freakonomics

Journal of Economics 116, no. 2 (2001), pp. 379–420; and “Further Evidence That
Legalized Abortion Lowered Crime: A Response to Joyce,” Journal of Human Resources
39, no. 1 (2004), pp. 29–49.7–9
THE REAL REAL-ESTATE STORY: The study measuring how a real-estate agent
treats the sale of her own home versus a client’s home is Steven D. Levitt and Chad
Syverson, “Market Distortions When Agents Are Better Informed: A Theoretical and
Empirical Exploration of the Value of Information in Real Estate Transactions,” National
Bureau of Economic Research working paper, 2005. / 7–8 The lax California auto
mechanics are discussed in Thomas Hubbard, “An Empirical Examination of Moral
Hazard in the Vehicle Inspection Market,” RAND Journal of Economics 29, no. 1 (1998),
pp. 406–26; and in Thomas Hubbard, “How Do Consumers Motivate Experts?
Reputational Incentives in an Auto Repair Market,” Journal of Law & Economics 45, no.
2 (2002), pp. 437–68. / 8 Doctors who perform extra C-sections are examined in Jonathan
Gruber and Maria Owings, “Physician Financial Incentives and Caesarean Section
Delivery,” RAND Journal of Economics 27, no. 1 (1996), pp. 99–123.
THE MYTH OF CAMPAIGN SPENDING is told in greater detail in a trio of papers:
Steven D. Levitt, “Using Repeat Challengers to Estimate the Effect of Campaign
Spending on Election Outcomes in the U.S. House,” Journal of Political Economy,
August 1994, pp. 777–98; Steven D. Levitt, “Congressional Campaign Finance Reform,”
Journal of Economic Perspectives 9 (1995), pp. 183–93; and Steven D. Levitt and James
M. Snyder Jr., “The Impact of Federal Spending on House Election Outcomes,” Journal
of Political Economy 105, no. 1 (1997), pp. 30–53.
EIGHT GLASSES OF WATER A DAY: See Robert J. Davis, “Can Water Aid Weight
Loss?” Wall Street Journal, March 16, 2004, which cites an Institute of Medicine report
concluding that “there is no scientific basis for the recommendation [of eight glasses of
water a day] and that most people get enough water through normal consumption of
foods and beverages.”
ADAM SMITH is still well worth reading, of course (especially if you have infinite
patience); so too is Robert Heilbroner’s The Worldly Philosophers (New York: Simon &
Schuster, 1953), which contains memorable profiles of Smith, Karl Marx, Thorstein
Veblen, John Maynard Keynes, Joseph Schum-peter, and other giants of economics.
1. WHAT DO SCHOOLTEACHERS AND SUMO WRESTLERS HAVE IN
COMMON?
THE ISRAELI DAY-CARE STUDY: See Uri Gneezy and Aldo Rustichini, “A Fine Is a
Price,” Journal of Legal Studies 29, no. 1 (January 2000), pp. 1–17; and Uri Gneezy,
“The ‘W’ Effect of Incentives,” University of Chicago working paper.
MURDER THROUGH THE AGES: See Manuel Eisner, “Secular Trends of Violence,
Evidence, and Theoretical Interpretations,” Crime and Justice: A Review of Research 3