Talk:Freakonomics

McNamara

Robert McNamara introduced the seat belt? In better times, this would be sufficient grounds to disinter his body so it could be burnt at the stake. - Smerdis of Tlön, for the defense. 00:42, 4 August 2014 (UTC)

Not so much that he introduced the seat belt, but Ford was an early adopter... for American manufacturers, that is. They introduced them as an option in '55, some 6 years after Nash did. The Steves paint McNamara as the brains behind the idea and he probably had a hand in getting them included as an option. Space Turbo (talk) 04:27, 4 August 2014 (UTC)

In general the authors of Freakonomics are nearly as careful with facts as Malcolm Gladwell. I got Superfreakonomics for Christmas a few years ago, and it's an entertaining read but just about every page was setting off my baloney detection kit. It's made of seriously shoddy thinking - David Gerard (talk) 13:29, 4 August 2014 (UTC)

According to t'other Wiki only 2% of Ford buyers actually forked out for belts in 1956 and Saab were the first to fit them as standard in 1958. Volvo had standard 3-point belts the following year. Mr Larrington (talk) 00:05, 11 October 2022 (UTC)

Ultracrepidarianism

This book is probably an excellent example of ultracrepidarianism. This article is way too conciliatory for the content of this book. Ariel Rubinstein called it an example of "academic imperialism": [1] Another reviewer calls it "amateur sociology": [2] We should include more critical analysis of this book. Carthage (talk) 03:23, 11 September 2023 (UTC)

Yeah, failure at basic statistics is rather awful for an economist. It certainly needs a more critical review. Bongolian (talk) 07:10, 11 September 2023 (UTC)