RANT REVIEW: Freakonomics is WEIRD AND RACIST

Introduction

The speaker introduces the book Freakonomics and compares it to a rhetorical manipulation technique called Gish Gallop.

Summary of Freakonomics

The speaker provides a summary of Freakonomics, describing it as an economic interpretation of everyday happenings in the world.

Key Points:

• The book is difficult to review due to the overwhelming amount of statistics, anecdotes, and information presented.

• The majority of human interactions are driven by incentives, which can be explained through economic principles.

• Freakonomics has sold over 5 million copies since its publication in 2005.

Analysis of Freakonomics

The speaker discusses some examples from the book and evaluates their validity.

Key Points:

• Some findings were interesting but not all were true.

• The Steve Duo was short-sighted at best and completely dishonest at worst.

• The speaker will review as much of the book as possible due to its fast-paced nature.

Conclusion

The speaker concludes by inviting viewers to subscribe to their channel for more content on books and business.

Key Points:

• Viewers can like or dislike the video based on their opinion.

• The speaker has a second channel called "Your Morning Guru" for live streaming.

The Morning Guru Book Club

In this section, the speaker talks about their book club on their channel, Your Morning Guru. They introduce the book of the month and have a group discussion at the end of each month.

The Monthly Book Club

• The book club is a monthly event where they read a book together and discuss it.

• Freakonomics was the January book for the year morning guru book club.

• The speaker had listened to Freakonomics on Audible twice, two years apart.

• A podcast called "If Books Could Kill" has an excellent episode reviewing Freakonomics.

Why They Like Books Like Freakonomics

• The speaker likes books that inspire them to look into why something is happening in the world.

• This approach helps give a greater understanding of how the world works as a whole and shows how many things are more complex than they initially seem.

Curiosity as a Philosophy for Life

• Remaining curious about the world around us is helpful when choosing a philosophy for life.

• It's important not to fall into black and white thinking or box oneself into just one ideology.

The Incompleteness of Pop Sociology Style Books

The author discusses how books like Freakonomics and Outliers suffer from the need to craft a story with some degree of resolution, which can lead to oversimplification and inaccuracies.

The Example of Freakonomics

• Freakonomics argues that legalizing termination of pregnancies led to a decreased rate of violent crime in the 1990s.

• The book argues that because those children were never born, impoverished young adults who wouldn't have had present parents never existed and therefore never committed crimes.

• However, while the research in this book isn't necessarily false, it is incomplete. Other economists argue that the results were due to statistical errors made by the authors.

Criticism of Pop Sociology Style Books

• Readers are socialized to want conclusions from what they're reading, but this can lead to oversimplification and inaccuracies.

• Pop sociology style books present finality that can be incomplete.

The Flaws in Freakonomics' Research

This section discusses the flaws in the research presented in Freakonomics, particularly regarding the link between Roe v. Wade and decreased crime rates.

Incomplete Research

• Donahue and Levitt admitted errors in their original paper but argued that after making necessary changes to fix them, the corrected link between Roe v. Wade and decreased crime rates was still statistically significant.

• Other economists produced a rebuttal stating that even after analyzing the data using recommended methods, there is no positive correlation between these two things.

• The book presents this link as factual when it may not be the complete story.

Cheating

• The book discusses cheating and what incentivizes people to cheat.

• However, much like other areas of the book, the sections about parents trying to cheat when claiming dependence on their taxes are incomplete.

• While Freakonomics claims that seven million American children suddenly disappeared due to parents claiming fictional children on their taxes, there is no definitive proof of cheating.

Social Security Numbers for Newborn Children

The possibility that many children did not have social security numbers yet in 1987 and that by tax season their parents had just run out of time to get them one.

Missing Social Security Numbers

• Newborn children were automatically issued Social Security numbers.

• Many of these children didn't have social security numbers yet in 1987.

• Parents may have run out of time to go through all the paperwork to get a social security number for their child.

• Some parents couldn't claim their child on taxes because they weren't able to get a social security number.

Fact Checking "Freakonomics"

The book "Freakonomics" is filled with research, but it presents its research with a finality that can't truly be verified.

Book Research

• The book "Freakonomics" is filled with research and sources.

• However, the analysis presents its research with a finality that can't truly be verified.

• An article from Snopes delves into the specifics of this situation more.

• A significant portion of missing children could be attributed to fraud.

Flaws in Freakonomics Research

American Scientist points out flaws in the research within Freakonomics and its sequel Super Freakonomics.

Flaws in Research

• American Scientist points out flaws in the research within Freakonomics and Super Freakonomics.

• Avoidable mistakes range from back-of-the-envelope analyses gone wrong to unexamined assumptions.

• Readers must work to discern which conclusions are fully quantitative, somewhat data-driven, or purely speculative.

• Emily Oster attacked conventional wisdom in an essay and appraised her study which published in the Journal of Political Economy during Levitt's tenure as editor.

Oversimplification in Super Freakonomics

The authors of Super Freakonomics rely on oversimplified arguments and assumptions in their work, leading to flawed conclusions.

Celebrations of Economics and Economists

• The authors of Super Freakonomics suspend critical thinking in their celebrations of economics and economists.

Risks of Driving a Car

• Levitt and Dubner argue that driving drunk is safer than walking, using an oversimplified argument that was picked apart by bloggers.

• The assumption that the driver and the walker are the same type of person making the same kinds of choices except for their choice of transportation is a common statistical fallacy.

Probability in Baseball

• Levitt and Dubner claim that a US-born boy is roughly 50% more likely to make it to the majors if he is born in August instead of July.

• While astrology may not be a factor, probabilities are not equal between two-sighted outcomes.

• A difference in batting averages as small as hundreds or thousands of a percent can make all the difference between making it to the majors or narrowly missing out.

Algorithm for Catching Terrorists

• Ian Horsley created an algorithm that used people's banking activities to sniff out suspected terrorists.

• Levitt and Dubner use simple computations to show its great predictive power.

• However, while it identifies some terrorists, it misses many others and falsely identifies some innocents.

• False positives must be balanced against false negatives when considering statistical prediction applications.

Racism and Sexism in Chapter Six

Chapter six has been criticized for having racist and sexist content.

Criticism Against Freakonomics

• Critics have claimed that Freakonomics has a racist and sexist angle.

• It is easy to write off this criticism, but it is important to examine the evidence.

Chapter Six

• Chapter six of Freakonomics has been accused of having racist content.

• The chapter discusses the disparity in academic achievement between black and white students.

• Levitt and Dubner suggest that the disparity may be due to cultural differences rather than systemic racism.

• Critics argue that this argument ignores the role of systemic racism in creating these cultural differences.

Evaluating the Racism in Freakonomics

The authors of Freakonomics make choices about which facts to present and how to present them. Chapter six of the book, "What's in a Name?" examines naming conventions among different racial demographics and how those names might affect children as they grow up. However, the chapter includes false and racist information.

False Examples of Black Names

• The opening of chapter six introduces a set of twins named Orange Jello and Lemon Jello as an example of ridiculous black names. However, this story is a well-known myth.

• The book also talks about a black child named Shatid whose existence is sourced from a radio call-in show where someone claimed that their niece had that name. This is likely a prank call.

• The book mentions a young girl named Temptress who was involved in prostitution as a teenager. The authors make jokes about her name implying she was asking for it, but this is actually the story of a sex-trafficked minor.

Criticism

• Including false and racist information in the book cannot be excused by saying it grabs attention.

• Using humor to talk about human trafficking victims perpetuates racism and sexism.

• These examples are just at the beginning of chapter six, making it clear that racism is prevalent throughout the chapter.

Black Names and Women's Issues in Freakonomics

In this section, the speaker discusses how the book "Freakonomics" has biases towards black names and women's issues. The book assumes that black parents give their children unusual names to gain clout within the black community, without considering that they may be giving culturally significant names. Additionally, the book misrepresents statistics related to women's issues.

Biases Towards Black Names

• The book "Freakonomics" assumes that black parents give their children unusual names to gain clout within the black community.

• However, many stereotypically black names have a history within black cultures and heritage.

• Black parents choose names for their children using the same process as white parents.

• Stereotypically black names are not chosen to make a child's name as weird or unusual as possible.

Misrepresentation of Statistics Related to Women's Issues

• The book "Freakonomics" misrepresents statistics related to women's issues.

• The way that it reports on women and issues that women disproportionately face is incomplete and carelessly presented.

• For example, the book claims that one in three American women will be a victim of sexual assault in her lifetime, but this statistic is not rooted in any truth.

• This misrepresentation implies that those advocating for women's rights are using false data and intentionally undermining their credibility.

Sexual Harassment and Misleading Statistics

In this section, the speaker discusses the prevalence of sexual harassment and clarifies a misleading statistic about violence against women.

Prevalence of Sexual Harassment

• One in five women experience unwanted sexual attention, including harassment and catcalling.

• The speaker has never heard any feminist share a statistic that one in three women will be the victim of a specific violent crime.

• The speaker spent hours researching and found no evidence to support this statistic.

Misleading Statistics on Violence Against Women

• The authors of a book misinterpreted statistics on violence against women from the World Health Organization.

• The authors suggested that women's rights advocates made up statistics to make a point, which is not true.

• The actual statistic is that one in three women will experience sexual or other types of violence by an intimate partner.

Gender Bias in Education

In this section, the speaker discusses gender bias in education, specifically related to standardized testing.

Standardized Testing and Student Success

• Standardized testing is prevalent in schools but can be detrimental to students' self-confidence, energy, motivation, and desire to learn.

• Many educators believe that standardized tests are not an effective way to assess student success or brain development.

• The book analyzed student success based on standardized test scores without considering other factors such as problem-solving skills or different learning styles.

Gendered Language in Standardized Test Cheating

The speaker discusses the use of gendered language in a book about teachers cheating on standardized tests. The book consistently refers to cheating teachers as "she," which the speaker finds odd and potentially problematic.

Use of "She" in Referring to Cheating Teachers

• The book always refers to cheating teachers as "she," even when discussing hypothetical scenarios.

• This could be due to style guides at the time not accepting singular they, but it still feels strange and potentially implies that most cheating teachers are women.

• Language evolves based on usage, and people have been using singular they for hundreds of years, so this may not be a valid reason for using only "she."

• Alternating between he and she would have been a better solution if style guides were an issue.

Criticism of Using Test Scores as Sole Metric

• The speaker takes issue with the book's treatment of test scores as the ultimate metric for measuring student success.

• This approach is short-sighted and ignores other important factors related to education and pedagogical theory.

Interesting Section on Sumo Wrestling

The speaker found an interesting section in the book about Sumo wrestling that discussed how some wrestlers would intentionally lose matches in order to help their fellow wrestlers advance.

Intentional Losses in Sumo Wrestling

• In Sumo wrestling, wrestlers need to win eight matches to advance to the next round.

• Some wrestlers will intentionally lose matches once they've secured their spot in order to help their fellow wrestlers advance.

• This is seen as a selfless act and is highly respected in the Sumo wrestling community.

Evolution of Sumo Wrestling and Real Estate

In this section, the speaker discusses the evolution of sumo wrestling as a sport and how some rules have changed since the book was published. They also talk about the chapter on real estate in the book and how it is outdated.

Sumo Wrestling

• The book was published a long time ago, and some rules in sumo wrestling have been changed since then.

• Friends who watch sumo wrestling were surprised by some of the information in the book that they thought was no longer relevant.

Real Estate

• The book talks about ways that real estate agents may use certain language to manipulate buyers. For example, if a listing says "cozy," it means small; if it says "garden unit," it means basement; if it says "charming," it means they couldn't think of anything good to say about it.

• However, with websites like Zillow and Redfin nowadays, people can browse through actual photos and look at all of the exact specs before even touring a home with an agent. This makes manipulation less likely.

Critique of Freakonomics Books

In this section, the speaker gives their opinion on books like Freakonomics and Malcolm Gladwell's works.

Opinion on Genre

• These books are a good starting point for getting someone interested in statistics or analyzing human behavior.

• However, they should never be treated as the be-all end-all because some parts may be faulty or have prejudiced angles to them.

Marketing

• These books are marketed as if they will give readers a bunch of answers, but in reality, they present alternate ways of thinking about something. It's up to the reader to draw their own conclusions.

Conclusion

• The aim of these books is to present new ways of looking at information and keeping our minds open to various issues.

• However, the speaker believes that some parts may ruin the credibility of the book as a whole.

Ideas for More Accurate Book Writing

In this section, the speaker discusses some ideas that could have made Freakonomics a more accurate book.

Possible Directions for More Accurate Book Writing

• The author could have explored other ideas that would not have made the book as flashy but would have made it more accurate.

• Podcasting and radio shows are formats where there is less of an expectation of finality, which gives authors more room to be curious and accurate.

• The speaker thinks that having complex feelings about a book makes for interesting discussions.

Conclusion and Call to Action

In this section, the speaker concludes their thoughts on Freakonomics and encourages viewers to share their own thoughts in the comments.

Final Thoughts on Freakonomics

• The speaker had complex feelings about Freakonomics but appreciated its potential for interesting discussions.

• Viewers are encouraged to share their own thoughts on Freakonomics in the comments below.

Call to Action

• Viewers are invited to suggest other books they want the speaker to review.

• Viewers are encouraged to support small businesses, keep reading, and stay curious.