Which is more dangerous, a gun or a swimming pool?

What do schoolteachers and sumo wrestlers have in common?

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 studies the riddles of everyday life—from cheating
and crime to parenting and sports—and reaches conclusions that
turn conventional wisdom on its head.

Freakonomics is a groundbreaking collaboration between
Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner, an award-winning author and journalist.
They set out to explore the inner workings of a crack gang, the truth
about real estate agents, the secrets of the Ku Klux Klan, and much
more.

Through forceful storytelling and wry insight, they
show that economics is, at root, the study of incentives—how
people get what they want or need, especially when other people want or
need the same thing.