Freakonomics

Genre: Documentary
Length: 1:26
Rating: 9
Starring: Steven D Levitt, Stephen J Dubner

"Freakonomics," published in 2005, was on the non-fiction bestseller list for several months. It shines the light of economic analysis into some unlikely corners. I wondered how a book such as this could be made into a good movie; but, they did it.

At least it was interesting to me since I had read the book. But obviously, it wasn't so interesting to many people since it lasted only a week locally. Levitt and Dubner introduce each segment. They ask questions such as, "Where di all the criminals go?" in explaining the drop in the crime rate. Answer: they weren't born. the authors suggest you can often dermine racial and cultural backgrounds by the way parents name their children. Another segment of the movie is focused on the sumo wrestling cheating scandal in Japan, and also on cheating by teachers (rather than their students) in Chicago.

The overriding theme here is that the most important factor in any analysis is determining incentives. If the incentive to cheat are present, cheating will inevitably occur. By the way, a second book, "Superfreakonomics," was published in 2009 and I thought it was as least as good as the first. But if the underwhelming box office response is any clue, don't expect it to be made into a movie.