Conventional Wisdom and Freekonomics

I just read the great chapter on "Conventional Wisdom" in John Kenneth Galbraith's 1958 book, The Affluent Society. It is a riff on the way in which knowledge that is acceptable drives out knowledge that is right (but forbidding) in the short run, but on the way knowledge that is merely acceptable deteriorates in the long run. I recommend it.

I thought to go back and read Galbraith after I read a long quote in Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner's book, Freakonomics : A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything. It is not surprising that an unconventional book on economics which is itself a pleasure to read, refers to Galbraith's earlier book with the same virtues. Levitt takes great pleasure in finding gaps between knowledge that is acceptable and knowledge that is right, and exposing those gaps. He often uses indirect and inconspicuous indicators in the process, such as statistics on the elimination votes on the quiz show, "The Weakest Link," to measure discriminatory attitudes.