FREAKONOMICS
Which is more dangerous, a gun or a swimming pool. . . What do schoolteachers and sumo wrestlers have in common. . Why do drug dealers still live with their moms. . . How did the legalization of abortion affect the rate of violent crime. . . These may not sound like typical questions for an econo-mist to ask. Freakonomics is a groundbreaking collaboration between Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner. They usually begin with a mountain of data and a simple question. Some of these questions concern life-and-death issues; others have an admittedly freakish quality. Thus the new field of study contained in this book: freakonomics. Through forceful storytelling and wry insight, Levitt and Dubner show that economics is, at root, the study of incentives. In Freakonomics, they explore the hidden side of . . . well, everything. The inner workings of a crack gang. The truth about real-estate agents. The myths of campaign finance. The telltale marks of a cheating schoolteacher. The secrets of the Klu Klux Klan. What unites all these stories is a belief that the modern world, despite a great deal of complexity and downright deceit, is not impenetrable, is not unknowable, and is even more intriguing than we think. All it takes is a new way of looking.