Freakonomics
The first time I showed some interest in economics was when I saw “A Beautiful Mind”. I was obviously impressed by the sheer genius of John Nash and wanted to find more about the Nash Equation, Game Theory and Economics in general.
That was in 2002 or so. It’s been a long time I read anything on economics. I saw on Ted talks a presentation by Steven Levitt and his talk about how drug dealers manage their money was absolutely fascinating. I looked up his book Freakonomics on amazon and wasn’t surprised to find it among the top sellers. The most interesting aspect about the book are the questions the author asks. Whats common between school teachers and sumo wrestlers? If drug dealers make so much money why do they still stay with their moms? Not the typical questions you hear from an economist. They are busy discussing global economy and outsourcing while here is an economist trying to understand the very basic relationships in our lives.
He shows that we are all driven by incentives and the power incentives have over us, thus reminding us that if presented incorrectly an incentive can backfire hugely. Its an entertaining book coupled with strong results driven from real world data. I really appreciate the author for questioning a lot of “conventional wisdom” by analyzing a lot of data and putting forth some really eye-opening results. I love when he says in the book that no matter what someone has told you… this is what the data tells us. Its a really powerful statement and make you a believer in numbers.
Strongly recommended for a weekend reading for those who like some out of the box thinking.
