This isn't a book about the cost of chewing gum versus campaign spending per se, or about disingenuous real-estate agents, or the impact of legalized abortion on crime. It will certainly address these scenarios and dozens more, from the art of parenting to the mechanics of cheating, from the inner workings of a crack-selling gang to racial discrimination on The Weakest Link. What this book is about is stripping a layer or two from the surface of modern life and seeing what is happening underneath. We will ask a lot of questions, some frivolous and some about life-and-death issues. The answers may often seem odd but, after the fact, also rather obvious. ...

What do estate aqents and the Ku Klux Klan have in common？Why do drug deaiers live with their mothers？How can your name affect how well you do in life？

The answer: Freakonomics. It's at the heart of everything we do and the things that affect us daily, from sex to crime, parenting to politics, fat to cheating, fear to traffic jams. And it's all about using information about the world around us to get to the heart of what's really happening under the surface of everyday life.

Now updated with the authors' New York Times columns and blog entries, this cult bestseller will show you how, by unravelling your life's secret codes, you can discover a totally new way of seeing the world.

AN EXPLANATORY NOTE

PREFACE TO THE REVISED AND EXPANDED EDITION

INTRODUCTION: The Hidden Side of Everything

1. What Do Schoolteachers and Sumo Wrestlers Have in Common？

2. How Is the Ku Klux Klan Like a Group of Real-Estate Agents？

3. Why Do Drug Dealers Still Live with Their Moms？

4. Where Have All the Criminals Gone？

5. What Makes a Perfect Parent？

6. Perfect Parenting, Part II; or: Would a Roshanda by Any Other Name Smell as Sweet？

EPILOGUE: Two Paths to Harvard

Bonus Material Added to the Revised and Expanded 2006 Edition

Notes

Acknowledgments

Index