More Sex Is Safer Sex: The Unconventional Wisdom of Economics

by Steven E. Landsburg

Book Overview

A witty and razor-sharp look at the many ways our individually rational decisions can combine into some truly weird collective results--and some hilarious and serious ways to fix just about everything.

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...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1416532226
• ISBN13: 9781416532224
• Release Date: April 2008
• Publisher: Free Press
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 0.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.5" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

It made me think and had a big impact

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.

To the Easily Offended

What an incredible, thought provoking book! There's a common complaint in to reviews that it's not like Freakonomics. Can I just say, Fantastic! The funniest thing about reviews suggesting that this book is trying to "Cash-in on Freakonomics" is the fact that Landsburg published The Armchair Economist in 1993, one of the first books of the genre that Levitt would capitalize on 12 years later. More sex is certainly not a book that looks at correlations in data in order to make you smile. If that's what you're looking for, buy a different book. The purpose of More Sex, in my opinion, is to show you how economic logic and reasoning can get you to surprising solutions to problems. This review is addressed to the easily offended because some of the solutions and ideas presented will go against your moral intuition. This does NOT make them bad ideas! Many of the ideas, such as using more sex in order to slow the spread of STD's, make me cringe to the point that I would never support them. Nevertheless, I found the logical journey showing that the ideas would indeed work (if it were possible to implement them) absolutely fascinating. Bottom line - If you're looking for a fuzzy book that will give you some facts for your "gee-whiz" file, this probably isn't the book for you. If you're looking for a book of sound economic reasoning that will make you cringe and that will leave you thinking, this book is outdone only by Landsburg's prior book, The Armchair Economist. Kudos to Landsburg on another great piece of work!

Thought-provoking and original

Don't let the title or the jocular style fool you--this book is a tremendous intellectual achievement. Even if you feel like you've already gotten the gist of "how economists think"-style books (Freakonomics, The Undercover Economist...), you'll find plenty of fresh, counterintuitive thoughts here. Some are more serious than others (many economists, including the Freakonomics authors, support markets for human organs; few would support the "condom bounties" that he proposes, presumably tongue-in-cheek, to reduce the spread of diseases), but all are thoroughly fun to read--and important to consider. If the book makes you feel frustrated, then you might want to read Landsburg's previous book, The Armchair Economist, which more thoroughly explains his premises.

Really fun, with serious analyses and surprising implications

This is another great book from Steve Landsburg. Everyone interested in thinking seriously about economics and social issues should read it. The reason is not that it's full of policy proposals, but that the book is filled with surprising results that follow from serious analyses of issues. Those analyses are sometimes summaries of very detailed studies reported in professional journals, and sometimes short, quick analyses that cut through webs of unimportant detail to focus on the key issues. For example, the title essay is based on professional work by Harvard economist Michael Kremer, while Landsburg's essay on how to fix the justice system is an outstanding example of analysis that cuts right to the heart of the matter. So what if the book doesn't end up with serious policy proposals? It asks the right questions and draws out often-surprising logical implications: it makes you think. How many of the reviewers who didn't like the book actually got the right answer to the question raised on page 91? And yet any reader who goes away without understanding that answer has failed to comprehend even the most basic logic that is required to address serious, real-life policy issues. You may not "agree" with Landsburg in the sense that you believe there are other considerations that he neglects, and that's great: let's add whatever else may be important to our analyses. But no one will get very far on any of these issues without understanding the logical implications that Landsburg takes us through. So read the book and think seriously about it. Don't expect a light read such as Freakonomics. Landsburg's book is a lot of fun, but with far more substance and far less filler. All the better, because it's really fun to learn surprising new things.

Better than Freakonomics

I have long been a fan of Landsburg having read two of his other books. This is his best work yet, and a better read than the popular Freakonomics. This is a great book to introduce the reader to economic ways of thinking about everyday problems and issues in a fun and engaging way. Here is what I liked about it: 1) Landsburg hits a range of areas, even if sometimes only for a page or two, and many of these topics have important implications for policy or to our own lives. Some examples include his thoughts on pollution, free trade, free markets for organs, child labor, choosing charities and more. This contrasts with Freakonomics, which delves for the most part into interesting topics that are less important(eg, sumo wrestling cheating) I will say, however, that some of my favorite chapters had little practical value, notably, the chapter on how and why couples with girls are more likely to divorce than couples with boys. Fascinating stuff! 2) As the title suggests, his logic is often quite unconventional. Are there times when he seems to smart for his own good, with some ideas that are a bit too far out? Yes, like his ridiculous suggestion for making lines shorter (in brief, each new person goes the front, not the back of the line... don't ask) HOWEVER, by and large, I found him to be quite convincing with pragmatic solutions to problems, and interesting insights that offer different ways of thinking. 3) As always, I enjoy his writing style, particularly his wit. The book also reads in a way that has you guessing, "What are potential flaws in his reasoning" which he then mentions, and then dispels satisfactorily. All in all, a great read. I do have to warn readers though, that the first chapter, the one discussing the Safer Sex issue, was, in my opinion, oversimplified and weak. The book does get much better, however.