Freakonomics

Freakonomics, onde Steven D. Levitt, com a ajuda de Stephen J. Dubner, expõe algumas das suas interessantes (e acima de tudo originais) análises é uma boa leitura de férias. Discordo da relação entre moral e economia apresentada por Levitt, assim como dos pressupostos implícitos em várias das suas análises mas a pertinência das questões levantadas e a clareza e simplicidade da exposição justificam, só por si, a leitura da obra. No meu caso, fiquei satisfeito por ter seguido a recomendação de leitura feita por um amigo (não economista, mas que percebe bastante mais de economia do que muitos dos economistas que conheço).

Which is more dangerous, a gun or a swimming pool? What do schoolteachers and sumo wrestlers have in common? Why do drug dealers still live with their moms? How much do parents really matter? What kind of impact did Roe v. Wade have on violent crime?

These may not sound like typical questions for an economist to ask. But Steven D. Levitt is not a typical economist. He is a much-heralded young scholar who studies the riddles of everyday life-from cheating and crime to sports and child-rearing - and whose conclusions regularly turn the conventional wisdom on its head. He usually begins with a mountain of data and a simple, unasked question. Some of these questions concern life-and-death issues; others have an admittedly freakish quality. Thus the new field of study contained in this book: Freakonomics.

Through forceful storytelling and wry insight, Levitt and co-author Stephen J. Dubner show that economics is, at root, the study of incentives - how people get what they want, or need, especially when other people want or need the same thing. In Freakonomics, they set out to explore the hidden side of … well, everything. The inner workings of a crack gang. The truth about real-estate agents. The myths of campaign finance. The telltale marks of a cheating schoolteacher. The secrets of the Ku Klux Klan.