Freakonomics
By Steven Levitt & Stephen J. Dubner
A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything. HarperCollins, 2005.
Summary of Freakonomics book by Steven Levitt & Stephen J. Dubner
An enlightening, scientific study that uses an economist’s data to uncover the incentives that drive human behaviors, asking unlikely questions to reveal even more unlikely answers.
Chapters in Freakonomics book summary
What do you get from this book? An economist’s critical analysis of conventional wisdom to explain how the world works
Incentives drive behavior and explain why people act in irrational ways
Strong incentives are designed to encourage good behavior but can also cause honest people to cheat
Experts rely on information asymmetry to claim authority and power
People make decisions based on their fear of risks, especially if those risks are obvious and scary
People confuse correlation with causation to explain behaviors, assigning reasons before they understand the root of the issue
A child is more influenced by who a parent is than by what that parent offers their child
A child’s name does not cause a good or bad life – it is a correlation of the person’s upbringing
Summary of the key insights
Selected critiques in brief
Final word
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Freakonomics — Book Summary Snapshot
Who should read Freakonomics book
- sociologists
- people interested in social dynamics
About the author of Freakonomics
Steven Levitt
Steven Levitt is a professor of economics who teaches at the University of Chicago. Stephen Dubner is an author and journalist who writes for the New York Times, The New Yorker, and Time magazine. The two authors have also written SuperFreakonomics, When to Rob a Bank, and Think Like A Freak.
Books similar to Freakonomics
Related books that explore themes found in Freakonomics
Kate Raworth
Seven Ways to Think Like a 21st-Century Economist. Random House Business Books, 2017.
Mark Buchanan
What Physics, Meteorology, and the Natural Sciences Can Teach Us About Economics. Bloomsbury, 2013.
Marina Adshade
How Economics Influences Sex and Love. Chronicle Books, 2013.
Adam Tooze
How a Decade of Financial Crises Changed the World. Viking, 2018.
Stian Westlake
The Rise of the Intangible Economy. Princeton University Press, 2017.
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