Freakonomics

Economics can be applied in many situations where you wouldn’t normally expect it found. In “Freakonomics”, by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner, the authors attempt to reveal what is happening behind the curtain of modern day life by comparing what you would think are two completely different people or subjects, and they relate these seemingly uncommon topics to more sophisticated economic concepts. The authors initially claimed that there was no theme, but after reading the book I have realized that there are many misunderstandings in the standard wisdom that we know due to the fact that people usually do not look into the motives of a given situation to uncover the truth.

“Gangs have morphed from social organizations into full-fledged criminal enterprises” (Thomas, 2009, para 5). Gangs are highly sophisticated and more dangerous then ever. The number one reason to join a gang is money; and 95 percent of gangs profit comes from drug dealing

In Freakonomics, incentive emphasizes Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner’s unification of disparate chapters and American society. Economic incentives drive people like teachers and criminals to make certain decisions. “...high-stakes testing has so radically changed the incentives for teachers…” (Levitt, and Dubner 23). School teachers’ incentive is to cheat because they do not want be fired or passed up for promotion because of low test scores. Levitt discovers that the different ranks in gangs have opposite incentives. “A foot soldier’s incentive was to make a name for himself; J. T.’s incentive was, in effect, to keep the foot soldiers from doing so” (Levitt, and Dubner 105-106). Foot soldiers start gang wars in the hopes of becoming noticed

Freakonomics is basically a book that explains its own version of the economic history. Dating all the way back to the 1800s with some stated facts explaining what incentives are and what type of incentives there are and what they're used for. Basically there’s a way to motivate someone and set them on a clearer path and bettering themselves in the future. One of the best motivations would be money because well money can get you anything in the world. Clothes, food, and car, Etc. They are a great way to motivate and give people that mind set to work for their money and not just lay there and wait for it on a silver platter. I feel like that people who work against people who never worked. They know more about the struggle than anything. Which is why they actually care when they get money and they spend it wise. Obviously the rich wouldn’t care to get or not because they already have enough to fall back on.

Superfreakanomics is set up in chapters of short excerpts that dive into different topics ranging from illegal industries, such as prostitution and other examples, such as the safety behind using car seats and the altruistic nature of humans. Each chapter provides many stories, data, background, and commentary on how this system is functioning poorly, could be improved, or related to other larger issues in society, such as combating terrorism. In their introduction, Levitt and Dubner discuss seeing the world from the perspective of economists and include being a person in an undeveloped nation such as India and the transition from horses to cars, as well as talking about statistics and the bending of knowledge. This introduction shows that every day events can be quite interesting and can be a starting point to conversation.

Author Sudhir Venkatesh wrote “Gang Leader for a Day” to produce an in-depth ethnography on how people make a living with the use of underground economies in marginalized communities. He does so by providing descriptions of encounters with a crack-selling gang named the Black Kings, operating in Chicago, Illinois’ projects. The central take Venkatesh uses to explain how one makes money and the most popular way that young African-American males made money was by selling drugs and, for this in-depth ethnography, crack-cocaine. He also gives much detail on other ways that men make a living in the help of underground economies such as manual labor and selling stolen goods. For women, prostitution, daycare services, and taking in boarders were among the most profitable illegal services.

Many, if not most, of the people in today's generation are constantly judged by others and even themselves based on what their identity comprises of. The concept of racial injustice and inequality among ethnic minorities constantly fills the media. Women's rights issues seem to arise rapidly whenever a single female is mistreated in the slightest way. The debate on homosexuality is also an enormous topic in our social lives today, with millions of supporters for it, but also millions against it. This internal segregation within our own human population is nothing new, since it has been continuing ever since verbal and written communication with each other has existed. All these components, and many more, are a huge part of what identifies a

1) The activities that I completed in order to achieve my learning goal included watching We the Economy videos, analyzing two websites that provided resources to learn about taxes and The Federal Reserve, and listening to two Freakonomics radio shows. I think the We the Economy videos and the website on The Federal Reserve were the most helpful. These resources defined and illustrated economic principles, as well as explained the government’s role in the economy. In the end, I was able to complete three activity ideas to use with elementary students. The activities are about the concepts I learned about during the completion of my planned activities. I am able to pass on the knowledge that I have gained. While watching the We the Economy videos I took notes and these notes helped me plan the concepts included in the activities.

The movie “A Bug’s Life” greatly portrays the way humans have interacted within various economic systems. It resembles the old traditional economies like imperialism, modern market capitalism and historical revolutions.

The structure of DNP Semester Saturday considers microeconomics, in which my incentives for attending the 8-hours session included earning participation grade, learning new ideas, and having face to face interactions with my classmates and professors. My opportunity cost included not being able to enjoy a beautiful, warm weather witnessed in Georgia after a long time. My economic decision to attend the session directed me to discover three relevant ideas related to economics, including application of theory in a DNP project, emotional intelligence, and the multiplier effect that might have a profound impact on my personal practice world.

When to Rob a Bank discusses the media and politics and economics. Considering that Levitt is an economist and Dubner is his coauthor for Freakonomics, it is not a surprise that When to Rob a Bank is about economics. Most of the topics discussed in the book were interesting, like the section “I’m a High-End Call Girl; Ask Me Anything” from the sixth chapter of the book, and others were not so interesting, such as “How Is a Canadian Art-Pop Singer Like a Bagel Salesman” and it’s sequel entry “Jane Siberry Snaps” from the third chapter. The chapters were often random as a result of the book being a “book of blogs” and was completely compiled of the blog posts from Levitt’s and Dubner’s website, Freakonomics.com (Levitt and Dubner 4).

Throughout the times of man’s inhabitance on this planet, mankind has experimented with innumerable methods of trade and economics. Many believe that human restrictions on trade and a person’s desire for objects can create a utopian way of economic life. The following will examine two articles: The Market Didn’t Do It and A Good Conversation and the Marketplace. The goal of the following is to determine whether each is true and why based not only on the economic system of the world today, but also upon reason.

Last friday’s socratic seminar for Freakonomics and world-wide issues was not as successful as it could be because many of the topics and questions that could have been discussed were neglected due to students, including me, not wanting to discuss the topic or focusing too much on another. I felt that the class was too passive due to the fact that this socratic seminar was a big circle involving the whole class. I think that it is a better option to go back to how the socratic seminar originally was, because students will feel more comfortable conversing with others and not be timid. My opinions regarding the issues stated by Freakonomics and occurring world-wide were reaffirmed as my classmate mentions their opinions which are similar to

One of the main economic problems that many people, particularly gangs, in Robert Taylor faced was the fact that they didn’t want to trade in their status for entry-level jobs because in many cases, gang leaders made far more than they would have if they worked minimum wage jobs (72). Many of the gang leaders such as J.T. held the false belief that the drug economy was “useful for the community, since it redistributed the drug addict’s money back into the community via the gang’s philanthropy” (115). However, the drug economy is not a stable or lucrative economy compared to your average jobs because it was clearly very hard for people to get ahead in gangs, thus no one ever had a fair shot of earning more money in their life span. Nevertheless, the situation can tend to be a grey area of debate since a lot of the residents did attempt to hold blue-collar jobs but continued to get laid off (60). In this case, the underground economy of drug sales may have been the only choice for residents looking for an income. Another way the gangs play into the economic situation is when there are drive by shootings, in which case parents

“According to statistics from the National Youth Gang Center, more than 24,500 gangs, consisting of more than 770,000 members, exist in about 3,300 cities in the U.S.” (Rank 1). Although it is not illegal to be a member of a gang, it should be noted many gangs participate in illegal activity for funding and will use the money as a way to entice new membership. The “money begins flowing, and with that comes all of the things associated with material wealth that is usually beyond the reach of these adolescents without the criminal activity of being involved in a gang” (Nawojczyk 3).