Which is more dangerous, a gun or a swimming pool? What do schoolteachers and sumo wrestlers have in coommon? Why do drug dealers still live with their mums? How much do parents really matter? These may not sound like typical questions for an economist to ask. But Steven D. Levitt is not a typical economist. He is a much-heralded scholar who studies the stuff and riddles of everyday life - from cheating and crime to sports and child rearing - and whose conclusions regularly turn the conventional wisdom on its head. He usually begins with a mountain of data and a simple, unasked question. Some of these questions concern life-and-death issues; others have an admittedly freakish quality. Thus the new field of study contained in this book:Freakonomics 作者简介 Steveb D. Levitt teaches economics at the University of Chicago. He recently received the John Bates Clark Medal, awarded every two years to the best American economist under forty. Stephen J. Dubner lives in N

Ask a dozen talking heads about the course of action we should take to right the economy and you’ll get thirteen different answers. But what if we possessed a handful of basic principles that could guide our decisions—both the personal ones about how to save and spend but also those national ones that have been capturing the headlines? Robert H. Frank has been illustrating these principles longer and more clearly than anyone else. In The Economic Naturalist’s Field Guide, he reveals how they play out in Washington, on Wall Street, and in our own lives, covering everything from healthcare to tax policy to everyday decisions about what we do with our money. In today’s uncertain economic climate, The Economic Naturalist’s Field Guide’s insights have more bearing than ever on our pocketbooks, policies, and personal happiness.

A brilliant reconsideration of the Gilded Age in America, whenan oligarchy of wealth triumphed over democracy, when dreams offreedom and equality died of their impossibility. Jay Gould, the“Mephisto of Wall Street,” never runs for office, but he rules.This was his time (and John D. Rockefeller’s and AndrewCarnegie’s), and this was his country. At the end of the Civil War, with the rebellion put down andslavery ended, America belonged to Lincoln’s “plain people.” But“government of the people” and economic democracy were betrayed bypolitical parties that fanned memories of the war to distractAmericans from government of the corporation. Synthesizing the research of a new generation of scholars, JackBeatty gives us a fresh look at the “revolution from above” ofindustrialization that forged modern America. In Age of Betrayal,Supreme Court justices turn the Fourteenth Amendment’s promise of“equal protection of the laws” to the freed slave into the shieldof the corpora

From Wall Street to the West Coast, from blue-collarbillionaires to blue-blood fortunes, from the Google guys tohedge-fund honchos, All the Money in the World gives us the lowdownon today richest Americans. Veteran journalists Peter W. Bernsteinand Annalyn Swan delve into who made and lost the most money in thepast twenty-five years, the fields and industries that haveproduced the greatest wealth, the biggest risk takers, the mostcompetitive players, the most wasteful family feuds, the trophywives, the most conspicuous consumers, the biggest art collectors,and the most and least generous philanthropists. Incorporating exclusive, never-before-published data from Forbesmagazine, All the Money in the World is a vastly entertaining,behind-the-scenes look at today's Big Rich.

Two years in the cauldron of capitalism-"horrifying and veryfunny" (The Wall Street Journal) In this candid and entertaining insider's look at the mostinfluential school in global business, Philip Delves Broughtondraws on his crack reporting skills to describe his madcap years atHarvard Business School. Ahead of the Curve recounts the mostedifying and surprising lessons learned in the quest for an MBA,from the ingenious chicanery of leveraging and the unlikelypleasures of accounting, to the antics of the "booze luge" andother, less savory trappings of student culture. Published duringthe one hundredth anniversary of Harvard Business School, this isthe unflinching truth about life in the trenches of an iconicAmerican institution.

Galbraith's classic on the "economics of abundance" is, in thewords of the New York Times, "a compelling challenge toconventional thought." With customary clarity, eloquence, andhumor, Galbraith cuts to the heart of what economic security means(and doesn't mean) in today's world and lays bare the hazards ofindividual and societal complacence about economic inequity. While"affluent society" and "conventional wisdom" (first used in thisbook) have entered the vernacular, the message of the book has notbeen so widely embraced--reason enough to rediscover The AffluentSociety.

Translated into more than twenty languages and named one ofthe best business books of the year by reviewers around the world, Wikinomics has become essential reading for business peopleeverywhere. It explains how mass collaboration is happening notjust at Web sites like Wikipedia and YouTube, but at traditionalcompanies that have embraced technology to breathe new life intotheir enterprises. This national bestseller reveals the nuances that drivewikinomics, and share fascinating stories of how masses of people(both paid and volunteer) are now creating TV news stories,sequencing the human gnome, remixing their favorite music,designing software, finding cures for diseases, editing schooltexts, inventing new cosmetics, and even buildingmotorcycles.

Why trying to be the best … competing like crazy … makes youmediocre Every few years a book—through a combination of the author’sunique voice, storytelling ability, wit, and insight—simply breaksthe mold. Bill Bryson’s A Walk in the Woods is one example. RichardFeynman’s “Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman!” is another. Now comes Youngme Moon’s Different, a book for “people who don’tread business books.” Actually, it’s more like a personalconversation with a friend who has thought deeply about how theworld works … and who gets you to see that world in a completelynew light. If there is one strain of conventional wisdom pervading everycompany in every industry, it’s the absolute importance of“competing like crazy.” Youngme Moon’s message is simply “Get offthis treadmill that’s taking you nowhere. Going tit for tat andadding features, augmentations, and gimmicks to beat thecompetition has the perverse result of making you lik

In this short, powerful book, multimillionaire and bestsellingauthor Steven K. Scott reveals King Solomon’s breakthroughstrategies to achieve a life of financial success and personalfulfillment. Steve Scott flunked out of every job he held in his first six yearsafter college. He couldn’t succeed no matter how hard he tried.Then Dr. Gary Smalley challenged him to study the book of Proverbs,promising that in doing so he would achieve greater success andhappiness than he had ever known. That promise came true, makingScott a millionaire many times over. In The Richest Man Who Ever Lived, Scott reveals Solomon’s key forwinning every race, explains how to resolve conflicts and turnenemies into allies, and discloses the five qualities essential tobecoming a valued and admired person at work and in your personallife. Scott illustrates each of Solomon’s insights and strategieswith anecdotes about his personal successes and failures, as wellas those of such extraordinary people as Benjamin Franklin, ThomasEdis