More Sex Is Safer Sex: The Unconventional Wisdom of Economics [Paperback]

Steven E Landsburg (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 2008

Economics is no longer the "dismal science" dreaded by college freshmen. In recent years, a band of economists has broken away from the charts and graphs of college textbooks, and begun to explain ordinary behavior in plain and often entertaining English. Steve Landsburg was one of the first of the new breed, in his book The Armchair Economist and long-running "Everyday Economics" column in Slate magazine. Now he is back, and more provocative than ever.

In More Sex is Safer Sex, Landsburg shows how the rational behavior of each one of us -- when combined together -- produces the often bizarre, seemingly irrational behavior of crowds. We all stand up at the ballpark, so none of us can see. We avoid casual sex, from fear of disease, and we thereby make sex more dangerous. Things really get interesting when Landsburg suggests ways to change the rules, and game the system. Why not charge juries if a convicted felon is exonerated? Why not have each member of Congress represent a national subset of voters, chosen alphabetically? Why not solve the ""overpopulation"" problem by having more children, who will help think of ways to improve our use of resources?

More Sex is Safer Sex will make you laugh and argue -- and it will make you think about the world around you in new and unforgettable ways.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Economics books full of "uncommon sense" are more common after the success of Freakonomics, but this rambling survey of hot-button and quotidian issues viewed from a libertarian economic perspective doesn't measure up. Landsburg (The Armchair Economist) is sometimes pleasantly counterintuitive, but too often simply contentious. In using cost/benefit calculations to argue in favor of racial profiling or why we shouldn't care about the looting of Baghdad's museums, he strains to celebrate "all that is counter, original, spare and strange." While positing multiple solutions to interesting problems, he forces logical readers to confront uncomfortable positions—as in the title essay, urging chaste citizens to sleep around, thereby diluting the pool of potential sex partners with AIDS. But the chapters typically conclude without resolution—at one point, the author shrugs: "It's not easy to sort out causes from effects." One suspects that a rival economist could swiftly debunk many of Landsburg's arguments—for instance, his chapter praising misers (who produce but don't consume) depends on the assumption that all resources are fixed and finite. By the time he makes the head-scratching case that "it's always an occasion for joy when other people have more children," the reader may be in the mood for some plain old common sense. (Apr.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Economist Landsburg sets out to explain extraordinary findings and logical arguments about the economics of everyday life. In the same vein as the recently popular Freakonomics, this book aims to assault common sense using the tools of evidence and logic to describe reality. Drawn from evidently popular response to the author's magazine column, the book's title and lengthy first chapter on sex and AIDS could be found tedious by some. Yet his wisdom in subsequent chapters is thought-provoking. His ideas on beauty and ugliness, why insurance rates in Philadelphia are so high, compassion and economic considerations, gains from population size, daughters and divorce, concentrating charitable giving to one recipient, and views on Social Security are a few topics the author tackles with a lighthearted perspective. He tells us, "These are carefully considered arguments about important issues. But they're also surprising arguments, and surprises are fun. This book will give you new insights about how the world works." Mary Whaley
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Free Press (April 1, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1416532226
• ISBN-13: 978-1416532224
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (44 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #156,600 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Steven E. Landsburg is a Professor of Economics at the University of Rochester. He is the author of More Sex Is Safer Sex, The Armchair Economist, Fair Play, two textbooks on economics, and over thirty journal articles in mathematics, economics, and philosophy. He writes the popular "Everyday Economics" column in Slate magazine and has written for Forbes, the Wall Street Journal, and other publications.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

148 of 186 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing, June 2, 2007

By 

Dave Hitz (Silicon Valley) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: More Sex Is Safer Sex: The Unconventional Wisdom of Economics (Hardcover)

I was expecting something thoughtful and thought-provoking, like Freakonomics or Blink, but instead I found lots of half-baked suggestions that seem intended to shock rather than enlighten.

Here's an example. Landsburg argues that the big barrier for people getting their first loan is that banks don't believe they will pay, so he argues that "If the government wants to provide meaningful assistance to first-time home buyers, it should probably consider capital punishment for late mortgage payments." That would prove their intent to pay, and make banks feel safer. Does he really believe this? It's hard to tell, because he throws out many of his crazy ideas with little support or comment.

Another suggestion is that Congressmen should be assigned to constituents alphabetically, one representing names starting Aa-Am, another An-Be, and so on, because that would create less incentive for bridges to nowhere. What kind of legislation can you pass to unfairly advantage people whose names start with B? But he completely ignores the issue of representing constituents with common interests, or how a congressman could go about meeting people spread evenly over the whole country. Perhaps there's a nugget of a good idea, but given that he ignores any potential downsides, you can't really tell.

At first these crazy suggestions were amusing, but as they kept coming, I wondered: Is he serious or just screwing around? The crazy unsupported ideas made me skeptical of the ones he seems to be trying to defend more seriously, because it seems he's more interested in shocking people than in reach seriously supportable truths.

In the end, I felt that I hadn't learned much -- just watched a smart guy ramble about with little serious intent.

Dave

21 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting Read, August 24, 2007

By 

J. A. Davis "jadecat" (Northern Michigan) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: More Sex Is Safer Sex: The Unconventional Wisdom of Economics (Hardcover)

Once again, I was initially drawn to this book by its unique title - what a brilliant marketing ploy! But after reading "Freakonomics" last year, I was curious about what this economist had to say about the little (and big) things in life. I found some of his topics to be extremely insightful (such as How to Fix the Justice System and the link between having daughters and the divorce rate), while others had me scratching my head. However, Landsburg does point out in the beginning that "this book will give you new insights about how the world works. Sometimes it might outrage you. I hope it also makes you smile." He doesn't expect everyone to agree with him, just to look at things in a whole new way. It certainly made me do just that.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It made me think and had a big impact, May 3, 2009

By 

Roland G. Martinez "Roland Martinez" (Nashua, Nh) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: More Sex Is Safer Sex: The Unconventional Wisdom of Economics (Paperback)

Surprisingly even with that title, this is a book about economics. This was probably one of the best books I have read in a long time.

The book title comes from the theory that if people who are not infected with an STD were to have more sex everyone would be safer. Note that it's not them that would be safer but the population in general. Therefore since the individual risk is all borne by the person who decides whether or not to have sex, people have less sex and partners than would be "good" for society.

Interesting stuff and just the tip of the iceberg. I've read Steven Landsberg's columns for years on Slate and some of the chapters in the book are expanded versions of his Slate articles. Go and read them but do NOT feel like you are getting ripped off. While many of the ideas were explored in Slate they were not as fleshed out, the math wasn't included and there was not as much exploration of related ideas.

This book was completely mindbending and was so good that I stayed up until 5:30 to finish it. I didn't quite make it and stopped three pages short but the point is I haven't had a pageturner like this in my lap in months. Go and read it now you won't be sorry.