The Freakonomics boys (Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner) have more nonsense coming out in a new book Superfreakonomics: Global Cooling, Patriotic Prostitutes and Why Suicide Bombers Should Buy Life Insurance. Silly material supporting global cooling, deriding climate change policy, criticising solar energy (some startling bloopers here!) and some nutty observations on aerosol-based geoengineering – a critique is at Climate Progress which reprints much of Chapter 5 of the Levitt-Dubner book where the silliness on climate change is concentrated.
In 2006 I discussed the fact that the same authors got it wrong in inferring that reduced crime rates were caused by the introduction of pro-abortion laws in the US which eliminated unwanted babies. They are still producing provocative nonsense.
Update: More from Joe Romm & more. Paul Krugman attributes the stupidity in Superfreakonomics to the myth of ‘counterintuitiveness’ - shocking people to sell yourself. Its OK if you have that the mentality that sees life as a sales job but runs into problems when the snark has the potential to cause serious damages as it does in this case. Of course don’t buy this stupid book.
A piece from Gavin at RealClimate on why D-L are wrong on geo-engineering.
Where’s Malcolm Gladwell?
Here’s Dubner’s response to Joe Romm.
I thought Freakonomics was entertaining but what should have been embarrassing for them made them into celebrities.
Anyone from the soft sciences 20 years ago could have told them that drug dealers live with their mums (or moms) and don’t make a lot of money.
The just serve to show how insulated and unread most (not all Harry – wink) economists are.
Climate Change made the typhoons in the south pacific very destructive. Typhoon Ketsana made a lot of mess in Philippines and Vietnam *