Comments on: Freakonomics and Long Tail http://blog.mikezhang.com/2006/11/30/freaknomics-and-long-tail thoughts of michael xiaoquan zhang professor at hkust Fri, 21 Nov 2008 00:57:44 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 By: ET http://blog.mikezhang.com/2006/11/30/freaknomics-and-long-tail#comment-29931 ET Mon, 22 Jan 2007 15:06:08 +0000 http://mikezhang.com/wp/2006/11/30/freaknomics-and-long-tail/#comment-29931 I agree with you on all accounts. Did not like the child-name chapter as well as the parenting chapter. There are just so many correlations working together. Collinearity can easily eliminate some possible factors, I may need to find his original paper to see how he did it. I agree with you on all accounts.

Did not like the child-name chapter as well as the parenting chapter. There are just so many correlations working together. Collinearity can easily eliminate some possible factors, I may need to find his original paper to see how he did it.

]]> By: tkkoh http://blog.mikezhang.com/2006/11/30/freaknomics-and-long-tail#comment-29866 tkkoh Mon, 22 Jan 2007 06:40:43 +0000 http://mikezhang.com/wp/2006/11/30/freaknomics-and-long-tail/#comment-29866 Just completed the book. It is a very interesting and readable book. What impressed me most is the creativity of Levitt. The way he linked 2 unseemingly related sets of data (e.g. abortion and crime) to find correlations, if not causal relationships. The way he looked at and disected the data in making analysis (e.g. cheating by teachers and sumo wrestlers). Amazing! The underlying message of the book, to me, is that conventional wisdom is not always true and wise. Sadly, I feel that the last chapter on children's names is an anti-climax. Nevertheless, a good book. Just completed the book. It is a very interesting and readable book. What impressed me most is the creativity of Levitt. The way he linked 2 unseemingly related sets of data (e.g. abortion and crime) to find correlations, if not causal relationships. The way he looked at and disected the data in making analysis (e.g. cheating by teachers and sumo wrestlers). Amazing! The underlying message of the book, to me, is that conventional wisdom is not always true and wise.

Sadly, I feel that the last chapter on children’s names is an anti-climax. Nevertheless, a good book.

]]> By: ET http://blog.mikezhang.com/2006/11/30/freaknomics-and-long-tail#comment-25228 ET Tue, 02 Jan 2007 03:29:23 +0000 http://mikezhang.com/wp/2006/11/30/freaknomics-and-long-tail/#comment-25228 Hey tkkoh, thanks for the pointer. I made an update to the article criticizing Rubinstein's criticism. :-) Hey tkkoh, thanks for the pointer. I made an update to the article criticizing Rubinstein’s criticism. :-)

]]> By: tkkoh http://blog.mikezhang.com/2006/11/30/freaknomics-and-long-tail#comment-25213 tkkoh Tue, 02 Jan 2007 02:24:29 +0000 http://mikezhang.com/wp/2006/11/30/freaknomics-and-long-tail/#comment-25213 I bought Freaknomics but have yet to read it - will go thru it when I go for a short trip in 2 weeks' time. Anyway, Ariel Rubinstein (Economics Professor at Tel Aviv and New York Uni) has an interesting review of this book in his website (http://arielrubinstein.tau.ac.il/). Direct download at http://arielrubinstein.tau.ac.il/papers/freak.pdf I bought Freaknomics but have yet to read it - will go thru it when I go for a short trip in 2 weeks’ time. Anyway, Ariel Rubinstein (Economics Professor at Tel Aviv and New York Uni) has an interesting review of this book in his website (http://arielrubinstein.tau.ac.il/). Direct download at http://arielrubinstein.tau.ac.il/papers/freak.pdf

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