神马文学网另类经济学 稀奇古怪的问题让读者大乐
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出处：http://bbs3.nsysu.edu.tw/txtVersion/boards/sis/M.1114132358.A.html
编译朱邦贤／路透纽约19日电
芝加哥大学教授利瓦伊特知道，经济学很枯燥，于是他就在他的新书
《另类经济学；一位无赖经济学家探究每件事不为人知的一面》中
，想出一大堆稀奇古怪的问题问读者，看得读者乐趣无穷。
结果这本由威廉．马罗出版公司发行的新书上周刚上市，马上荣登
亚马逊网站畅销书排行榜。
利瓦伊特的问题包括：为什么大部分毒贩都和母亲一起住在家里？三
K党和房地产经纪人有何共同点？等等。诸如此类反传统的问题，
都可以在利瓦伊特的新书中找到答案。
利瓦伊特说：「书中有许多具有挑战性的问题。」利瓦伊特系在记者杜
布诺的协助下完成这本书。他说：「本书对人极尽嬉笑怒骂之能事。」
大部分毒贩不得不住在家里，原因是他们的时薪只有3.3美元，比目
前美国最低工资5.15美元都不如，不住家里住哪里？这些数据是专
家研究芝加哥某贩毒集团后获得的资料。该贩毒集团的大哥，将大
部分贩毒利润中饱私囊。
利瓦伊特将三 K党喻为不动产经纪人，是因为两者运用信息的手法太
相像。利瓦伊特说，三 K党利用密码组织团体和威胁敌人，房地产经
纪人同样也是利用他们的市场知识吓唬买卖双方，逼迫他们完成交
易。
利瓦伊特在接受访问时表示，本书是用好玩和调皮的方式，将经济学
运用在日常生活中。
他说：「经济学讨论许多重要问题，偏偏许多人都不感兴趣。我在
书中问的问题往往是些芝麻小事，其中却大有深意。」
37岁的利瓦伊特2003年荣获约翰．贝兹．克拉克奖章，这是专门颁给
美国最佳40岁以下的经济学家的奖章。从前拿过此奖的经济学家，
包括福利曼等人，后来都更上层楼，摘下诺贝尔经济学奖。
《娱乐周刊》书评表示：「利瓦伊特这本新书比福利曼写的任何东西
都有趣得多。」
华尔街日报一位书评家上周表示，「如果《法柜奇兵》的印第安纳
琼斯是位经济学家，他一定是利瓦伊特」。
【2005/04/22 民生报】
http://www.src.uchicago.edu/users/levit/
http://www-news.uchicago.edu/citations/05/050227.levitt-syverson.html
Levitt receives John Bates Clark Medal
Steven Levitt, a leading micro-economist at the University of Chicago,
has received the prestigious John Bates Clark Medal from the American
Economics Association for his pioneering and influential work on natural
experiments in economics. The medal, bestowed every two years, recognizes
the nation‘s most outstanding economist under 40.
Levitt, 35, the Alvin H. Baum Professor in Economics and the College at
Chicago, has been a University faculty member since 1997. He studies a
wide range of topics including the economic aspects of crime, corruption
and education.
Levitt, editor of the Journal of Political Economy , is the author of
several recent articles about crime, including "Legalized Abortion as
an Explanation for the Decline in Crime" and "An Economic Analysis of
a Drug-Selling Gang‘s Finances" in the Quarterly Journal of Economics,
and "Winning Isn‘t Everything: Corruption in Sumo Wrestling," in the
American Economic Review .
Levitt, who is a fellow in the American Academy of Arts and Sciences,
received the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers
from the National Science Foundation in 2000, and the University‘s Quantrell
Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching in 1998.
He also is a faculty research fellow at the National Bureau of Economic
Research and at the American Bar Foundation. He is spending the 2002-2003
academic year on leave at Stanford University.
James Heckman, a Nobel-prize winning economist at the University of Chicago
and himself a recipient of the Bates Medal, said, "In a series of clever
papers, Levitt has used natural variation occurring in social systems to
answer important social questions. He has investigated the impact of police
on crime, the effect of abortions on crime and a wide range of social
phenomena using the natural experiment methodology. Social experiments
are hard to perform and justify in economics. Observational data are often
not conclusive in interpreting correlational data. Natural experiments use
the variation sometimes produced by the social system in a fortuitous way
to substitute for the social experiments that are hard to perform and
justify.
"Levitt has greatly enhanced our understanding of the causes and prevention
of crime and a number of other important problems using these methods.
He has also investigated how teachers thwart performance evaluation
systems," added Heckman, the Henry Schultz Distinguished Service Professor
in Economics.
Gary Becker, another Nobelist at Chicago and winner of the Clark Medal,
said, "Steve‘s research is characterized by great imagination in
discovering interesting questions, ingenuity in finding data to test
his hypotheses, and considerable care in carrying through the empirical
discussion.
"He was responsible for the revival of an extension of economic work on
crime," added Becker, University Professor in Economics. "He applied
techniques he and others discovered to analyze crimes and punishments
to empirical analyses of the effects and abortions on the amount of crime,
to detecting corruption in schools and in athletic events, and to other
interesting problems. He very much deserves the Clark Medal."
Derek Neal, Associate Professor in Economics at the University of Chicago
said, "Steve‘s work in the economics of crime as well as work on the
economics of corruption have revived interest in the profession in these
topics during the last 10 years. He has produced a lot of original,
creative work."
Levitt is the 28th winner of the Clark Prize. Previous winners at Chicago
and when they won the prize are Milton Friedman (1951), Gary Becker (1965)
at Columbia prior to joining the Chicago faculty, Zvi Griliches (1965),
James Heckman (1983), and Kevin Murphy (1997).
编译朱邦贤／路透纽约19日电
芝加哥大学教授利瓦伊特知道，经济学很枯燥，于是他就在他的新书
《另类经济学；一位无赖经济学家探究每件事不为人知的一面》中
，想出一大堆稀奇古怪的问题问读者，看得读者乐趣无穷。
结果这本由威廉．马罗出版公司发行的新书上周刚上市，马上荣登
亚马逊网站畅销书排行榜。
利瓦伊特的问题包括：为什么大部分毒贩都和母亲一起住在家里？三
K党和房地产经纪人有何共同点？等等。诸如此类反传统的问题，
都可以在利瓦伊特的新书中找到答案。
利瓦伊特说：「书中有许多具有挑战性的问题。」利瓦伊特系在记者杜
布诺的协助下完成这本书。他说：「本书对人极尽嬉笑怒骂之能事。」
大部分毒贩不得不住在家里，原因是他们的时薪只有3.3美元，比目
前美国最低工资5.15美元都不如，不住家里住哪里？这些数据是专
家研究芝加哥某贩毒集团后获得的资料。该贩毒集团的大哥，将大
部分贩毒利润中饱私囊。
利瓦伊特将三 K党喻为不动产经纪人，是因为两者运用信息的手法太
相像。利瓦伊特说，三 K党利用密码组织团体和威胁敌人，房地产经
纪人同样也是利用他们的市场知识吓唬买卖双方，逼迫他们完成交
易。
利瓦伊特在接受访问时表示，本书是用好玩和调皮的方式，将经济学
运用在日常生活中。
他说：「经济学讨论许多重要问题，偏偏许多人都不感兴趣。我在
书中问的问题往往是些芝麻小事，其中却大有深意。」
37岁的利瓦伊特2003年荣获约翰．贝兹．克拉克奖章，这是专门颁给
美国最佳40岁以下的经济学家的奖章。从前拿过此奖的经济学家，
包括福利曼等人，后来都更上层楼，摘下诺贝尔经济学奖。
《娱乐周刊》书评表示：「利瓦伊特这本新书比福利曼写的任何东西
都有趣得多。」
华尔街日报一位书评家上周表示，「如果《法柜奇兵》的印第安纳
琼斯是位经济学家，他一定是利瓦伊特」。
【2005/04/22 民生报】
http://www.src.uchicago.edu/users/levit/
http://www-news.uchicago.edu/citations/05/050227.levitt-syverson.html
Levitt receives John Bates Clark Medal
Steven Levitt, a leading micro-economist at the University of Chicago,
has received the prestigious John Bates Clark Medal from the American
Economics Association for his pioneering and influential work on natural
experiments in economics. The medal, bestowed every two years, recognizes
the nation‘s most outstanding economist under 40.
Levitt, 35, the Alvin H. Baum Professor in Economics and the College at
Chicago, has been a University faculty member since 1997. He studies a
wide range of topics including the economic aspects of crime, corruption
and education.
Levitt, editor of the Journal of Political Economy , is the author of
several recent articles about crime, including "Legalized Abortion as
an Explanation for the Decline in Crime" and "An Economic Analysis of
a Drug-Selling Gang‘s Finances" in the Quarterly Journal of Economics,
and "Winning Isn‘t Everything: Corruption in Sumo Wrestling," in the
American Economic Review .
Levitt, who is a fellow in the American Academy of Arts and Sciences,
received the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers
from the National Science Foundation in 2000, and the University‘s Quantrell
Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching in 1998.
He also is a faculty research fellow at the National Bureau of Economic
Research and at the American Bar Foundation. He is spending the 2002-2003
academic year on leave at Stanford University.
James Heckman, a Nobel-prize winning economist at the University of Chicago
and himself a recipient of the Bates Medal, said, "In a series of clever
papers, Levitt has used natural variation occurring in social systems to
answer important social questions. He has investigated the impact of police
on crime, the effect of abortions on crime and a wide range of social
phenomena using the natural experiment methodology. Social experiments
are hard to perform and justify in economics. Observational data are often
not conclusive in interpreting correlational data. Natural experiments use
the variation sometimes produced by the social system in a fortuitous way
to substitute for the social experiments that are hard to perform and
justify.
"Levitt has greatly enhanced our understanding of the causes and prevention
of crime and a number of other important problems using these methods.
He has also investigated how teachers thwart performance evaluation
systems," added Heckman, the Henry Schultz Distinguished Service Professor
in Economics.
Gary Becker, another Nobelist at Chicago and winner of the Clark Medal,
said, "Steve‘s research is characterized by great imagination in
discovering interesting questions, ingenuity in finding data to test
his hypotheses, and considerable care in carrying through the empirical
discussion.
"He was responsible for the revival of an extension of economic work on
crime," added Becker, University Professor in Economics. "He applied
techniques he and others discovered to analyze crimes and punishments
to empirical analyses of the effects and abortions on the amount of crime,
to detecting corruption in schools and in athletic events, and to other
interesting problems. He very much deserves the Clark Medal."
Derek Neal, Associate Professor in Economics at the University of Chicago
said, "Steve‘s work in the economics of crime as well as work on the
economics of corruption have revived interest in the profession in these
topics during the last 10 years. He has produced a lot of original,
creative work."
Levitt is the 28th winner of the Clark Prize. Previous winners at Chicago
and when they won the prize are Milton Friedman (1951), Gary Becker (1965)
at Columbia prior to joining the Chicago faculty, Zvi Griliches (1965),
James Heckman (1983), and Kevin Murphy (1997).