real life questions are answered using economic principles. one of the authors has proclaimed to know nothing of conventional economics and says that math was never his strong suit.
Levitt and Dubner touch on some candid questions with answers that go against conventional wisdom. a very thought provoking book that had me questioning many of the so-called beliefs that society accepts as truth.
one of the more thought provoking assertions made is the casual relationship between legalized abortion and the drastic drop in crime america saw in the early 90's. from out of the scores of data plugged in to various regression models come this tidy syllogism; "unwantedness leads to high crime - abortion leads to less unwantedness - abortion leads to less crime"
it doesn't matter what my or your personal beliefs on abortion are - the numbers do not lie. that is the beauty of numbers. HOWEVER, the author makes it quite clear that in no way, shape or form is he condoning abortions as a tool for crime reduction. the purpose of the book is to simply answer questions. and for years there have been many theories put forward about the cause of the steep drop in crime. this theory now seems to be leading the pack.
the book is a must read.
2 comments:
Sounds interesting. Just reserved it at the library.
I read that book a couple years ago. It definitely puts a different spin on things. Good choice of read!
Post a Comment