by Steven Levitt who is an economist and has already written many books on the subject as well along with Stephen J. Dubner, a journalist who was all keen on writing books. With two brilliant minds behind the book, it is really deep and insightful about the world we think we all know about. The New York Times bestseller tries to answer questions such as “why do drug dealers still live with their mothers?” and “what do schoolteachers and sumo wrestlers have in common?”. The pair uses data and underlying trends to bring up surprising results.
The book covers a wide range of topics ranging from abuse to economics of fear till the role of incentives. It encourages the readers to see the world through a different lens. The book uses a lot of statistical data to back its conclusions. One such example that I found to be interesting was how Levitt shows the primary cause of the crime rates dropping in the 1990's in the US. He believed that it was not because the police started working more efficiently, or the gun laws got stricter or the strengthening of the economy. Rather he believed that the crime rates started to decline because of the judicial hearing of Roe. Vs Wade. Yes! you read that right. The authors connect the cause of low crime rates to abortion. The book makes you doubt the claim of the author first and then slowly go into the data and evidence that they have collected. They explain and analyze their claim made throughout the book and prove all your thoughts wrong. The book is filled with such fascinating, counter intuitive insights.
The authors have directly or tried to state the definition of economics. Well as we all know there is no concrete definition to economics. However one line in the book accurately defines it- “Economics is a science of measurement”. In economics we tend to measure everything monetarily, numerically, rationally and logically. So, this definition makes sense.
This book will make the readers go in a spin as occasionally one might get confused. The book forces you to ask yourself questions that you never would have asked before. It makes a person think hard about the world we live in and how society works. The book is not centered around a specific theme, rather it illustrates various scenarios to show the author’s viewpoint which makes this book even more interesting.
In the last 13 years since its publication, this book has got a sequel and even a documentary. Thirteen years is a lot of time for a book on statistics and economics to go outdated, especially one with the current events. However, people still go on to read this book because of the way the concepts have been explained. With keeping that in mind, Freakonomics espouses five principle:-
1) Incentives are the cornerstone of modern life.
2) The conventional wisdom is often wrong.
3) Dramatic effects often have distant, even subtle, causes.
4) “Experts”—from criminologists to real-estate agents—use their informational advantage to serve their own agenda.
5) Knowing what to measure and how to measure it makes a complicated world much less so.
With that being said, in some places Levitt only provides a limited economic explanation of the ideas he was trying to convey and instead spent a lot of time discussing tedious and irrelevant details. The book has a quite advanced level of literature, vocabulary and concepts. This book is perfect for readers who like reading about the economy and society.
Freakonomics in totality is packed with fascinating ideas & weird yet interesting, never thought of Comparisons. The Economists and the book shows the desperateness to prove that economics is inherent in every facet of life. At first one may see it as a book with various facts and figures like any other economic or statistical book ever. However, the writers have gone all the way in and explained all the concepts with minimal numeric and statistics. The author has attempted to get an economical perspective to every incident, every revolution and every phenomenon in the west.
Overall the book is quite good to read and get to know new insights about the world economy. The examples given by Steven Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner will make you think and analyze like never before. The book is quite insightful and is definitely worth the read.
Article by:- J Shree Nidhi
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