In the summer of 2003, the New York Times Magazine sent Stephen J. Dubner, an author and journalist, to write a profile of Steven D. Levitt, a heralded young economist at the University of Chicago. Levitt was not remotely interested in the things that interest most economists. More...

Instead, he studied the riddles of everyday lifefrom cheating to crime to child-rearingand his conclusions turned the conventional wisdom on its head. For instance, he argued that one of the main causes of the crime drop of the 1990s was the legalization of abortion twenty years earlier. (Unwanted children have a greater likelihood of becoming criminals; with so many unwanted children being aborted in the 1970s, the pool of potential criminals had significantly shrunk by the 1990s.) The Times article yielded an unprecedented response, a deluge of interest from thousands of curious, inspired, and occasionally distraught readers. Levitt and Dubner collaborated on a book that gives full play to Levitts most compelling ideas. Through forceful storytelling and pungent insight. FREAKONOMICS reminds us all that economics is, at root, the study of incentiveshow people get what they want, or need, especially when other people want or need the same thing. Among the questions it answers: Which is more dangerous, a gun or a swimming pool? If drug dealers make so much money, why do they still live with their mothers? What makes a perfect parent? And, of course: What do schoolteachers and sumo wrestlers have in common? (Answer: they both cheat.)

史蒂芬·列维特，1994年在麻省理工大学取得经济学博士学位。1997年进入芝加哥大学执教短短两年时间列维特就成为芝加哥大学经济学院终身教授。2002年列维特被选为美国科学院经济学部委员。列维特还担任《政治经济学杂志》（JPE）的编辑和《经济学季刊》（OJE）的编辑。

史蒂芬·都伯纳，《纽约时报》和《纽约客》长期撰稿人，著有畅销书《骚动的灵魂》和《一个英雄崇拜者的自白》。