听好书学英语-经管类freakonomics
- 参考译文
"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
“相扑选手骗人吗？莫利和霍莉哪个更像白人女孩的名字？一流的犯罪团伙和麦当劳有什么共同之处？这些极少被问起的问题就是这位世界著名的经济学家所作的关于统计力学的奇怪研究。这些密密麻麻的数字对米尔顿.弗里德曼来说太奇怪了——三K党成员名单，百吉饼销售数字，在线年龄测定数据——列维特（与他的合著者都伯纳一起）在一堆乱糟糟的人类行为的数字中寻找逻辑。他的结论往往令人大开眼界，有时令人瞠目结舌（他说，高堕胎率有益于犯罪的减少，估计这个理论在短期内不会受到白宫的欢迎），但是最终他没有对这些进行一个相关的或者令人信服的总结。不过，引用他的支持者的话：《魔鬼经济学》比任何弗里德曼写的书都好看。”
——本杰明.斯维特基，《娱乐周刊》
"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
“忘掉你那顽固的经济学教授的形象，别再整天担忧波动的利率了：列维特把注意力集中在更加接近现实世界的问题上，例如：读书给你的婴孩听是否能使他成为一个更优秀的学生？同行的经济学家们都认为列维特是这个领域里最优秀的年轻专家之一，都伯纳已经在《纽约时报》为他写了人物概评，这篇原创的文章作为一个概括性的大纲，有助于人们进一步了解列维特对人类行为背后隐藏的动机所作的研究。事实上，这本书没有对万物给出伟大的理论定义，也许除了一个例外：那些自称为专家的人有种既得权利——推广哪怕是错误的传统智慧；相反，都伯纳和列维特拆析了很多东西，从贩毒团伙的组织结构到孩子命名的模式。某些章节也许显得有些轻佻，但是其他的都谈论了严肃的问题，如细致地探讨了列维特具有争议性的论点，即他认为的流产合法化和随后二十年犯罪减少之间的联系。在所有这些研究课题之下，是列维特坚定的信念：如果我们能找到正确的视角，就能理解任何复杂的现象。列维特有他的诀窍使这个原理与我们的日常生活联系起来，正因此，这本书将大卖。马尔柯姆.格莱德威说‘有着全美最有趣的大脑’，至少格莱德威的粉丝群将会难以抗拒这个邀请。”（星级书评）
——《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."
“为什么贩毒子还住在家里？列维特（芝加哥大学经济系）和都伯纳（《一个英雄崇拜者的自白》的作者，2003）两个人合作，颠覆传统智慧。都伯纳曾在《纽约时报》发表了列维特的个人概评。
如果称列维特为‘流氓经济学家’也许有点夸张，当然这个反流行的典范（“他的外表相当讨厌：一件领尖订有钮扣的衬衫，极普通的卡其裤，一条麻花状的腰带，褐色的鞋子”）以不同的眼光看这个世界；这位年轻的经济学家轻易便能从并列的事物中发现其他研究者所不能发现的意义。想想这个例子：上世纪90年代中期，当克林顿政府预测犯罪将激增时，它却明显减少了。为什么呢？列维特在几年之前大胆地说，这是罗伊诉维德决定的结果：人工流产合法化阻止了几百万贫困人口的出生，这些人如果来到世上，将饱受不幸和穷苦的困扰，而且“比平常人更容易沦落成犯罪分子。”都伯纳写道，“这个意见几乎冒犯了所有人”，无论是保守派还是自由派，不过它确实很能说明问题。
列维特在其他领域也同样引起很多争议，他喜欢让数字说话：一个名叫杰客的年轻人与具有同等资历的名叫迪肖恩的相比，在找工作时能够获得更多的面试机会；电视娱乐节目“最弱的一环”，和整个社会一样，歧视老年人和西班牙人；欺骗是人类的本性，人越是处在一个组织的上层，越有可能欺骗他人。噢，还有，街头的毒贩还和母亲一起住在家里是因为他们别无选择；大部分人赚的钱都低于最低工资，但是他们心甘情愿接受低薪和危险的工作环境，因为他们相信转运的时刻终将来临，最终他们发现这确实是一场锦标赛。列维特和都伯纳写道：“一流犯罪团伙的运作极像第一流的资本家企业。你必须爬到金字塔的顶端，才能赚大钱。”
