This could have been a comics. I think the only connotation to Economics is that Mr. Levitt is an Economist. This could have been Freakotatics, Freakometric or Freako anything.
Anyway, Sumo fighters and School Teachers cheat. Now, we would ask School Teachers? The problem is not that school teachers cheat …. (Morality decides how we want to behave, Economics decides how we behave). The problem is we see very few avenues where school teachers can cheat. Like helping their Wards, ward off those exam blues and help them out unscrupulously.
Therein lies the beauty of this book. The right questions. Answers don’t matter that much, since we know what has been said in the book would be proved. It is never different (Of course one can argue that none would write a book to disprove himself/herself).
What Levitt has is the streak of childlike curiosity that makes this book what it is. We all stop asking questions, depending upon “conventional wisdom” , but this book attempts to question that too. And therein lies a winner.
Why, and where are more important than How. Once the path is identified, it is mere an operational procedure to walk on that. Though I don’t mean walking the talk is easy, I simply intend to say that the first step is the most important. “Where ever I may roam , where ever I head is home … (in case you don’t know where you actually want to go/be J )
The decision decides the destiny, not how we carry it out (It’s a personal view…You might not like to subscribe to it).
My thumbs up to Levitt and Freako … I prefer to say Freakocomics. Don’t care much about how he proves his point. But the points are worth something precious.