"A romp of a read... A splendid book." The New York Times

"Original, fascinating, and a useful antidote to the acceptance of conventional wisdom." Sunday Times (London)

"Brilliant...It entertains and provokes." The Observer

Which is more dangerous, a gun or a swimming pool? What do schoo/teachers and sumo wrestlers have in common? Why do drug dealers stiff five with their mums? How much do parents really matter?

These may not sound like typical questions for an economist to ask. But Steven D. Levitt is not a typical economist. He is a much-heralded scholar who studies the stuff and riddles of everyday life--from cheating and crime to sports and child rearing--and whose conclusions regularly turn the conventional wisdom on its head. He usually begins with a mountain of data and a simple, unasked question. Some of these questions concern life-and-death issues; others have an admittedly freakish quality. Thus the new field of study contained in this book: Freakonomics.

AN EXPLANATORY NOTE

PREFACE TO THE REVISED AND EXPANDED EDITION

INTRODUCTION: The Hidden Side of Everything

1. What Do Schoolteachers and Sumo Wrestlers Have in Common?

2. How Is the Ku Klux Klan Like a Group of Real-Estate Agents?

3. Why Do Drucj Dealers Still Live with Their Morns?

4. Where Have All the Criminals Gone?

5. What Makes a Perfect Parent?

6. Perfect Parenting, Part II; or: Would a Roshanda by Any Other Name Smell as Sweet?

EPILOGUE: TWO Paths to Harvard

Bonus Material Added to the Revised and Expanded

Notes

Acknowledgments

Index