The Authors of SuperFreakonomics Make Imus Want To Get Super Freaky With Them

Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner succeeded in the one task set before them today: they made Imus want to read their latest book SuperFreakonomics: Global Cooling, Patriotic Prostitutes, and Why Suicide Bombers Should Buy Life Insurance, a follow-up to their bestseller Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything.

The rogue economist would be Levitt, a professor of economics at the University of Chicago, whom Dubner, a former writer and editor at The New York Times, was assigned to interview a few years back.

"I read his papers, and they were bizarre in a good way," Dubner said about Levitt. He had no real interest in writing about Levitt's work, however, because he was involved in his own book about the psychology of money. After turning his editor down three times, Dubner finally traveled to Chicag, and an interview that was supposed to last only a few hours went on for three days.

"He studies things like collusion among Sumo wrestlers, and whether real estate agents rip off their customers," said Dubner. "The most jarring theory he had ever written about was this relationship between legalized abortion and the fall of crime."

Needless to say, Dubner shelved that "other" book, partnered with Levitt, and sold more than 3 million copies of Freakonomics.

Levitt stumbled into studying such odd branches of economics after nearly failing out of his first semester of graduate work at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Back home in Minneapolis, his father, a research physician, gave him some practical advice.

"His mentor told him he had no talent for medical research, but there's on area of science that's so devoid of knowledge that even someone with your limited talents could make a contribution," said Levitt. "The guy said, 'Intestinal gas.' And he meant it!"

To make a long story short, Levitt's father was dubbed "The King of Farts" a few years ago by GQ Magazine. Levitt thus found a form of economics "so degrading and insulting that no other reasonable person would want to do it."

In their first book, Levitt and Dubner showed why, despite high death rates, crack dealers in Chicago continued to work for a meager five dollars per hour. "The guys at the top of the gang make $500,000 a year," said Levitt. "The only way to get to the top is to start at the bottom...it's like being a big TV, radio, or rock star: a bunch of people try, a few people make it, the ones who make it to the top get rewarded handsomely."

SuperFreakonomics tells why drunk-walking is actually more dangerous than the very dangerous act of drunk-driving, and why, as the subtitle suggests, suicide bombers should buy life insurance. Here's a hint: it would throw investigators off their trail.

"I hope you both sell another million books," Imus told this unlikely duo.

-Julie Kanfer