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.
In the introduction to Freakonomics, Levitt states that the book has no “underlying theme,” but rather, that its purpose is to “strip away a layer or two from the surfaces of modern life and see what is happening underneath.” By comparing things as drastically different as cocaine dealing and nylon production, the authors reveal how beneath all the superficiality, most actions are motivated by similar economic stimuli. The authors use this unorthodox approach of studying economics to expand their readers’ understandings of the world and to encourage them to question reality. Freakonomics proposes five concepts that are crucial to the process of becoming more attentive and perceptive to how economics works in day-to-day life. They are as follows: 1) “Incentives are the cornerstone of modern life,” 2) “Conventional wisdom is often wrong,” 3) “Dramatic events often have distant, even subtle, causes,” 4) “Experts use their informational advantage to serve their own agenda,” 5) “Knowing what to measure and how to measure it makes a complicated world much less so.” Together, these main ideas provide insight on how seemingly unconnected issues are actually linked at an essential core level.
Each of the chapters in Freakonomics is import...
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...o suit its own needs. These minor details aren’t significantly important in the principal points that the authors are trying to make and despite them, books and its major themes are still clear. Overall Freakonomics is an interesting read, providing a fresh unconventional view of economics. I would recommend it to incoming economics students and those wishing to gain a new perspective on the subject.
Levitt starts off Freakonomics by stating that the intent of the book is “to explore the hidden side of things and the subtle relationships that link everyday phenomena.” In my eyes, this perfectly summarizes not only the book, but the concept of economics as a whole. After reading Freakonomics, I have become motivated to rethink my outlook on the world and how I perceive the events that surround me in terms of relating to one another and to the subject of economics.
Summary In chapter one of Freakonomics, the beginning portion of the chapter discusses information and the connection it shares with the Ku Klux Klan and real-estate agents. The Ku Klux Klan was founded right after the Civil War, in order to persecute and subdue the slaves that were newly freed. The popularity of the Klan increased in the early 20th century, around the time of World War I. In the late 19th century, the Klan had only discriminated, persecuted, and subdued Blacks, but in the 20th century they did these things to Blacks, Jews, and Gypsies.
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 hypothesized. The style of this informative piece is very precise yet, at the same time, very concise and to the point. The tone carried throughout the book is informative and knowledgeable. The authors use distinct tactics to get points across
In “The Devil and Tom Walker”, Irving reveals many aspects of the humanity especially how economic depression plays in the society. Some may disregard what really happens throughout the world because they ponder that the situation is “inapplicable” to their lives. Others are able to determine the problems of it but the Media/News Organizations seem to be more anxious about the people’s entertainments rather than talk about the economy. As declared by John Bellamy Foster, a professor of sociology at the University of Oregon and also editor of Monthly Review, the world economy is “experiencing by far its worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.” In some instances, research illustrates that money is not the problem in the economy instead the problem is the people that are corrupt, “never was sinner taken more unawares” (Irving 16). The economic problems that have been gradually increasing over the past few years in established economies throughout world just continue to intensify.
Their main focus is to engage and teach the ordinary person versatile concepts of economics in an inoffensive way. In doing so, they account for all manner of people who might be reading it, including drug dealers. That way, a drug dealer could read facts about their line of work and digest data concerning it, without feeling offended or attacked by the words the authors chose. Levitt and Dubner make their book an all inclusive reading because anyone can read it from any walk of life and not be offended in doing so.
Barbara Ehrenreich goes undercover as a struggling and minumum wage payed American Waitress. Barbara Ehrenreich is the author of “Nickel-And-Dimed” an essay about an average minimum wage worker and how they live their lives on a low wage job. She disguises herself and tries to prove that it is impossible or possible to be financially stable. Barbara meets other minimum wage workers, uses mathematical statics and personal experience to prove that it is very difficult or even impossible to live off a minimum wage paid job and using all of these facts make this article effective and strong.
Money, money, money, money, money. People just care about the Benjamins, the moolah, the cash, the dough— but is it really essential to the human existence, or does society just accept the systematic oppression that comes with the dog-eat-dog nature of our economic system since it benefits the people on top? Monetary gains are all well and good; however, when does it commence to overtake our lives and when does it become our end goal? Instead of relying on money for food, shelter and our overall well-being, society views it as a tool that gives them power over other people, thus putting one’s economic status on a pedestal and making life a difficult competition. So yes, it is a dog-eat-dog world, but that’s not exactly a healthy perspective
Ehrenreich, Barbara (2001). Nickel and Dimed On (Not) Getting By in America. Published- New York, New York.
This chapter's 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 public school teachers in Chicago, sumo wrestling in Japan, take care center in Israel and Paul Feldman's bagel business of how incentives drive people and most of the time the conventional wisdom turns to be "wrong" when incentives are in place.
Economics in reverse is the best way of describing the unconventional method preferred by economist, Steven D. Levitt. While most economists measure social situations and present the data as numbers and graphs Levitt takes anomalies within the data to reveal truths obscured. It’s Levitt’s sociological take on economics that has set him apart from his peers with his heavy focus on incentives, choices, and the consequences they have. Freakonomics mirrors Levitt’s method since it’s a collection of stories he has uncovered or read, and the core economic principles are hidden within each story throughout the book, sometimes even in plain sight like how there are exactly as many chapters as there are core economic principles.
The book I chose to review for this course is titled, “The Millionaire Next Door”, by Thomas J. Stanley, Ph.D., and William D. Danko, Ph.D. After learning that it was published in 1996, prior to the widespread availability of the internet, and subsequent ebusiness boom, I was slightly sceptical that the information held within might not be relevant for someone like myself trying to thrive in today’s chaotic economy. Fortunately, I was wrong. The Millionaire Next Door is full of concepts and principles that put into perspective how we view money and status in our society, and also debunks the myth that America’s wealthy are the ones doing most of the spending while living elaborate and carefree lives. There are several ‘takeaway’ principles that are presented to the reader. I will be focusing on the five concepts and ideas that impacted me the most.
Economics take part in many daily lives can be seen in the music people listen to. Harry Chapin’s “Cats in the Cradle” song is no exception. The song describes a young father trying to live up to capitalistic America’s economy and needs. Sometimes in life choices must be made. People respond to incentives put in place by Homo Economicus. For many, just as it is in the song, that incentive is money. The song states, “My child arrived just the other day. He came to the world in the usual way. But there were planes to catch and bills to pay. He learned to walk while I was away.” These lines relate to opportunity cost. The father had to give up one thing in order to achieve another. The opportunity cost is the time that the father lost watching his son grow up. He felt there was a higher demand for his job than for his time with his son. He chose to be on that plane and to be at a job that would keep him from his family. In his mind, the father used marginal analysis to make this decision. He simultaneously, even though he might not have realized he
Guyon, J. (1997, August 4). Why is the world’s most profitable company turning itself inside out? Fortune, 136(3), 120-125.
The crucial importance and relevance of economics related disciplines to the modern world have led me to want to pursue the study of these social sciences at a higher level. My study of Economics has shown me the fundamental part it plays in our lives and I would like to approach it with an open mind - interested but not yet fully informed.
The definition of microeconomics was presented a high level, and I was still left drawing a blank trying to discover how this method of social science correlated to my everyday life. Starting from week one Professor Julie Pelia assigned us topics that engaged our minds, and I quickly began to see how the various components of Microeconomics fit into my life. This summary of Microeconomics will cover some of
Sullivan, A., & Steven M., (2003). Economics: Principles in action. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey : Pearson Prentice Hal