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Thursday, 02.09.2012 |
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| Freakonomics |
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Product Details
Notes
interesting book, similar to The Tipping Point and Blink
reached #2 on the nonfiction bestsellers list
some interesting claims:
abortion caused the drop in crime in the 1990's
real estate agents sell their own house much higher than yours
the reason is they get only a small increase in commission to sell your house higher
the amount of money spent by political candidates has little effect
school teachers cheat on high stakes testing since it helps them also
sumo wrestlers cheat to allow someone on the bubble to win
the price of term life insurance dropped due to information on the internet
for online dating, the best things for a man are:
posting a photo
saying they want a long-term relationship
having a high income
being tall
not being bald
drug dealing gangs operate a lot like corporate businesses
they have the same structure, and the top executives get rich
while the rest of the employees struggle to make ends meet
it's like the entertainment industry, it's a tournament
if you reach the top, you get tons of success, but it's very low probability
parents have little effect on their children by what they do
all the advice on letting a baby cry, sleep in the parents' bed, etc, are conflicting
fear is the main incentive for parents to try to follow the advice of experts
there's a higher chance of a child drowning than being shot
so it's safer to have a child play in a house with a gun than with a swimming pool
car seats are only slightly helpful, most of the benefit is putting the kid in the back seat
most child-safety ideas come from the marketing of a product
a child's personality is influenced more by peers than by parents
higher test scores for a child come from:
highly educated parents
high socioeconomic status
older mother at the time of birth (not teen mother)
normal birthweight (not abnormally low)
parents who speak English at home
not adopted (birth parents were probably lower income)
parents who are involved in the PTA (they care about education in general)
a home with many books (just an indicator of highly educated parents)
factors that don't affect test scores at all:
an intact family (not divorced)
moving to a better neighborhood
mother didn't work between birth and kindergarten (doesn't matter)
Head Start program (underpaid, ineffective teachers)
going to museums, watching TV, reading (these don't cause an increase alone)
being spanked (no effect)
the main idea is that it's not what the parents do, it's who they are
if they are high income, well educated people, they raise smarter children
that's because the children grow up in a healthy environment
the increase in test scores is not directly from any activity that parents do for the kids
in the same way, the child's name doesn't have any effect
it's more an indicator of the parent's hopes and expectations
the name itself doesn't do anything
incentives are the cornerstone of modern life
conventional wisdom is often wrong
dramatic effects often have distant, even subtle, causes
experts use their informational advantage to serve their own agenda |
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