Steven Levitt - Freakonomics
I am listening to Steve Levitt, author of Freakonomics and Super Freakonomics. He is a professor in economics. He is a micro economist (so looks at the impact in companies and individuals) and does not try to look at the macro economy.He makes economics interesting. He is funny, self depreciating and a good story teller.
He told the story of a lowly IRS clerk, John Silage, who noticed many of the names of children on forms were strange - like Fluffy and Spike. John suggested to the IRS that they add SSN of children to the tax form. It took a few years to get that idea to get implemented. When it was implemented, 7,000,000 children vanished overnight. This was 1 in 10 children. It made the government billions of dollars.
It was an amazing story of economics. The inertia of big business (like the IRS) to whom it was a minor pain to implement. The low enforcement rate caused low moral compass among a huge percent of the population.
I have always known the data in business is valuable. Levitt re-emphasizes that. There is gold in the data. The more the better. Then of course ask the right questions and do the right analysis.
He talks a lot about marketing. He really appreciates testing and would be a big believer in split run marketing that I write about in "Overspray in Marketing".
posted by Jim Estill @ 9:10 AM 
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