Superfreakonomics Book Review

Superfreakonomics Book Review

  • Submitted By: asg13
  • Date Submitted: 05/17/2011 6:42 PM
  • Category: Book Reports
  • Words: 1324
  • Page: 6
  • Views: 1

Economics: Book Review
Introduction:
SuperFreakonomics: Global Cooling, Patriotic Prostitutes And Why Suicide Bombers Should Buy Life Insurance by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner is a book with each chapter showing a different side to the hotly debated and often, controversial arguments presented in the book. The authors achieve this by using a unconventional way of research - using people to go into straight into the field and gathering first hand data and statistics to not only explain the role of economics in the world we live in - but to explain the economical approach to our problems. With that in mind, the authors are successful in proving that people respond to incentives in ways that are not necessarily predictable. They prove this by using their unique way of using economical data in challenging and showing other, unthought-of sides to the arguments presented in the book.

Summary:
The book's introduction, Putting The Freak In Economics, introduces some interesting tidbits of information the average person didn't know about some topics, such as showing that walking drunk is actually more dangerous than driving drunk. Another is the idea that television viewing is playing a role in empowering women in India. In chapter 1, How Prostitute Like A Department Store Santa?, Is A Street the authors explore the "costs" of being female. This chapter focuses on the economics of being a prostitute, why men earn more than women, and the similarities between being a pimp and a realtor. Chapter 2, Why Should Suicide Bombers Buy Life Insurance?, talks primarily about the trickle effects of the September 11th attacks, and the characteristics of a terrorist and using computer algorithms to identify possible and future terrorists. The third chapter, Unbelievable Stories About Apathy And Altruism, focuses on the murder of New Yorker Kitty Genovese, and why her murder brought about a horrifying conclusion about human apathy, as well as the role of money as an...

Similar Essays