Freakonomics - The Documentary

Freakonomics (the book) is a book about looking at things in a different way.  Well, now there is a documentary about it.

One interesting thing they talked about was parenting.  One thing that was said was that everybody wants to be a good parent.  But what makes you a good parent is based more on what you have done before you became a parent not going out and buying 10 parenting books.

Another interesting discussion was names.  They compared traditionally black and white names.  They discussed whether or not it will change your life's come.  One professor said your name has no effect on what happens in your life.  It is based more on your upbring.  Another professor said have a traditionally black name will effect your life.  They sent out 3000 resumes half with traditionally white names and half with traditionally black names. They found in their study that the traditionally white named resumes got 33% more phone calls and got a job in 10 weeks while the traditionally black name resumes got a job in 14 weeks.  An interesting thing to think about.  Why were we each given our specific name, and has it had an effect on our live's outcome?

There is also the discussion of abortions legalization in 70s had an effect on the crime rate going down in the 90s.

Overall the documentary is very much like the book.  I think it provides an interesting way to look at some difficult subjects.