SuperFreakonomics, a New York Times Bestseller by Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner, that tries to explain important and sometimes difficult economic principles, for a non-economist. The book achieves this by incorporating humour, sarcasm and real life statistics to provide a deeper understanding of economics while still using layman’s terms. For the purposes of this paper, we’ll be exploring chapter two of SuperFreakonomics titled “Why Should Suicide Bombers Buy Life Insurance” and we will be breaking
Renowned economist, Steven D. Levitt, and well-known journalist, Stephen J. Dubner, in their collaboration of the book, Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything, write in a mostly inoffensive style about extremely controversial topics. Levitt’s and Dubner’s purpose is to inform readers of frequently disputed topics from a purely economic standpoint. They use second person to directly speak to their readers, an impartial tone to show an unusual perspective, and contrast
Written by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner, Freakonomics is built upon three major philosophies: incentives are the fundamentals of life, experts on a subject use their knowledge as an advantage to serve their own wellbeing, and orthodox wisdom is wrong most of the time. This book goes into detail to explain the mindsets of humans, from school teachers to sumo wrestlers, through statistics. Levitt and Dubner claim that when the data is closely examined it can relate to more concepts than originally
SuperFreakonomics is a collaboration between Steven D. Levitt a professor of economics at the university of Chicago and Stephen J Dubner an award winning Journalist and author. It is their second book together in the Freakonomics series. There books take a unique view of the world through the eyes of an economist. At first this might sound like a boring idea but it in fact an incredibly insightful one that has led to several different revelations about the way that society works. This paper will
In chapter 4 of Freakonomics, “Where Have All the Criminals Gone?” Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner discuss and argue the possible reasons for the crime drop in the 1990’s, asking and focusing on the question “just where did all those criminals go” (108)? The authors open with a story about the abortion laws in Romania, transitioning into the many factors that could have affected the 1990’s crime drop in America. Some of these factors include the following; Strong economy, increase in police
Name Course Instructor’s Name Date Reading Analysis of “Where have All the Criminals Gone” Executive summary This essay gives a summary of chapter 4 of Stephen Leavitt and Steve Dubner’s “Freakonomics.” Chapter 4 of the book reads, “Where have All the Criminals Gone.” The summary utilizes “Steps for Better Thinking” model constructed by Wolcott. This model helps the reader in breaking down complex pieces of literature into simpler bits to facilitate the process of critical thinking. This essay
Yet another argument against Levitt and Dubner is the outcry surrounding the processes used to devise their controversial conclusions. While many opponents challenge the nature of the studies, people like Charles Jobs said their statistical methods were wrong. He illustrates how Freakonomics suggests “socioeconomic situations which violate a normative standard involving real life situations” (Jobs). He cites the naming study, which challenges the fabric of many people’s core beliefs and is viewed
Economics; is an important subject to understand the workings of finances. The common definition of economics is the social science that analyzes the production, distribution and consumption of goods. Freakonomics, the title of this book has the reader wondering what this book is about. From the title and even the cover picture it is clear it is not your average text book on economics. Yet, the authors have collected data and analyzed it to come to their conclusions on some unusual hypotheses
In the novel, “Freakonomics,” by Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner, many topics and their hidden sides are brought up that not many people think twice about. This book has no one theme. Instead, it is about “stripping a layer or two from the surface of modern life and seeing what is happening underneath.”(Levitt and Dubner, 2005, pg. 11) They are not looking at the surface of common occurrences or issues, but passed what most people see. They explain the hidden side to everything. This ranges from
Freakonomics is a non-fiction book that talks about how everything has a hidden side to it. Steven D. Levitt and Stephan J. Dubner are both economist and authors’ of the book. Published in 2005 the book was made into a controversy due to its view points and was even a New York Times Bestseller. I first thought that the authors’ purpose was to inform the public about how we have to analyze things more closely in order to find the truth. However upon reading the epilogue, in the end, the authors reveal
A number one bestseller many say is grasping in amazement: Freakonomics is said to unravel the untold stories of life. Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner break common misconceptions of economics by revealing its true science. Freakonomics shatters the view of economics being an arid study of finance and markets. They pull in information to make inferences on past occurrences subtly influence on the present. Freakonomics packs punches with its countless number of tables and figures, serving as
Freakonomics, written by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner, explores the concept of economics through a number of situations that are usually unassociated with the field. This three hundred and thirty-six page book, published by William Morrow and Company in 2005, is comprised of various articles, which focus on the economic aspects behind the obscure circumstances described. Through their analysis, Levitt and Dubner establish a rudimentary foundation for viewing economics in everyday situations
There are many cultures that place a huge importance in names and the naming of their child. In these cultures a name is more than a nice-sounding label, a name can tell a story and pave way for a destiny. Many believe that while it might be easy to brush off names as less important than personality or parenting, it's not so far-fetched to say that a name is one's destiny. There is a fair amount of research in our society that backs up something called "nominative determinism.” This is the theory
Freakonomics has been an incredibly interesting read and opens up with, what appears to the reader to be, a writing style that somehow personifies the text in a way that only the book itself can articulate. The authors, Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner, do an amazing job describing basic economic concepts and rules using intriguing and nontypical examples all while entertaining facts and figures that leave the reader with a dropped jaw. The economist, Levitt, received his bachelors degree in
Chapter 1: In the novel of Freakonomics written by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner, it clearly shows how economic incentives in our society would make a usual honest person decide to commit the act of cheating. If that person comes across the thought of cheating, it usually is for a personal well being. By that I mean they are obviously doing it for an important reason because normally they would never think about committing an act that is morally wrong. The two groups in the chapter that
The third chapter of Freakonomics begins by introducing the idea that good questions can lead to unique answers, but only if the conventional wisdom can be overturned. Conventional wisdom is classified by John Galbraith as being simple, convenient, and comforting but not necessarily truthful (Levitt & Dubner, 2009). The piece then talks about trying to identify the situations where the conventional wisdom is false and usually triumphs. The piece provides some different examples that are usually taken
Dear Mr. Levitt, “Nothing is more potent than information, especially when its power is abused.” (page XVII) Freakonomics as a whole has portrayed the conception that people use information as incentives to do one of two things—right or wrong. Chapters such as one, two, and three describe how incentives push people to make lamentable choices, and in contrast chapters four, five, and six expound incentives in a more positive matter. In chapter two, it verbalizes “Experts of every kind are in the
In Freakonomics the authors purpose was to bring light to all the things that are not in the media and they achieved it through the analysis of incentives and conventional wisdom. In the book they go in detail about the idea of incentives which drive decision-making in the real world and they analyze conventional wisdom or what is stated in the surface to determine its effectiveness. The authors use rhetorical analysis to support every claim they make and by doing this, they achieve their purpose
Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything Book Report Many people view economics as a dry and uninteresting subject. In the book Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything, co-authors Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner shows that the tools of economic research can be put to use in the study of almost anything. Levitt explains, “ since the science of economics is primarily a set of tools, as opposed to a subject matter, then no subject, however
Incentives are a part of our daily lives, they guide people to do certain things and feel certain ways. Incentives are something that drives/motivates someone to do something. There are three different types of incentived, Economic, Socially, and Morally. Incentives are used to help guide people, but can also be used to trick and individual and be used as an advantage. They relate to the study of economics because incentives are able to influence how we purchase things. Incentives do matter because