SuperFreakonomics Book Summary - SuperFreakonomics Book explained in key points

Listen to the Intro

00:00

SuperFreakonomics summary

Name: SuperFreakonomics
Rating: 4.1 (80 reviews)
Author: Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner

Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner

Global Cooling, Patriotic Prostitutes and Why Suicide Bombers Should Buy Life Insurance

4.1 (80 ratings)

19 mins

Topics

The Internet Anthropology Economic Theory Climate Change

Table of Contents

SuperFreakonomics
Summary of 8 key ideas

Audio & text in the Blinkist app

Key idea 1 of 8

What’s in it for me? The answer to society’s ills lies in the data.

When you think about society’s problems, whether global warming, terrorism or disease, does the lack of solutions make you angry? Surely there are enough clever people in the world to solve any issue, so why are they failing so spectacularly?

The uncomfortable truth is that many experts aren’t looking in the best place for the answers: cold, hard data. Too many of them rely on the imperfect recollections and experiences of individuals as a basis for their theories, which leads to misunderstandings and mistakes. On the other hand, statistics are unemotional, concrete and clear.

These blinks show you just a few of the unusual answers that lie in the data; reading them may change the way you approach problems and look for solutions.

In these blinks, you’ll discover

why modern prostitutes get paid much less than 19th century ones;
why additional taxes helped increase the rat population; and
why the solution to global warming might be to pump more pollution into the atmosphere.

Statistics can give us brilliant insights into our world.

Are you one of those people who gets irritated when someone around you leaves behind their rubbish? It might leave you wondering what it is that makes them behave so inconsiderately. You might even wish you could get into their heads and find out.

Of course, that’s a thought we often brush aside; we can’t get into other people’s heads. Even so, we can change their undesirable behaviors. After all, governments and public bodies do this all the time, by creating incentives that reward us for doing the right thing.

Unfortunately, incentive schemes rarely work out as planned. More often than not, they have rather damaging knock-on effects, putting the law of unintended consequences into action.

Take the introduction of volume-based trash pickup fees. This was supposed to be an incentive for people to produce less waste. Instead, people came up with creative ways to avoid the fee. In Germany, many people started flushing uneaten food down the toilet, increasing the rat population as a result.

But if we could predict people’s reactions to incentives before we put them in place, we’d save ourselves a lot of time and trouble. And how can we do this? By using statistics to get inside their heads.

By collecting and analyzing data and statistics, we can begin to understand why people behave the way they do. The following blinks reveal some fascinating and surprising stories gathered by the authors to highlight the importance of statistics in understanding human actions.

Think like an economist and you’ll unlock the secrets to society.

In times of economic collapse and crisis, economists are dealt heavy criticism, and rightly so! And yet, economists, or at least those who think like them, can actually be a great help to society at large.

Though we tend to associate economic thinking with unscrupulous attempts to increase profits, it actually has more to do with attempts to analyze the outside world. The foundation of economics is nothing more than making assumptions with the help of solid data. This allows economists to stay objective, and discern between typical behavior and exceptions.

Statistics behind prostitution reveal several economic principles at work.

Today, most businesses are run by men, evident in the wage gap that many women still face. But there’s one business where women have always dominated: prostitution. By examining the statistics of sex work, we find some very interesting trends.

One hundred years ago, prostitution paid a far better wage. The Everleigh Butterfly Girls, who worked at a famous brothel in Chicago around 1900, were able to make a very lucrative $430,000 per year. A modern sex worker could only dream of this wage. So what changed?

Economic thinking can help us catch terrorists before they attack.

Terrorism is one modern threat that frightens us all, particularly because targets and victims are chosen at random. This is also what makes terrorism so hard to prevent. However, data analysis could be of some use to us in identifying terrorists before they take action.

To understand terrorists, you have to know what motivates them. Alan Krueger, professor of economics at Princeton University, analyzed data about terrorists in Lebanon as compared to the country’s general population; what he found out surprised everyone.

In reality, people are neither truly altruistic nor totally apathetic.

In 1964, 28-year-old Kitty Genovese was stabbed to death in New York, on a day when, according to The New York Times, the three separate attacks that culminated in Genovese’s death were witnessed by 38 passersby, none of whom called the police.

This case became renowned as a perfect example of bystander apathy, a phenomenon that describes the way we see something worrisome and do nothing about it, because we assume someone else will take care of it. Critics viewed this as a loud and clear reminder that society was selfish and indifferent to its core.

Some of the trickiest problems tend to have the simplest solutions.

Everyone knows the frustration of facing a stubborn problem that won’t go away, regardless of what you try; this is exactly what scientists experience every day. What do they do when solutions are nowhere to be found? They gather data to evaluate the case objectively, and pin down its causes.

This approach may even save lives, as it did in a Vienna hospital in 1847. At the time, one in six healthy women who gave birth at the hospital were liable to catch the deadly puerperal fever. Ignatz Semmelweis decided to tackle this problem by gathering as much information as he could.

The confusion around global warming makes it hard to tackle.

Global warming is, or so we are told, one of the greatest threats to our existence. So why aren’t we doing more about it? Global warming is a new phenomenon for which human activity is to blame, we just don’t know how and to what extent.

Because we don’t know how significant our impact is and if this will lead to a catastrophe or not, it is hard to lead an objective public debate about it. And it doesn’t help that global warming discussions are influenced by persistent myths.

Statistics show that we can fight global warming with more pollution, not less.

People don’t like to invest money to avert a future problem, because there is always a chance that a cheaper, fast solution might appear. In fact, there might be a fast and cost-effective way to stop global warming – it just seems a bit counterintuitive at first.

To explain how it works, we have to look back to 1991, when the volcano Mount Pinatubo erupted. The huge eruption left a haze in the air that took two years to subside. Interestingly enough, the earth cooled off and forests grew more vigorously during this period.

Want to see all full key ideas from SuperFreakonomics?

Key ideas in SuperFreakonomics

More knowledge in less time

Read or listen

Get the key ideas from nonfiction bestsellers in minutes, not hours.

Find your next read

Get book lists curated by experts and personalized recommendations.

Shortcasts ^New

We’ve teamed up with podcast creators to bring you key insights from podcasts.

What is SuperFreakonomics about?

SuperFreakonomics (2009) explains why thinking like an economist can help us understand our modern world. These blinks illustrate key economic principles and the importance of collecting data with colorful stories from human history, and offers surprising solutions for the global problems that we face today.

Best quote from SuperFreakonomics

But to change the world, you first have to understand it.

—Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner

Who should read SuperFreakonomics?

Anyone interested in entertaining, statistical facts about human behavior
Math buffs who believe in the power of statistics
Anyone curious about a very cheap way to stop global warming

About the Author

Steven D. Levitt is an American economist with degrees from Harvard University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and has specialized in researching crime and corruption. He currently teaches at the University of Chicago.

Stephen J. Dubner is an American writer and journalist who focuses on economic subjects. He is also the author of Choosing My Religion (previously known as Turbulent Souls) and Confessions of a Hero-Worshiper.

Categories with SuperFreakonomics

Economics

Books like SuperFreakonomics

When to Rob a Bank

Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner

...and 131 more warped suggestions and well-intended rants.

19 min

4.1

Freakonomics

Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner

A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything

21 min

4.3

Think Like a Freak

Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner

Find the unconvential yet brilliant ideas hidden in data

21 min

4.3

Stealing Fire

Steven Kotler and Jamie Wheal

How Silicon Valley, the Navy SEALs, and Maverick Scientists Are Revolutionizing the Way We Live and Work

28 min

3.9

The Undercover Economist

Tim Harford

The economics behind everyday decisions

Decoding The Science of Ultimate Human Performance

19 min

4.4

The Paradox of Choice

What We Should Know about the People We Don’t Know

21 min

4.1

Nudge

Richard H. Thaler and Cass R. Sunstein

Improving Decisions about Health, Wealth and Happiness

Lose Weight, Supercharge Your Energy, and Sleep Well Every Night

What the Rich Teach Their Kids about Money – That the Poor and the Middle Class Do Not!

29 min

4.6

Fooled by Randomness

Nassim Nicholas Taleb

The Hidden Role of Chance in Life and the Markets

Empower Your Team To Reach Their Full Potential and Build A Business That Builds Leaders

17 min

4.5

Economic Facts and Fallacies

The Arbinger Institute

Seeing Beyond Ourselves: How to Change Lives & Transform Organizations

The Science and Art of Longevity

A landmark work in the field of biology and evolution

The Hidden Driver of Excellence

Neoliberalism and Global Order

17 min

4.3

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

Stephen R. Covey

Powerful Lessons in Personal Change

The Bulletproof Plan to Age Backward and Maybe Even Live Forever

How Stories Go Viral and Drive Major Economic Events

The Origins and Healing of Attention Deficit Disorder

The Four Types of Human Behavior and How to Effectively Communicate with Each in Business (and in Life)

Ten Dangerous Trends That Imperil Our Future, and How to Survive Them

16 min

3.9

How to Day Trade for a Living

12 Months to $1 Million

Ryan Daniel Moran

How to Pick a Winning Product, Build a Real Business, and Become a Seven-Figure Entrepreneur

Transform Your Life, Work, and Confidence with Everyday Courage

13 min

4.3

How to Avoid a Climate Disaster

Bill Gates

The Solutions We Have and the Breakthroughs We Need

How to Make Tomorrow Better Today

18 min

4.3

Antifragile

Nassim Nicholas Taleb

Things That Gain from Disorder

A Study of Economics as if People Mattered

17 min

4.0

The Four Pillars of Investing

William J. Bernstein

Lessons for Building a Winning Portfolio

19 min

4.5

Love Your Life, Not Theirs

Rachel Cruze

7 Money Habits for Living the Life You Want

The ADHD Effect on Marriage

Melissa Orlov

Understand and Rebuild Your Relationship in Six Steps

17 min

4.5

The Signal and the Noise

Nate Silver

Why So Many Predictions Fail — but Some Don't

Hedge Funds and the Making of a New Elite

A Journey Into the Science of Mind Over Body

The New Psychology of Success

Discover the Secret to Getting Through to Absolutely Anyone

17 min

4.2

Secrets of the Millionaire Mind

T. Harv Eker

Mastering the Inner Game of Wealth

22 min

4.3

The Wealth of Nations

Adam Smith

The most influential economic book of all time

An Essential Guide to Life

The Art of Understanding Others

24 min

3.9

When You're Ready, This Is How You Heal

Brianna Wiest

Inspiration to Begin Your Journey of True Transformation

What Makes Human Intelligence Essential in the Age of the Algorithm

16 min

4.0

Marketing 5.0

Philip Kotler & Hermawan Kartajaya & Iwan Setiawan

Technology for Humanity

The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst

A Guide for Occupants

29 min

4.5

People ❤️ Blinkist

Sven O.

It's highly addictive to get core insights on personally relevant topics without repetition or triviality. Added to that the apps ability to suggest kindred interests opens up a foundation of knowledge.

Thi Viet Quynh N.

Great app. Good selection of book summaries you can read or listen to while commuting. Instead of scrolling through your social media news feed, this is a much better way to spend your spare time in my opinion.

Jonathan A.

Life changing. The concept of being able to grasp a book's main point in such a short time truly opens multiple opportunities to grow every area of your life at a faster rate.

Renee D.

Great app. Addicting. Perfect for wait times, morning coffee, evening before bed. Extremely well written, thorough, easy to use.