In which the book's central idea is set forth: namely, if morality represents howpeople would like the world to work, then economics shows how it actually doeswork.Why the conventional wisdom is so often wrong...How "experts"-fromcriminologists to real-estate agents to political scientists-bend the facts...Whyknowing what to measure, and how to measure it, is the key to understandingmodern life...

Which is more dangerous, a gun or a swimming pool? What do schoolteachers and sumo wrestlers have in common? Why do drug dealers still live with their moms? How much do parents really matter? How did the legalization of abortion affect the rate of violent crime?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 riddles of everyday life?from cheating and crime to sports and child-rea...