From New Statesman [from Dan Rosenheck]
In the August 8th 2005 issue of the New Statesman, Dan Rosenheck reviews Steven D. Levitt's book Freakonomics. Nathan and Dan have brought up this book in comments to some of the postings below. Rosenheck's summation of the book is pretty much how I feel about the book. In the end, the book tends to be a bit empty of real forward thinking, but it is a neat itellectual magic act.If there is an idea unifying Freakonomics, it is the centrality of incentives in determining human actions: the authors describe these as the "cornerstones of life". Surely a mind as powerful as Levitt's is capable of drawing conclusions about the nature of incentives from his wide-ranging study -- why they evolve as they have and how they might be modified to encourage behaviour in accordance with social goals. If high-stakes testing encourages teachers to improve their students' performance artificially, should it be abolished? Do we really want to encourage abortions as away to prevent crime? For readers unfamiliar with the way economists think, Freakonomics is likely to be enlightening as well as entertaining. But those seeking an intellectual mother-lode at the end of the "treasure hunt" will surely be disappointed.
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