The hidden side of everything

Reviewed By LUBABAH BINT MAHTAB
Freakonomics is quite different from other economics-related books, perhaps due to the lack of actual economic concepts and rigorous mathematics that you can expect from standard books. Instead, the authors attempt to answer unusual but definitely interesting questions, such as “Why do drug dealers still live with their mom?” and “Where have all the criminals gone?” So while this book does not have a unifying theme connecting one chapter to another, it does have a few particular concepts that you may pick up on if you pay attention to the chapter headings- the breaking down of everyday mysteries. 
One of the main strengths of this book, besides being intriguing is that it is easily comprehensible, even for those with little to no knowledge regarding economics. This may be the case due to the book being closely related to behavioural economics, rather than standard microeconomics or macroeconomics, but it is also concerned with the effect of incentives on individuals and such, making it lean towards microeconomics as well. Nevertheless, I doubt you would need any proper knowledge of the subject to understand what the book entails, as it uses relatively simple language to answer deceptively not simple questions.
Rather than just attempting to explain why their answer to the question is the correct one, they also go over reasons why other answers may not be correct. In one of the more controversial answers to the question “Where have all the criminals gone?”, the authors study the impact of factors such as gun law, more police or different techniques of reducing crimes compared to the impact a single person had- Roe V. Wade- and his decision to protect women's constitutional rights to abortion. This, unsurprisingly, had mixed reactions. I'd suggest skipping the chapter if you feel strongly against their claim, just as the book itself suggests. However, the authors were able to substantiate their claim with some empirical evidence rather than assumption alone. The explanations of the more everyday questions in this book reveal that there is more depth to it than we initially thought, which keeps the readers hooked.
However, this book certainly lacks more depth. While the questions are interesting and the evidence may seem convincing at first, a little more thinking will bring you to the conclusion that the authors could have certainly done better, as a lot of the answers are quite oversimplified, as the writers seem to be strictly against correlation = causation, which should be given some thought as it appears that the authors are searching for one solid answer rather than acknowledging the multiple variables that can also have an effect, especially in real world studies.
The reviewer is an A-level student