SuperFreakonomics

Avec Freakonomics, leur premier livre, Levitt et Dubner ont transformé notre regard sur le monde moderne en appliquant les méthodes de l?économie aux petites bizarreries de la vie quotidienne. Superfreakonomics aborde une nouvelle série de questions aussi insolites les unes que les autres.La méthode économique n?est ici ni une simple discipline universitaire ni une stricte explication mathématique de l?économie, mais un instrument dont il faut se servir pour décrire comment nous prenons des décisions: c?est le mariage de la méthode économique et de la curiosité iconoclaste.D?où il apparaît, derrière des chiffres relus sous l?angle d?ouverture de cet esprit sans orthodoxie, quelques situations fort intéressantes, la chute spectaculaire des tarifs des prostituées dans les quartiers de Chicago ou comment s?y prendre pour refroidir la planète. Finalement, il ressort de toutes ces démonstration que les êtres humains, que l?économie traite en sujets rationnels et calculateurs, ne font qu?obéir aux incitations.

Résumé : Helen Levitt (1913-2009) a saisi la vitalité de l'aire de jeux informelle que constitue la rue. Elle témoigne de la coexistence, par fois heureuse parfois conflictuelle, des minorités ethniques, dans le Brooklyn de son enfance, ou dans le Lower East Side et les quartiers Nord de Manhattan - Harlem, Spanish Harlem - d'où proviennent la plupart des images prises à partir de 1936.

Quel lien entre la législation de l'avortement et la baisse de la criminalité aux États-Unis ? Quelles sont les vraies motivations des agents immobiliers ? Pourquoi les revendeurs de drogue vivent-ils plus longtemps chez leur mère ? L'économie, vue sous cet angle, incongru en apparence, mais qui est celui de la plus sérieuse rationalité des agents, des comportements, des causes et effets, traite de sujets peu conventionnels. Elle a reçu un nom : freakonomics, ou économie saugrenue. Elle jette une lumière de biais sur le désordre des événements: elle met à nu des a priori à prétention de scientificité irréfutable: elle transforme notre regard sur le monde globalisé, qui nous apparaît, pour finir, moins impénétrable et incompréhensible.

This important publication accompanies a major exhibition at The Courtauld Gallery, London, of paintings by Edvard Munch, one of the world's greatest modern artists. The exhibition and catalogue showcase 18 major works from the collection of KODE Art Museums in Bergen. The works span the most significant part of Munch's artistic development and have never before been shown as a group outside of Scandinavia. KODE houses one of the most important collections of paintings by Edvard Munch (1863- 1944) in the world. The collection was assembled at the beginning of the 20th century by the Norwegian industrialist, mill owner and philanthropist Rasmus Meyer (1858-1916), who was one of the fi rst signifi cant early collectors of Munch's work. Meyer knew Munch personally and was astute in acquiring major canvases by the artist that chart his artistic development. Edvard Munch : Masterpieces from Bergen explores this group of remarkable works in detail and considers the important role of Rasmus Meyer as a collector. The exhibition and publication include seminal paintings from Munch's early 'realist' phase of the 1880s, such as Morning (1884), which was made when the artist was just twenty years old, and Summer Night (1889), a pivotal work that shows the artist's move towards the expressive and psychologically charged work for which he became famous. These paintings launched Munch's career and set the stage for his renowned, highly expressive paintings of the 1890s when his compositions became powerful projections of his emotions and imaginative states. Such works are a major feature of the exhibition that includes remarkable canvases from Munch's famous 'Frieze of Life' series, such as Evening on Karl Johan (1892), Melancholy (1894-96) and At the Death Bed (1895). Through his 'Frieze of Life' works, Munch intended to address profound themes of human existence, from love to death. The artist used his own experiences as source material to make visceral depictions of the human psyche, which he hoped would help others understand their own life. Munch's powerful use of colour and form to convey his subjects marked him out as one of the most radical painters at the turn of the 20th century. This fully illustrated publication includes a catalogue of the works, with contributions by leading experts in their fi eld from KODE and The Courtauld.