Quotes from Steven D. Levitt

As Albert Einstein liked to say, everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.

Morning robberies yield far more than afternoon robberies . . .' - When to Rob a Bank: A Rouge Economist's Guide to the World by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner

Would a diet high in omega-3 lead to world peace?

Married people, for instance, are demonstrably happier than single people; does this mean that marriage causes happiness? Not necessarily. The data suggest that happy people are more likely to get married in the first place. As one researcher memorably put it, "If you're grumpy, who the hell wants to marry you?

Letting go of the conventional wisdoms that torment us. Letting go of the artificial limits that hold us back—and of the fear of admitting what we don't know. Letting go of the habits of mind that tell us to kick into the corner of the goal even though we stand a better chance by going up the middle.

Según la Administración Nacional de Seguridad de Tráfico en Carreteras (NHTSA), más del 80 por ciento de los asientos para niños están mal instalados.

New York State, for instance, has not as of this writing executed a single criminal since reinstituting its death penalty in 1995. Even among prisoners on death row, the annual execution rate is only 2 percent—compared with the 7 percent annual chance of dying faced by a member of the Black Gangster Disciple Nation crack gang. If life on death row is safer than life on the streets, it's hard to believe that the fear of execution is a driving force in a criminal's calculus

If morality represents the way we would like the world to work and economics represents how it actually does work

Unfortunately, this fact is routinely ignored by those who engage in—take a deep breath—ultracrepidarianism, or "the habit of giving opinions and advice on matters outside of one's knowledge or competence.

Nor should failure be considered a total loss.

The absurdly talented George Bernard Shaw—a world-class writer and a founder of the London School of Economics—noted this thought deficit many years ago. "Few people think more than two or three times a year," Shaw reportedly said. "I have made an international reputation for myself by thinking once or twice a week." We too try to think once.

What if, for instance, every Briton were also entitled to a free, unlimited, lifetime supply of transportation? That is, what if everyone were allowed to go down to the car dealership whenever they wanted and pick out any new model, free of charge, and drive it home?

On a per capita basis, Switzerland has more firearms than just about any other country, and yet it is one of the safest places in the world. In other words, guns do not cause crime.

Shaw reportedly said. "I have made an international reputation for myself by thinking once or twice a week.

Households that got the once-and-done letter were twice as likely to become first-time donors as people who got a regular solicitation letter. By fund-raising standards, this was a colossal gain. These donors also gave slightly more money, an average of $56 versus $50.

Un choque de automóvil es un asunto violento, y pueden sucederle muchas cosas terribles a una masa de carne y hueso que se desplace a gran velocidad dentro de un objeto metálico y pesado que se para de repente.

When people, especially politicians, start making decisions based on a reading of their moral compass, facts tend to be among the first casualties.

Las conductas social y económica, añade, «son complejas, y comprender su carácter resulta mentalmente agotador.

las políticas más exitosas son aquellas que castigan directamente el mal uso, como las sentencias a prisión obligatorias por cualquier crimen que envuelva un arma. En California y en otros lugares, tales medidas han reducido el crimen sustancialmente.

Superman and the Bible are plainly cut from the same template: baby Superman and baby Moses are both rescued from certain death, sent off by their desperate parents in a rocket ship/wicker basket, and are then raised by an alien family but always remember the ways of their people and spend their lives fighting for justice.)

But as history clearly shows, most people, whether because of nature or nurture, generally put their own interests ahead of others'.

el Instituto de Medicina calculaba que cada año mueren entre 44.000 y 98.000 norteamericanos a causa de errores hospitalarios evitables —más muertos que por accidentes de automóvil o cáncer de mama—, y que uno de los principales errores es la infección de heridas. ¿La mejor medicina para evitar las infecciones? Hacer que los médicos se laven las manos con más frecuencia.

The message is unequivocal: failure may be an option but quitting is not.

Gut hunches are routinely passed off as dogma while conventional wisdom flourishes even when there is no data to back it up.