聽(tīng)好書(shū)學(xué)英語(yǔ)-經(jīng)管類(lèi)freakonomics

"Do Sumo wrestlers cheat? Which is a whiter name for a girl, Molly or Holly? And what do crack gangs and McDonald's restaurants have in common? The answers to these and other seldom-asked questions are all here, in the funkiest study of statistical mechanics ever by a world-renowned economist. Crunching numbers too offbeat for Milton Friedman--KKK membership rolls, bagel sales figures, data from online dating services--Levitt (along with coauthor Dubner) searches for logic in the messy mathematics of human behavior. His conclusions are often eye-opening (say it ain't so, Sato!) and sometimes eye-popping (his theory that high abortion rates help reduce crime probably won't get him invited to the White House anytime soon), but in the end he never really adds it all up to a cohesive or compelling sum. Still, give the proof his props: "Freakonomics" is a lot more fun to read than anything Friedman ever wrote."
- Benjamin Svetkey, Entertainment Weekly
“相撲選手騙人嗎？莫利和霍莉哪個(gè)更像白人女孩的名字？一流的犯罪團(tuán)伙和麥當(dāng)勞有什么共同之處？這些極少被問(wèn)起的問(wèn)題就是這位世界著名的經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)家所作的關(guān)于統(tǒng)計(jì)力學(xué)的奇怪研究。這些密密麻麻的數(shù)字對(duì)米爾頓.弗里德曼來(lái)說(shuō)太奇怪了——三K黨成員名單，百吉餅銷(xiāo)售數(shù)字，在線(xiàn)年齡測(cè)定數(shù)據(jù)——列維特（與他的合著者都伯納一起）在一堆亂糟糟的人類(lèi)行為的數(shù)字中尋找邏輯。他的結(jié)論往往令人大開(kāi)眼界，有時(shí)令人瞠目結(jié)舌（他說(shuō)，高墮胎率有益于犯罪的減少，估計(jì)這個(gè)理論在短期內(nèi)不會(huì)受到白宮的歡迎），但是最終他沒(méi)有對(duì)這些進(jìn)行一個(gè)相關(guān)的或者令人信服的總結(jié)。不過(guò)，引用他的支持者的話(huà)：《魔鬼經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)》比任何弗里德曼寫(xiě)的書(shū)都好看。”
——本杰明.斯維特基，《娛樂(lè)周刊》

"Forget your image of an economist as a crusty professor worried about fluctuating interest rates: Levitt focuses his attention on more intimate real-world issues, like whether reading to your baby will make her a better student. Recognition by fellow economists as one of the best young minds in his field led to a profile in the New York Times, written by Dubner, and that original article serves as a broad outline for an expanded look at Levitt's search for the hidden incentives behind all sorts of behavior. There isn't really a grand theory of everything here, except perhaps the suggestion that self-styled experts have a vested interest in promoting conventional wisdom even when it's wrong. Instead, Dubner and Levitt deconstruct everything from the organizational structure of drug-dealing gangs to baby-naming patterns. While some chapters might seem frivolous, others touch on more serious issues, including a detailed look at Levitt's controversial linkage between the legalization of abortion and a reduced crime rate two decades later. Underlying all these research subjects is a belief that complex phenomena can be understood if we find the right perspective. Levitt has a knack for making that principle relevant to our daily lives, which could make this book a hit. Malcolm Gladwell blurbs that Levitt "has the most interesting mind in America," an invitation Gladwell's own substantial fan base will find hard to resist." (starred review)
- Publishers Weekly

“忘掉你那頑固的經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)教授的形象，別再整天擔(dān)憂(yōu)波動(dòng)的利率了：列維特把注意力集中在更加接近現(xiàn)實(shí)世界的問(wèn)題上，例如：讀書(shū)給你的嬰孩聽(tīng)是否能使他成為一個(gè)更優(yōu)秀的學(xué)生？同行的經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)家們都認(rèn)為列維特是這個(gè)領(lǐng)域里最優(yōu)秀的年輕專(zhuān)家之一，都伯納已經(jīng)在《紐約時(shí)報(bào)》為他寫(xiě)了人物概評(píng)，這篇原創(chuàng)的文章作為一個(gè)概括性的大綱，有助于人們進(jìn)一步了解列維特對(duì)人類(lèi)行為背后隱藏的動(dòng)機(jī)所作的研究。事實(shí)上，這本書(shū)沒(méi)有對(duì)萬(wàn)物給出偉大的理論定義，也許除了一個(gè)例外：那些自稱(chēng)為專(zhuān)家的人有種既得權(quán)利——推廣哪怕是錯(cuò)誤的傳統(tǒng)智慧；相反，都伯納和列維特拆析了很多東西，從販毒團(tuán)伙的組織結(jié)構(gòu)到孩子命名的模式。某些章節(jié)也許顯得有些輕佻，但是其他的都談?wù)摿藝?yán)肅的問(wèn)題，如細(xì)致地探討了列維特具有爭(zhēng)議性的論點(diǎn)，即他認(rèn)為的流產(chǎn)合法化和隨后二十年犯罪減少之間的聯(lián)系。在所有這些研究課題之下，是列維特堅(jiān)定的信念：如果我們能找到正確的視角，就能理解任何復(fù)雜的現(xiàn)象。列維特有他的訣竅使這個(gè)原理與我們的日常生活聯(lián)系起來(lái)，正因此，這本書(shū)將大賣(mài)。馬爾柯姆.格萊德威說(shuō)‘有著全美最有趣的大腦’，至少格萊德威的粉絲群將會(huì)難以抗拒這個(gè)邀請(qǐng)。”（星級(jí)書(shū)評(píng)）
——《出版者周刊》

" Why do drug dealers live at home? Levitt (Economics/Univ. of Chicago) and Dubner (Confessions of a Hero Worshiper, 2003, etc.), who profiled Levitt for the New York Times, team up to demolish conventional wisdom.

To call Levitt a "rogue economist" may be a tad hyperbolic. Certainly this epitome of antistyle ("his appearance is High Nerd: a plaid button-down shirt, nondescript khakis and a braided belt, brown sensible shoes") views the workaday world with different eyes; the young economist teases out meaning from juxtapositions that simply would not occur to other researchers. Consider this, for instance: in the mid-1990s, just when the Clinton administration projected it was about to skyrocket, crime in the U.S. fell markedly. And why? Because, Levitt hazarded a few years ago, of the emergent effects of the Roe v. Wade decision: legalized abortion prevented the births of millions of poor people who, beset by social adversity, were "much more likely than average to become criminals." The suggestion, Dubner writes, "managed to offend just about everyone," conservative and liberal alike, but it had high explanatory value.

Levitt hasn't shied away from controversy in other realms, either, preferring to let the numbers speak for themselves: a young man named Jake will earn more job interviews than one with the same credentials named DeShawn; the TV game show The Weakest Link, like society as a whole, discriminates against the elderly and Hispanics; it is human nature to cheat, and the higher up in the organization a person rises, the more likely it is that he or she will cheat. Oh, yes, and street-level drug dealers live at home with their moms because they have to; most earn well below minimum wage but accept the bad pay and dangerous conditions to get a shot at the big time, playing in what in effect is a tournament. "A crack gang works pretty much like the standard capitalist enterprise," Levitt and Dubner write, "You have to be near the top of the pyramid to make a big wage."
 
“為什么販毒子還住在家里？列維特（芝加哥大學(xué)經(jīng)濟(jì)系）和都伯納（《一個(gè)英雄崇拜者的自白》的作者，2003）兩個(gè)人合作，顛覆傳統(tǒng)智慧。都伯納曾在《紐約時(shí)報(bào)》發(fā)表了列維特的個(gè)人概評(píng)。
如果稱(chēng)列維特為‘流氓經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)家’也許有點(diǎn)夸張，當(dāng)然這個(gè)反流行的典范（“他的外表相當(dāng)討厭：一件領(lǐng)尖訂有鈕扣的襯衫，極普通的卡其褲，一條麻花狀的腰帶，褐色的鞋子”）以不同的眼光看這個(gè)世界；這位年輕的經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)家輕易便能從并列的事物中發(fā)現(xiàn)其他研究者所不能發(fā)現(xiàn)的意義。想想這個(gè)例子：上世紀(jì)90年代中期，當(dāng)克林頓政府預(yù)測(cè)犯罪將激增時(shí)，它卻明顯減少了。為什么呢？列維特在幾年之前大膽地說(shuō)，這是羅伊訴維德決定的結(jié)果：人工流產(chǎn)合法化阻止了幾百萬(wàn)貧困人口的出生，這些人如果來(lái)到世上，將飽受不幸和窮苦的困擾，而且“比平常人更容易淪落成犯罪分子。”都伯納寫(xiě)道，“這個(gè)意見(jiàn)幾乎冒犯了所有人”，無(wú)論是保守派還是自由派，不過(guò)它確實(shí)很能說(shuō)明問(wèn)題。
 列維特在其他領(lǐng)域也同樣引起很多爭(zhēng)議，他喜歡讓數(shù)字說(shuō)話(huà)：一個(gè)名叫杰客的年輕人與具有同等資歷的名叫迪肖恩的相比，在找工作時(shí)能夠獲得更多的面試機(jī)會(huì)；電視娛樂(lè)節(jié)目“最弱的一環(huán)”，和整個(gè)社會(huì)一樣，歧視老年人和西班牙人；欺騙是人類(lèi)的本性，人越是處在一個(gè)組織的上層，越有可能欺騙他人。噢，還有，街頭的毒販還和母親一起住在家里是因?yàn)樗麄儎e無(wú)選擇；大部分人賺的錢(qián)都低于最低工資，但是他們心甘情愿接受低薪和危險(xiǎn)的工作環(huán)境，因?yàn)樗麄兿嘈呸D(zhuǎn)運(yùn)的時(shí)刻終將來(lái)臨，最終他們發(fā)現(xiàn)這確實(shí)是一場(chǎng)錦標(biāo)賽。列維特和都伯納寫(xiě)道：“一流犯罪團(tuán)伙的運(yùn)作極像第一流的資本家企業(yè)。你必須爬到金字塔的頂端，才能賺大錢(qián)。”