HIPSTERS DO ECON

HIPSTERS DO ECON Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything By Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner Morrow & Company, 256 pages, $25.95

University of Chicago pop-economist Steven Levitt and writer Stephen Dubner revel in eccentricity and seldom miss a chance to surprise readers with brash comparisons that are less impressive than advertised. The first chapter of Freakonomics juxtaposes sumo wrestlers and school teachers, producing the hardly stunning conclusion that both groups contain persons willing to cheat when stakes are high. Elsewhere, Levitt and Dubner link the Ku Klux Klan with real estate agents by noting that both have access to inside information. The operative principle in these "Who'd a thunk it?" pairings is that almost any two things are remarkably alike-provided the analyst disregards the ways they aren't alike.

The most explosive correlation in this random compendium is the one that links recent reductions in the crime rate to the nationwide legalization of abortion in 1973. Freakonomics provides a cursory summary of statistical evidence to buttress the idea that an unspecified fraction of the recent drop in crime is due to the million-plus abortions performed annually in the U.S. since 1975. Since abortions occur disproportionately among demographic groups that produce more than their share of criminals, more abortions mean less crime. The authors do stop short of endorsing abortion as an effective crime-fighting technique-but just barely.