Erik’s Blog: Board Shorts and Business Suits

A while back it was suggested to me to read a book about economics. While I never took economics in college, and really only heard horror stories (except from the guy who suggested the book to me) I was interested in the economy, money, and reading. So I thought I’d give it a shot.

The book, Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything, was an amazing book and not really all that much about economics at all. Rather it is a book about using fundamentals in economics and other sciences to look at various social issues from several different point’s of view.

What I mean by this is that the author, Steven Levitt, looks at an issue plaguing the world using different questions. Sometimes questions that might cause controversy, but when one digs deeper, the questions he asks seem to make more sense than possibly those questions raised to provides answers in the first place.

Take for instance his possibly controversial reason for a drop in crime rates. At first it may seem like the drop in crime rates can be tied to social programs aimed at reforming criminals. Obviously, certain politicians would support this stance given that it is usually government money providing such support programs. This support usually comes in the form of reports on how well the government money is doing reforming criminals exemplified by the drop in crime rates.

However, Levitt takes a different aim at the reason behind the drop. In Freakonomics he states that it’s not necessarily these programs or gun laws or any other government interaction with groups more prone to criminal acts, instead he looks towards Roe v. Wade which allowed abortions to those who would otherwise have brought children into this world that were more likely to resort to criminal acts. Crazy? At first you may think this guy is nuts, but really look into it. Look into how well the dates of Roe v. Wade and criminal acts drops overtime. It becomes very intriguing.

Of course this is just one of the examples from his book. He talks about gangs, gun control, and even the KKK. All of these controversial topics he analyzes not to spew his own political rhetoric on the general public, but rather, he brings up these topics to try and encourage everyone to look at these topics differently and not just how the media or government or even the scientific community looks at them and reports to you.

In a time where every place you turn you hear of a new report claiming to have solved some new social mystery and prove that this new opinion is the right one, Levitt offers a breath of fresh air. He challenges readers to try and ask more than just the question of norm and really look beyond forest to see the trees.

Check out his book Freakonomics