Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything
by Steven D. Levitt, Stephen J. Dubner

Dec 2005

Questionable execution, important nonetheless

Here is a book aimed squarely at the masses. Its target demographic appears to be the man (or woman) who watches too much TV, and occasionally feels bad about it, and then goes looking for something to read instead.

You can tell by parsing the title: As a lead-in, `Freakonomics' is needlessly over the top, like a vintage dot-com commercial. `Rogue' is similarly goofy, more professional wrestler than economist. `Hidden' promises arcane secrets, and `Everything' (As in, "Really? They explore EVERYthing?") is such a ridiculous exaggeration, it's as if the authors intentionally sought to razz their precision-minded colleagues.

For those expecting erudition, how did you miss the flashing neon sign?

Scholarship requirements aside, Freakonomics has some great moments. There are real insights here. Far and away the best chapter, in my opinion, is "Why Do Drug Dealers Still Live With Their Moms," explaining why the organizational chart of a crack syndicate bears striking resemblance to that of McDonald's Corporation. The book's discussion of `tournament structure'—an essential element in many competitive fields, if not life itself—is also brilliant.

Furthermore, in the book-as-phenomenon department, Freakonomics is more than just amusing. It is useful and potentially important to boot.

Between scary trade deficits, rampant globalization fears, $60 crude and $500 gold (at the time of this writing), we are living in shaky economic times. (You would have to be living under a rock to think otherwise.) It's times like these when dubious political rhetoric becomes the most dangerous. And demagogues depend on general economic illiteracy to get away with their buffoonery.

So what does this have to do with Freakonomics? Simple. Politicians make hay from arguments that appeal to emotion rather than logic. The Levitt treatment strips emotion from the equation—encouraging people to think logically, rather than emotionally, about economic problems. In helping folks see the nuts and bolts of economic issues more clearly, and getting them to realize there is more to the equation than pundits and politicians let on, Freakonomics does a public service.

I only wish Thomas Sowell's excellent work, Basic Economics: A Citizen's Guide to the Economy, could win half the attention this book has received. Perhaps Sowell should publish a new edition, spiffed up with a splashy graphic and zany title.