Friday, September 30, 2005

Book Review: Freakonomics

by Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner


This was a quick read (about 3 hours on the plane on the way back from Redmond) and, in a word I thought it was: good.

Very little (but some) reasoning by analogy and none of the Correlation/Causation Fallacy I couldn't stomach in the Armchair Economist. There are a few ego, puff pieces in between the pages but in general it's well reasoned, well written and thought provoking. I didn't care much for the article on names but the abortion-crime paper is bound to offend anyone with a pulse.

Although it didn't change my view that economics is in it's early phases as a science, it did a lot to show how statistics can be properly used in building an economic case for things like abolishing gun control laws, or how teachers cheat on standardized testing.

I would recommend this book.

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