Freakonomics Essay - 811 Words

Freakonomics Book Report In chapter 1, Levitt and Dubner describe how many people in different cultures and walks of life, which are otherwise inclined to be honest, find subtle ways of cheating to advance their position or increase monetary awards when incentives are strong enough. The authors define an incentive as â€Å"a means of urging people to do more of a good thing or less of a bad thing,† and identify three varieties of incentives. Economic incentives are those, which a person responds to in the marketplace. Social incentives motivate people to respond in a certain way because they care or are worried about how they will be viewed by others. Moral incentives appeal to a person’s sense of right versus wrong. Three case studies of the†¦show more content†¦Experts in a field often create conventional wisdom. They make observations and draw conclusions without resorting to the facts. In chapter 4 the chapter considers a variety of possible explanations fo r the significant drop in crime and crime rates that occurred in the 1990s. Based on articles that appeared in the country’s largest newspapers, the authors compile a list of the leading, commonly offered explanations. The next step is to systematically examine each explanation and consider whether available data support the explanation. What the authors, in fact, demonstrate is that in all but three cases–increased reliance on prisons, increased number of police, and changes in illegal drug markets–correlation was erroneously interpreted as causation and in some cases, the correlation wasn’t even that strong. In chapter 5 the author summarizes the results of studies by his coauthors, as well as other studies, that examine the influence demographic, cultural and other variables have on the performance of school-age children on standardized tests. In a now familiar theme, the results are plangently counterintuitive. Based on a mountain of school childrenâ €™s test scores, a successful child appears to be more â€Å"made† than nurtured, more mused than molded. The chapter begins by reviewing how many parents get educated on raising their children and how parenting experts swing from one extremeShow MoreRelatedFreakonomics Essay1424 Words   |  6 PagesThe book Freakonomics by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner, is designed to pose fundamental questions concerning economics using a variety of imaginative comparisons and questions. Examples of these comparisons and questions can be seen in the list of contents, with chapter titles such as â€Å"How is the Ku Klux Klan like a group of real-estate agents?† and â€Å"Why do drug dealers still live with their moms?† Not everyone is interested in economics, but with titles that grab attention, it is almostRead MoreFreakonomics Essay737 Words   |  3 Pagesthe result was Freakonomics, a book that claims to explore the hidden side of everything, using real-life examples such as studies and polls conducted by Levitt to explain how economics is everywhere, that economics is how the world really functions. Through everything from analyzing the inner thought processes of real-estate agents and crack dealers, to predicting the next popular baby names, Levitt and Dubner guide readers to think differently, ask questions, and to use â€Å"Freakonomics† in their dailyRead MoreFreakonomics Book Review Essay630 Words   |  3 Pagesat math, I don’t know a lot of econometrics, and I also don’t know how to do theory.† This marks right away Lennits to a different approach of ways to get his audience attention, he steps outside of the boundaries most people in society live by. Freakonomics, is a book that really triggered my imagination as a kept on reading, I really loved it. I myself started asking myself a great amount of questions that I had never looked at before. Especially toward the end that he asks the importance of onesRead MoreFreakonomics and Misconceptions of Economy Essay1244 Words   |  5 PagesA 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 asRead MoreEssay Freakonomics chapter 1 summary688 Words   |  3 Pagesï » ¿Freakonomics Chapter 1 Summary In chapter one of Freakonomics, Stephen Dubner and Steven Levitt describe how when incentives are strong enough, many usually honest people from different walks of life will cheat in order to gain financially or climb the ladder in their careers. The authors define an incentive as â€Å"a means of urging people to do more of a good thing or less of a bad thing.† This chapter covers three varieties of incentives: Economic, Social and Moral. Economic incentives motivate peopleRead MoreAnalysis Of The Book Freakonomics By Steven D. Levitt1195 Words   |  5 PagesIn the book Freakonomics, by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner, is made up of a series of scenarios in which an economist and a journalist apply basic principles of economics to demonstrate that information can often expose interesting truths about how the world operates. It uses the science of economics and specific data to challenge our assumptions about everything. In the book Freakonomics by Levitt Dubner, com pares and contrasts two groups of people or things by using their informationalRead MoreAnalysis Of The Book Freakonomics By Steven D. Levitt750 Words   |  3 PagesThe last section in chapter two of Freakonomics, written by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner, attempts to answer the following questions; â€Å"How forthright (and honest) are people when it comes to sharing their personal information,† and â€Å"what kind of information in personal ads is considered the most (and least) desirable† (74)? Throughout this section the authors provide statistical data from an online dating site, which encompassed more than 20,000 users. This data showed that not only areRead MoreThe Importance Of Faulkners Nobel Peace Prize Acceptance Speech By William Faulkner1405 Words   |  6 Pageswriters that Faulkner was speaking to, they would fulfill his wishes. Over 50 years later, University of Chicago economist, Steven D. Levitt, and New York Times journalist, Stephen J. Dubner, combined their knowledge and skills and created the book, Freakonomics. The book follows an economist, Levitt, as he explores the â€Å"hidden side of everything† and explains it all in a different, unconventional perspective. It takes on the topic of morality and economics as he, along with Dubner, ask and answer manyRead MoreEssay on Review of Freakonomics1663 Words   |  7 PagesReview of Freakonomics This chapters main idea is that the study of economics is the study of incentives. We find a differentiation between economic incentives, social incentives and moral incentives. Incentives are described in a funny way as means of urging people to do more of a good thing or less of a bad thing, and in this chapter we find some examples Ââ€"publicRead MoreThe Book Freakonomics By Steven D. Levitt2418 Words   |  10 Pages The book Freakonomics by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner consists of a series of essays in which a journalist and an economist work collectively to find, by applying everyday economic principles, how the world truly works, which reveals some fascinating truths about the world. Some background history of the authors, Steven D. Levitt interviewed Stephen J. Dubner for New York Times Magazine and this is where they initially met and became good friends. With them having similar ideals about