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Super Freakonomics
Freakonomics lived on the New York Times bestseller list for an astonishing two years. Now authorsSteven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner return with more iconoclastic insights and observations inSuperFreakonomics—the long awaited follow-up to their New York Times Notable blockbuster. Based on revolutionary research and original studies SuperFreakonomics promises to once again challenge our view of the way the world really works.
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Steven Levitt & Stephen Dubner
Freakonomics
Which is more dangerous, a gun or a swimming pool?
What do schoolteachers and sumo wrestlers have in common?
How much do parents really matter?
These may not sound like typical questions for an economist to ask. But Steven D. Levitt is not a typical economist. He studies the riddles of everyday life—from cheating and crime to parenting and sports—and reaches conclusions that turn conventional wisdom on its head.
Freakonomics is a groundbreaking collaboration between Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner, an award-winning author and journalist. They set out to explore the inner workings of a crack gang, the truth about real estate agents, the secrets of the Ku Klux Klan, and much more.
Through forceful storytelling and wry insight, they show that economics is, at root, the study of incentives—how people get what they want or need, especially when other people want or need the same thing.
Bob Murphy
Contra Krugman
With a foreword by Ron Paul
This book is a relentless assault on the ideas of Krugman and on the Keynesian economics that would have the government direct the economy in order to maximize prosperity and prevent recessions.
In fact, the more they try to manage the economy the worse they make it - as during the housing bubble years when the Fed and the federal government colluded to gin up the housing market in order to keep the economy robust after 9/11. Oops.
Unfortunately for Krugman and his followers, Krugman is able to declare victory for Keynesianism only by citing highly selective data, by ignoring or misrepresenting his own predictions, or by misstating the views of his opponents. Krugman even claims to have predicted the housing bubble - after having called for the very policies that created it.
Economist Robert Murphy (PhD, NYU) has an uncanny ability to recall Krugman's columns and interviews and puts his command of this material to devastating use in this book. As Murphy shows, in no way can it be said that Keynesian analysis has won the day. To the contrary, the Austrian School - which has been critical of government intervention, particularly central banking - has been vindicated in episode after episode.
Topics include:
- The Great Depression
- Obamacare
- Krugman's predictions
- Monetary policy
- Climate change
- Financial "reform"
- Employment and wages
- The minimum wage
- Business cycles
- Stimulus
Listen to this book, and never lose a debate again.
Walter Block
Defending The Undefendable
Professor Block's book is in a new edition from the Mises Institute, completely reset and beautifully laid out in an edition worthy of its contents.
It is among the most famous of the great defenses of victimless crimes and controversial economic practices, from profiteering and gouging to bribery and blackmail. However, beneath the surface, this book is also an outstanding work of microeconomic theory that explains the workings of economic forces in everyday events and affairs.
Murray Rothbard explains why:
"Defending the Undefendable performs the service of highlighting, the fullest and starkest terms, the essential nature of the productive services performed by all people in the free market. By taking the most extreme examples and showing how the Smithian principles work even in these cases, the book does far more to demonstrate the workability and morality of the free market than a dozen sober tomes on more respectable industries and activities. By testing and proving the extreme cases, he all the more illustrates and vindicates the theory."
F.A. Hayek agreed, writing the author as follows: "Looking through Defending the Undefendable made me feel that I was once more exposed to the shock therapy by which, more than fifty years ago, the late Ludwig von Mises converted me to a consistent free market position. … Some may find it too strong a medicine, but it will still do them good even if they hate it. A real understanding of economics demands that one disabuses oneself of many dear prejudices and illusions. Popular fallacies in economic frequently express themselves in unfounded prejudices against other occupations, and showing the falsity of these stereotypes you are doing a real services, although you will not make yourself more popular with the majority."
Read moreIt is among the most famous of the great defenses of victimless crimes and controversial economic practices, from profiteering and gouging to bribery and blackmail. However, beneath the surface, this book is also an outstanding work of microeconomic theory that explains the workings of economic forces in everyday events and affairs.
Murray Rothbard explains why:
"Defending the Undefendable performs the service of highlighting, the fullest and starkest terms, the essential nature of the productive services performed by all people in the free market. By taking the most extreme examples and showing how the Smithian principles work even in these cases, the book does far more to demonstrate the workability and morality of the free market than a dozen sober tomes on more respectable industries and activities. By testing and proving the extreme cases, he all the more illustrates and vindicates the theory."
F.A. Hayek agreed, writing the author as follows: "Looking through Defending the Undefendable made me feel that I was once more exposed to the shock therapy by which, more than fifty years ago, the late Ludwig von Mises converted me to a consistent free market position. … Some may find it too strong a medicine, but it will still do them good even if they hate it. A real understanding of economics demands that one disabuses oneself of many dear prejudices and illusions. Popular fallacies in economic frequently express themselves in unfounded prejudices against other occupations, and showing the falsity of these stereotypes you are doing a real services, although you will not make yourself more popular with the majority."
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