Superfreakonomics
Global Cooling, Patriotic Prostitutes and Why Suicide Bombers Should Buy Life Insurance
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4.0 • 67 Ratings
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- £5.49
Publisher Description
Steven Levitt, the original rogue economist, and Stephen Dubner have spent four years uncovering the hidden side of even more controversial subjects, from terrorism to shark attacks, cable TV to hurricanes. The result is Superfreakonomics. It reveals, among other things:
- Why you are more likely to be killed walking drunk than driving drunk
- How a prostitute is more likely to sleep with a policeman than be arrested by one
- Why terrorists might be easier to track down than you would imagine
- How a sex change could boost your salary
Because sometimes the most superfreaky solution is the simplest.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Economist Levitt and journalist Dubner capitalize on their megaselling Freakonomics with another effort to make the dismal science go gonzo. Freaky topics include the oldest profession (hookers charge less nowadays because the sexual revolution has produced so much free competition), money-hungry monkeys (yep, that involves prostitution, too) and the dunderheadedness of Al Gore. There's not much substance to the authors' project of applying economics to all of life. Their method is to notice some contrarian statistic (adult seat belts are as effective as child-safety seats in preventing car-crash fatalities in children older than two), turn it into "economics" by tacking on a perfunctory cost-benefit analysis (seat belts are cheaper and more convenient) and append a libertarian sermonette (governments "tend to prefer the costly-and-cumbersome route"). The point of these lessons is to bolster the economist's view of people as rational actors, altruism as an illusion and government regulation as a folly of unintended consequences. The intellectual content is pretty thin, but it's spiked with the crowd-pleasing provocations "'A pimp's services are considerably more valuable than a realtor's'" that spell bestseller.
Customer Reviews
An opinion
I know that a 15 year old student does not offer such a prevalent opinion but, this is my view:
This book offers a sight into microeconomics. It does not offer the attraction of mainstream economics but the insights that it gives are fascinating. The book definitely gives me an advantage in life with the chapter on simple solutions being the most helpful. I would recommend this book to everyone especially students working on an economics for A-level or even at university level.
Diminishing returns?
I have to agree with the previous reviewers; Superfreakonomics is principally a quick train read or a pick-up put-down holiday special. The problem, I think, lies with the genre itself: any new book tackling the subject of applied behavioural economics is treading an already well-worn path; think "The Undercover Economist" or even the original Freakonomics. New or casual non-fiction readers will no doubt enjoy this book.
Super? Not especially
Part of the charm of the first book was that it not only contained many interesting facts but was also revelationary, giving you a deeper insight into the motivations behind those facts. The book left you feeling you had a deeper grasp of not only economics but also life in general.
Whilst this book introducing many new interesting topics and facts, it lacks the deeper insight given by it's predecessor and hence, ultimately, is a disappointment.