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05/10/2005: Freakonomics
A book I’d like to read but haven’t yet gotten to purchase is about Steve Levitt’s unorthodox research (and written by co-author Stephen Dubner): "Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything." This book was the subject of this article Fascinated with Facts by Sharon Cohen (Kane County Chronicle).“…(Levitt) details some eyebrow-raising findings.
Levitt is a maverick economist at the University of Chicago, a school known for esteemed scholars who've paved a path to Stockholm, Sweden: Five Nobel Prize winners in economics are on the faculty. Eighteen others were students, researchers or professors at Chicago.
With a boyish curiosity and a powerhouse resume (Harvard, M.I.T., Chicago), Levitt has explored everything from provocative social issues -- linking abortion and lower crime rates -- to patterns of ethnic and age bias among TV game show contestants.
"It's not like I go looking for trouble," Levitt says. "But I try to find unusual ways to ask questions that people care about. And the most interesting answers you can come up with are the ones that are absolutely true and completely unexpected…."
The Daily Show with Jon Stewart also recently interviewed Levitt, but no link is yet available for that interview. The book looks to be worth the paper it’s printed on, so I’ll have to buy it and give it a read.
Karen on 05.10.05 @ 07:29 AM CST
