Title: The Freakonomic Fallacy
Product review: Social scientists know the danger of committing the ecological fallacy: drawing conclusions about individuals based on aggregated data. At the turn of the 20th Century, such a lapse in thinking was excusable; at the turn of the 21st Century, it is poor science. The authors of this book commit the freakonomic fallacy at every turn: going beyond the data just to make a controversial point (to sell books, one assumes). To borrow from Ghostbusters: "Their theories are the worst kind of popular tripe, their methods are sloppy, and their conclusions are highly questionable. They are poor scientists!"But I suppose the kids, and the credulous, love them. Read at your own risk. Plan policy based on this book at our collective risk.
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