I am reading
SuperFreakonomics right now...There are sections of the book that are uncomfortable to talk about in mixed company or with students. andI will not be discussing several of the premises with students (you will have to read it to find out). Many "Professional" Economists are panning this book for a variety of reasons. They consider it to be "economics lite". I am enjoying most of it, though. It raises many questions about generally accepted "facts" or circumstances and just asks people to look at problems through a different lense. This is what I find attractive about studying economics---it truely is a discipline that asks you to question everything.
Something I did not know before reading SuperFreakonomics:
"Today, when you admire old New York brownstones and their elegant stoops, rising from street level to the second-story parlor, keep in mind this was a design necessity, allowing a homeowner to rise above the sea of horse manure"
Small, I know, but it is something I always wonder about when I watch Law and Order and othe shows/movies filmed in New York City.
I heard that most of the points were purely contrarian - esp. the climate change view.
ReplyDeleteAn environmental economist commented on it here:
http://www.standupeconomist.com/blog/economics/climate-change-in-superfreakonomics/
Mario---I am not to that chapter yet...I may not even read that chapter though...the issue is so divisive. I am not smart enough to know what the truth is when it comes to climate change (I think I am being honest about it, unlike many "experts" on both sides). It is one thing I cannot personally evaluate because I cannot possibly grapple with all the issues...Is the world ending and we will all be underwater soon? I dont think so, but when I look out the window towards Ft Worth and barely see the city because of the smog, yes, I see a problem of course. Why do the remedies that "experts" want to impose always draconian and extreme? As with the Healthcare issue, why cant we tackle the BIG problems in smart, incremental ways....I like the smaller, more Microeconomic problems they tackle in the book (the one about the size of Indian men' s penises and prostitutes in Chicago were, lets say, interesting...worth a read in my opinion..:)
ReplyDeleteI have read the post you referred me to...On another blog they posted the back and forth e-mails between Levitt and Bauman...Quite exciting, for policy wonks like us...:)
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