Book Review: Freakonomics
August 9th, 2007 by Jaclyn Lutanco-Chua
Posted in Media (Books, CDs, DVDs, Movies) | | 11 Comments »
What’s a book written by an economist doing on a shopping website? Well, you may be glad to know that Freakonomics isn’t a book about economic news and theories, but an attempt by a hip, young economist to answer certain “freakish questions” using very basic, very understandable economic formula.
Some of these freakish questions:
- What do sumo wrestlers and schoolteachers have in common?
- Which is more dangerous—a gun or a swimming pool?
- If drug dealers make so much money, why do they still live with their parents?
The answers:
- They both cheat to win.
- A swimming pool! A kid has a 1 in 11,000 chance dying in a house with a pool, versus 1 in 1 million-plus in a house with a gun.
- Only the top guys get rich from the drug trade. Once the profits are split, the pushers on the street make lower than the minimum wage!
What’s a book written by an economist doing on a shopping website? Well, you may be glad to know that Freakonomics isn’t a book about economic news and theories, but an attempt by a hip, young economist to answer certain “freakish questions” using very basic, very understandable economic formula.
Some of these freakish questions:
- What do sumo wrestlers and schoolteachers have in common?
- Which is more dangerous—a gun or a swimming pool?
- If drug dealers make so much money, why do they still live with their parents?
The answers:
- They both cheat to win.
- A swimming pool! A kid has a 1 in 11,000 chance dying in a house with a pool, versus 1 in 1 million-plus in a house with a gun.
- Only the top guys get rich from the drug trade. Once the profits are split, the pushers on the street make lower than the minimum wage!
