Freakonomics Trailer

This is one of the books I want to read-- Freakonomics (2005 non-fiction book) from authors Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner. Yes, I have been in the engineering game for awhile. Sometimes you just loose site of the little-things, like economics. Economics, is the founding factor on which our nation is based upon (capitalism).

Wikipedia gives the following overview:

The book is a collection of 'economic' articles written by Levitt, an expert who has already gained a reputation for applying economic theory to diverse subjects not usually covered by "traditional" economists; he does, however, accept the standard neoclassicalmicroeconomic model of rational utility-maximization. InFreakonomics, Levitt and Dubner argue that economics is, at root, the study of incentives. The book's topics include:

• Chapter 1: Discovering cheating as applied to teachers andsumo wrestlers (See below)
• Chapter 2: Information control as applied to the Ku Klux Klanand real-estate agents
• Chapter 3: The economics of drug dealing, including the surprisingly low earnings and abject working conditions ofcrack cocaine dealers
• Chapter 4: The controversial role legalized abortion may have played in reducing crime. (Levitt explored this topic in an earlier paper entitled "The Impact of Legalized Abortion on Crime.")
• Chapter 5: The negligible effects of good parenting on education
• Chapter 6: The socioeconomic patterns of naming children

One example of the authors' use of economic theory involves demonstrating the existence of cheating among sumo wrestlers. In a sumo tournament, all wrestlers in the top division compete in 15 matches and face demotion if they do not win at least eight of them. The sumo community is very close-knit, and the wrestlers at the top levels tend to know each other well. The authors looked at the final match, and considered the case of a wrestler with seven wins, seven losses, and one fight to go, fighting against an 8-6 wrestler. Statistically, the 7-7 wrestler should have a slightly below even chance, since the 8-6 wrestler is slightly better. However, the 7-7 wrestler actually wins around 80% of the time. Levitt uses this statistic and other data gleaned from sumo wrestling matches, along with the effect that allegations of corruption have on match results, to conclude that those who already have 8 wins collude with those who are 7-7 and let them win, since they have already secured their position for the following tournament.

The authors attempt to demonstrate the power of data mining. Many of their results emerge from Levitt's analysis of various databases, and asking the right questions. Authors posit that various incentives encourage teachers to cheat by assisting their students with multiple-choice high-stakes tests. Such cheating in the Chicago school system is inferred from detailed analysis of students' answers to multiple choice questions. But first Levitt asks, "What would the pattern of answers look like if the teacher cheated?" The simple answer: difficult questions at the end of a section will be more correct than easy ones at the beginning.

Recommended by some friends. I hope to check this book out over the winter break.