Steven D Levitt/Stephen J Dubner: Freakonomics

Steven D Levitt/Stephen J Dubner: Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything (2005, William Morrow)

Another book I've noticed but haven't read is Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything, by Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner. Economists often say weird things about ordinary behaviors -- often the fault there is that the simplifying assumptions that economists inevitably make (e.g., the pursuit of self-interest) are often not made by ordinary people. But this book has gotten a reputation for Levitt's argument that the main cause of the drop in crime rates during the '90s was the advent of legal access to abortion in the '70s. One thing the abortion option means is that women can keep from bearing children that they're unprepared or unwilling to raise; as such there are fewer unwanted children, who are in turn more likely to resort to crime. Makes sense to me, although I wouldn't throw out the other factors.

posted 2005-05-03