read the first third of Freakonomics today
pretty interesting stuff...so far the author, an exceptionally creative individual with a background in economics, analyzes the validity of conventional wisdom WRT a variety of situations. he uses simple math to support unique correlations dealing with crime, cheating, morality, etc.
EDIT: here's a link to his papers if you're interested
http://pricetheory.uchicago.edu/levitt/LevittCV.html