FREAKONOMICS
A Rogue Economist
Explores the Hidden
Side of Everything
Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. DubnerCONTENTS
AN EXPLANATORY NOTE
In which the origins of this book are clarified.
INTRODUCTION: The Hidden Side of Everything
In which the book’s central idea is set forth: namely, if morality represents how people
would like the world to work, then economics shows how it actually does work.
Why the conventional wisdom is so often wrong…How “experts”—from criminologists
to real-estate agents to political scientists—bend the facts…Why knowing what to
measure, and how to measure it, is the key to understanding modern life…What is
“freakonomics,” anyway?
1. What Do Schoolteachers and Sumo Wrestlers Have in Common?
In which we explore the beauty of incentives, as well as their dark side—cheating.
Who cheats? Just about everyone…How cheaters cheat, and how to catch them…Stories
from an Israeli day-care center…The sudden disappearance of seven million American
children…Cheating schoolteachers in Chicago…Why cheating to lose is worse than
cheating to win…Could sumo wrestling, the national sport of Japan, be corrupt?…What
the Bagel Man saw: mankind may be more honest than we think