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What is Freakonomics A Rogue Economist Explores the hidden side of everything?
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What does the first episode of 'Freakonomics' mean?
The book is a collection of articles written by Levitt, an economist who had gained a reputation for applying economic theory to diverse subjects not usually covered by "traditional" economists. In Freakonomics, Levitt and Dubner argue that economics is, at root, the study of incentives. The book's chapters cover:
- Stephen J. Dubner, Steven Levitt
- 2005
Apr 12, 2005 · Freakonomics explores the hidden side of everything. If morality describes the ideal world, then economics describes the actual world. Further, Freakonomics studies incentives and how different people in different professions respond.
- (863.3K)
- Hardcover
The authors argue that humans usually make decisions based on the incentives for their actions. These incentives fall into three general categories: economic incentives, moral incentives (i.e., doing the “right thing”), and social incentives (i.e., being praised or criticized by one’s peers).
- Introduction
- Author Biography
- Plot Summary
- Themes
- Media Adaptations
- Topics For Further Study
- Style
- Historical Context
- Critical Overview
- Criticism
What trait is shared by both Ku Klux Klan members and real-estate agents? In what way do the working worlds of Chicago schoolteachers and Japanese sumo wrestlers intersect? These questions might seem puzzling at first glance, but the answers provided in Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everythingreveal that fundamental no...
Steven D. Levitt was born on May 29, 1967. He attended St. Paul Academy and Summit School in St. Paul, Minnesota, followed by undergraduate work at Harvard and doctoral studies at MIT, where he earned his doctorate in economics in 1994. Since then, Levitt has written numerous academic papers related to the application of economic principles in the ...
Introduction: The Hidden Side of Everything
In the introduction to Freakonomics, Levitt and Dubner present several scenarios from recent history and everyday experience. They briefly discuss the conventional wisdom associated with these scenarios and then suggest that the "wisdom" is, in every case mentioned, wrong. This is a theme they return to several times throughout the book. For example, in the early 1990s, media outlets reported extensively on the rapidly increasing crime rate across the country. Experts warned that the rise in...
Chapter 1: What Do Schoolteachers and Sumo Wrestlers Have in Common?
In ten Israeli daycare centers, two economists undertake a study focusing on how incentives can affect human behavior. The economists first note a fairly consistent number of instances each week of parents arriving late to pick up their children from daycare. The economists then introduce what appears to be a negative incentive: Any parent who arrives late for pickup has to pay an additional three dollars per child per occurrence. After hearing of this new policy, the number of parents who ar...
Chapter 2: How Is the Ku Klux Klan Like a Group of Real-Estate Agents?
Information asymmetry is the difference between what two people know about a given situation or field of study. People who hold the power of information are often viewed as experts, and many earn their living by maintaining an information asymmetry over the average person. In such situations, it is often to an expert's advantage to carefully control the amount and quality of information he or she provides to others. A type of information asymmetry was used by the Ku Klux Klan in the 1940s. Th...
Conventional Wisdom
Though the authors contend that Freakonomicshas no unifying theme, they do note several basic ideas that form the core of their shared perspective. Among those is the notion that "conventional wisdom is often wrong." "Conventional wisdom" can be thought of as a collection of beliefs that seem to make sense and are accepted as fact, even though they have not been proven. In Freakonomics, the authors offer many examples of conventional wisdom that turn out to be just plain wrong. For instance,...
Incentive
Another recurring notion in Freakonomicsis the idea that incentives play a crucial role in human behavior. When attempting to explain why a person would act a certain way in a given situation, the authors ask, "What incentive is the person responding to?" They use incentives to explain why some teachers cheat on their students' standardized tests. Incentives also reveal why charging a fine of parents who are late to pick up their children from daycare just might have the opposite of the inten...
An unabridged audio recording of Freakonomics was released by HarperAudio in 2005. The book is read by co-author Dubner, and it is currently available on compact discor as an audio download through www.audible.com. An electronic book version of Freakonomicswas released by HarperCollins e-books in 2005 in both Adobe Reader and Microsoft Reader forma...
One of the fundamental principles in Freakonomics—and, indeed, in economics in general—is the notion that human behavior is shaped by incentives. Someone in need of money will likely respond to the...In chapter 3 of Freakonomics, the authors describe the economics at play in a gang of Chicago drug dealers. The "foot soldiers" of the gang work for very little pay and incur a huge amount of risk...Conventional wisdom is a collection of accepted beliefs, not necessarily truths, about how the world works. The authors of Freakonomicscontend that "conventional wisdom is often wrong." Think of an...The authors of Freakonomicshave been criticized for studying topics some people find offensive. For example, in addition to investigating the link between legalized abortion and crime, the authors...Studies and Research
The core of Freakonomicsis Levitt's academic research in the field of economics. A great deal of the book is devoted to describing the conditions and results of various experiments and studies. For each topic covered, the authors walk the reader through the process of developing a hypothesis and comparing it with the available data. For example, when examining the issue of schoolteacher cheating, the authors offer one possible scenario that would result in an identifiable pattern of teacher m...
Historical Context
Throughout the book, the authors include anecdotes and brief asides that explain the historical context of certain subjects related to their research. For example, when discussing the economics of a drug-dealing gang in Chicago, the authors include a brief history of how crack cocaine became the drug of choice for many inner-city Americans. These short history lessons provide context for the research discussed, and they also allow the authors to tell narrative stories within the larger framew...
Personal Profile
Each chapter of Freakonomics opens with a brief excerpt from a feature article written by Dubner about Levitt for the New York Times Magazinein 2003. This article is as much a profile of Steven Levitt as it is an exploration of his work; it includes candid conversations with Levitt, as well as physical descriptions of the man himself. These vignettes serve to present the reader with a fuller, more interesting picture of a man whose academic work, while interesting, does not convey the extent...
The Evolution of Economics
The term "economics" is derived from the Greek terms oikos ("household" or "estate") and nomos("law" or "norm"). Economics, then, was first defined as a study of the laws and norms governing the function of a household or estate. The term was not coined until the late nineteenth century, when economic theory flourished. From the 1500s onward, as countries began developing sophisticated methods for producing and distributing goods, early economic theories were devised to explain the best way f...
The Rise of Crack Cocaine in America
Chapters 3 and 4 of Freakonomicsbriefly outline the history of crack cocaine as it relates to crime and gangs in inner-city America. Although humans have ingested derivatives of the coca plant for thousands of years, it was not until the mid-1800s that chemists first isolated the intoxicating alkaloid that makes cocaine the drug it is. Soon after, many consumable products sold in the United States touted the presence of cocaine for its medicinal qualities. By the twentieth century, however, t...
High-Stakes Testing and No Child Left Behind
In 2002, President George W. Bush signed the No Child Left Behind Actinto law, which instituted several measures and requirements intended to improve the quality of education for American grade-school and high-school students. One of the most controversial elements of the new federal law was the requirement that students demonstrate adequate yearly progress by taking assessment tests at the end of the school year. As authors Levitt and Dubner note, "The stakes are considered high because inst...
A book that examines the world through the principles of economics might seem an unlikely candidate for mainstream success. However, upon its initial release in 2005, Freakonomics became an instant hit, reaching number two on the New York Timesnonfiction bestseller list. Critical reception of the book, when positive, was enthusiastic, with many cri...
Greg Wilson
Wilson has written essays and articles examining a wide range of topics related to popular culture, from video games and mass-market fiction novels to modern poetry and classic literature. In this essay, he argues that the authors of Freakonomics make a number of missteps in the book that ultimately damage the credibility of their work. In the book Freakonomics, economist Steven D. Levitt and journalist Stephen J. Dubner present surprising and enlightening examples of how economics can be use...
James Q. Wilson
In the following essay, Wilson criticizes some of the conclusions presented in Freakonomics, and contends that its strength lies with the questions it asks, rather than the answers it offers. During my many years of lecturing on crime, invariably the first two questions I would be asked were: "What do you think of the death penalty?" and "What do you think of gun control?" No more. Now the first question is whether I believe that legalized abortion has cut the crime rate. For this I can thank...
Apr 12, 2005 · The best study guide to Freakonomics on the planet, from the creators of SparkNotes. Get the summaries, analysis, and quotes you need.
Freakonomics is a book co-authored by journalist Stephen Dubner and economist Steven Levitt that approaches economics through the lens of the principal of incentives....
The first of the major concepts that Freakonomics explores is the existence of incentives and the way they drive daily life. We respond to incentives in our school, our work, and our relationships: they are things that motivate or deter us from pursuing certain actions.
