<p>I loved Freakonomics, but it’s not stuff that earns you a Nobel Prize. It had nowhere close to the originality or the academic rigor expected of a Noble Prize winning work. Of course, the studies that it was based on were well-researched, well-argued and based on sound economic principles, but they mostly used accepted economic principles to shed light on original situations, rather than using them developing new economic principles. The book is good for economics, no doubt - it helps dispel the notion that the field is strictly limited to fiscal issues and policy.</p>