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Economics2009

Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything

Steven D. Levitt , Stephen J. Dubner

Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything Cover
Rating
7.5/10
Difficulty
Moderate
Read time
8 hours
Best in
  • Kindle
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315 pagesRead Jun 12, 2012

Before readingWhy I picked it up

I've been a fan of the freakanomics podcast for a while, so I knew that Levitt and Dubner's book would catch my interest. It brings together 3 things I like, data, economics and surprises. The inquisitive side of me feels welcomed with the kinds of questions these guys ask to end up with the strangest insights.

After readingPosted

Freakonomics gives a peak into seemingly trivial assumptions we've believed as to why things are the way they are and works towards disproving them, sometimes controversially as with topics like, the true benefits of reading to a child, a cultural name affecting a test score, abortion and crime rates or the economics of drug dealing. Although the book seems to make statistical biases by making some of this microeconomic topics sound like correlation equals causation, the narrative of the book is very rich if you keep in mind that you should still read the book with a grain of salt.

Three reasons to read it

  1. If you are interested in Social Sciences
  2. Statistical Analysis methods applied to find patterns and solutions in microeconomics
  3. Funny, Insightful and sometimes strange stories about how subtle decisions can lead to big changes

Notes for this book are still being transcribed.