Book Log 2010 #46: Freakonomics by Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner

I'm pretty sure I'm the last person in America to read this book, which was all the rage when it came out in 2005. Its chapters look at various issues with the idea that decisions people make on them are guided by whatever gives the maximum incentive to act (for example, what incentives exists that would lead to teachers cheating to improve the standardized test scores of their students). For all issues, Levitt (a University of Chicago economist) looks to ask the right question and then use data rather than theory to find answers.

As someone who has bailed out of several books that try to explain economics to laypeople, I have to say I was very pleasantly surprised by the approach taken here. Levitt's method makes more sense to me than the usual onslaught of curves, as I think using quantitative data leads to results that, while unexpected, have a foundation in the real world. Having Dubner, a journalist for the New York Times, as a co-author helps to make the prose that much more approachable.

There is controversy here - one chapter delves into the question of a relationship between legalized abortion and crime - and the approach may strike some with a better grip of economics as being too popular. But for me, this is easily the most approachable book on economics that I've ever read. I expect to get around to SuperFreakonomics much sooner than I did the original.