Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything

Citation

Mesure, H. (2007), "Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything", Society and Business Review, Vol. 2 No. 2, pp. 223-224. https://doi.org/10.1108/sbr.2007.2.2.223.4

S.D. Levitt is an economist who is scholar at the famous university of Chicago. S.J. Dubner is journalist at the New York Times. Both wrote a book that claims applying the economic reasoning to every aspect of the life. Thus, they belong to the Chicago School that considers that everything have been said in the traditional field of the economics. Therefore, the economists' challenge is to export the economic reasoning to fields that are traditionally none studied by economist such as divorce, criminality or civility.

The two authors mobilise a series of existing studies – mainly statistical – to demonstrate that the interest is the ultimate explanation of the human action whatever the kind of action. The “hidden side of everything” is that all is matter of interest as soon as one sorapes the surface of usual explanations or justifications (love, violence, sympathy, etc.) For the authors, the action of some one – whatever is circumstances‐ results of the dynamics of three kinds of incitations: economic, social and moral. We act to increase our incomes; or to increase our reputation or to avoid a threat on our way of living; or to improve our self consideration or to limit culpability. Those three incitations can be mediatised by institutional vectors such as law (social incitation) or religion (moral incitation). Through judicious examples, the authors show that those incitations interact dynamically and with complexity but not necessary in the same direction. Therefore, their dynamic can lead to an unexpected result. The weak point in the precise and meticulous authors' demonstration is that it's difficult to prove without no doubt the cause to effect links between events. One of the most interesting ideas of this book is to suggest the necessity to admit that to cheat is a fundamental economic behaviour that should not be ignored by economic analysis.

The book mixes with success humour and rigour. It can be recommended to get a clear idea of what could be new (hegemonic) developments of the canonical economic paradigm. But we are still convinced that this kink of approach castrates life and, above all, atrophies the analysis especially in the field of business and society.

Book reviews to come

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  Claire Auplat (2003) Les ONG dug Commonwealth Contemporain. Rôles, Bilan et Perspectives, L' Harmattan, Paris

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  David Courpasson (2006) Soft Constraint. Liberal Organizations and Domination, Liber & Copenhagen Business School Press, Copenhagen

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  Michel Ferrary et Yvon Pesqueux (2006) Management de la connaissance. Knowledge Management, Apprentissage Organisationnel et Société de la Connaissance, Economica, Paris

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  Neil Fligstein, (2002) The Architecture of Markets: An Economic Sociology of Twenty‐First‐Century Capitalist Societies, Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ

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  Vincent de Gaulejac (2005) La société malade de la gestion. Idéologie gestionnaire, pouvoir managérial et harcèlement social, Seuil, Paris

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  Peter A. Gouvevitch and James Shinn (2005) Political Power and Corporate Control: The New Global Politics of Corporate Governance, Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ

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  Geoffrey Jones (2005) Multinational and Global Capitalism, Oxford University Press, Oxford

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  Laslo Zsolnai (ed.) (2006) Interdisciplany Yearbook of Business Ethics, Peter Lang, Berlin

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  Michel Villette et Catherine Vuillermot (2005) Portrait de l'homme d'affaires en prédateur, La Découverte, Paris