I found it very helpful how Levitt and Dubner included an introduction to this book. The title Freakonomics, gave me an idea that it’s going to be about economics, however I wasn’t exactly sure. In the intro, both the authors explain why they are writing this book and how they are going to inform us about the hidden side of everything. The way the authors open this book was really helpful and it gave me any idea of what to expect. Now that I know what this book is going to be about I can’t wait to read about the hidden sides. For many of the readers this is a new experience and along with them, I am also expecting to learn something new. In chapter 1, “What do schoolteachers and sumo wrestlers have in common” the author identifies the …show more content…
I found it quiet useful how the authors explained what the KKK was before going into what they did. Although I knew who they were, it really helped how the information about the KKK was well organized. While reading, I wasn’t surprised to discover that the acquisition of the information which the KKK only knew, took away much of the power the KKK had once. This showed me that the new comers and some of the existing members were afraid to be exposed to the public. However, what surprised me and what connected to my personal life was the house agent’s situation. As it was stated, house agents do tend to combine their superior knowledge with the buyer’s or the seller’s fear to achieve a deal which is in the agent’s best interest. My family has been looking for house for quite some time now and we did happenstance with such agents in the house market. In this chapter, Levitt and Dubner say that “dating websites are the most successful subscriptions based business on the interest” (pg. 76), and I found it amusing how forty millions Americans exchanged truth about themselves with complete strangers. I personally wouldn’t exchange my information with strangers and it shocks me how some people are able to do that without fearing identity theft. I strongly think one should think about who they are sharing information with before revealing anything about
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 “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 people with the promise of money or goods. Social incentives motivate people to respond in a certain way because they care about how they will be viewed by others. Moral incentives motivate people on the basis of right and wrong. We look at four
In Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner’s Freakonomics, they use unconventional wisdom to explain certain events. They use very solid data in order to support their conclusions about certain events. However, some of their conclusions suffer from errors in reasoning, or rather, fallacies. Although they have done several different types of fallacies, the main one they’ve done is the either-or choice.
In 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, compares and contrasts two groups of people or things by using their informational data. This is called juxtaposition, which means the fact of two things being seen or placed close together with contrasting effect. Levitt and Dubner look at the world in a way that is both surprising, occasionally funny, and always enlightening. They do so by drawing unexpected connections between two greatly different but complementary aspects of sociology and economics, such as sumo wrestlers to school teachers, KKK members to the real estate agents, and lastly, crack gangs to McDonalds.
1. Chapter three, Why Do Drug Dealers Still Live With Their Moms?, expresses an intriguing thought by authors, Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner. The Freakonomics authors follow a courageous man, Sudhir Venkatesh, a student at the University of Chicago, in his effort to understand and research the mysterious drug dealing business. Venkatesh first approached dangerous gangs and dealers in Chicago with a simple survey to learn more about them. After stumbling upon a branch of the “Black Gangster Disciple Nation”, Venkatesh wanted to take his study further. J.T., this specific branches leader, was interested in Venkatesh’s survey and initiated him as a spectator to his group. Venkatesh was integrated with this group for six years an acquired an immense amount of information on drug and gang groups. Thankfully, J.T. kept documents on the group 's wages. By looking at these books, Venkatesh was able to identify the hierarchy of a typical drug cartel. Which is where the main question of chapter is answered. Only the people on the top of the system made good money, for example, J.T. Contrary to popular belief, lower jobs of this business like foot soldiers make only $3.30 an hour, below minimum wage. Despite the fact that the foot soldiers are the ones who physically put their life on the lines. This style is compared to major corporations such as McDonald 's for a more context comparison. However, the people that are
In the book Freakonomics, written by economist Steven D. Levitt and journalist Stephen J. Dubne, the authors go through different parts of modern life to show how economics describes why people act a certain way as well as the way specific outcomes occur. They look into different aspects of society and view them with different perspectives. With the use of specific data and the fundamentals of economics, the very obscure comparisons and the different chapters in the book show correlation between economics and human nature. The main point of this book is to explain a few fundamental ideas through the answers of strange questions and how they play a major role in society.
In Chapter 2, the authors discuss the economic term known as "information asymmetry." As the book explains, the term information asymmetry refers to when a person uses his information advantage to gain power to the detriment of others. The discussion of information asymmetry begins with a brief history of the Ku Klux Klan. According to the authors, much of the Klan's power in the 1940s lies in the fact that it maintains so much secrecy in everything it does. After World War II, a man named Stetson Kennedy leads to the Klan's ultimate downfall by exposing many of its secrets. Kennedy infiltrates the Klan by becoming a member of a Klan group in Atlanta, where he learns all of the group's secret rituals, names and handshakes, as well as its hierarchy.
In chapter 2 of Freakonomics the main argument is that the absence of information can be used for personal gain. The main example used to display this tactic is when the KKK is compared to real estate agents. Although the crafty practice of real estate agents is in no way similar to the horrors of the KKK, they have a distinct similarity when it comes to the hoarding of information. The majority of the chapter focuses on the history of the KKK and Stetson Kennedy’s effort to stop it through the infiltration and exposure via radio of the Klan. Since the Klan was dependant on their violent—despite not being extremely violent—reputation, the disclosure of the information they had withheld from the public rendered them powerless. The narrators
Chapter 11 delves into the racial injustices of the late 19th and early 20th centuries when reconstruction was underway in the South. During this time we still see the white race dominating the popular opinion, and remaining unchallenged as the South fights the North. The South held onto the idea that the black man should remain a slave, and the North fought for the black man’s citizenship. This task proved one of the most challenging the country had ever faced. The south did everything they could to undermine the workings of the North and keep the black man’s status as low as possible. The black codes were enforced which limited the rights of the newly freed slave. They were to have the rights of liberty and property, but not the right to vote, hold office, serve on a jury, testify in a white court, and many other rights that white people possessed. Constant tension existed amount the North and the South. Overall the North’s attempt to reconstruct the South yielded bad and good things. Public education, and women’s rights were gained, but most leaders and promoters were corrupt. Even though it had some shortcomings it still resulted in much needed reforms. During this time the KKK was formed. They were a group of people who went outside the lines of politics to make a change. They quickly turned into an aggressive group known for their aggressiveness against blacks. The struggle to admit the Southern states back into the Union continued until 1890, when the states were
Welcome, to our Latino community at-risk youth focus group of Forsyth County, in North Carolina. Our mission of the “Unidos” Gang Prevention and Education Program is to lower gang involvement, violence, with providing education, knowledge, community and family involvement.
Freakonomics was one of the best novels that I have ever read! I am truly amazed at how Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner compared their study and research to the economy that we live in today. Out of all of the chapters in Freakonomics, Chapter 3: Conventional Wisdom, is the one that stood out the most. This particular topic relates to the world in many different ways.
The author Steven Levitt studied economics at Harvard University and MIT. He is primarily known for his work in the field of crime. The title Freakonomics means a study of economics based on the principles of incentives. The title is related to the book since he emphasizes how incentives drive and affect people’s actions. Although this book does not have a single theme, the main focus of the book is a new way of interpreting the world using economic tools. He explores incentives, information asymmetry, conventional wisdom, crime and abortion, and parenting throughout the six chapters of the book.
Topic: In 1866, the Ku Klux Klan was founded by many former confederate veterans in retaliation to their current Republican Party’s Reconstruction-era policies aimed at establishing political and economic equality for blacks. The Reconstruction era sparked by President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation clearly defined that the days of white superiority were in dissolution. Through a willful ignorance and an insecurity of what might postlude the civil rights movement, the KKK rose, using terror in pursuit of their white supremacist agenda. Nathan Bedford Forrest, a former Lieutenant general in the Civil war, became the KKK's first Grand Wizard. Now with a steady leader the klan became a persistent political party aimed at dismantling the increasingly
The public felt incapable in contradiction of them since they had no power over them. Stetson Kennedy broke into the secrets of the Klan by interviewing and sympathizing with the leaders of the clan which he had some contacts which helped him act as if he was in the same side of the problem. In his novel his code name was John Brown .This work would have been easier if Kennedy would of have internet he would of “blogged his brains out” (Levitt Dubner 60). "Hatred and Profits: Getting Under the Hood of the Ku Klux Klan."” In this paper, they analyze the 1920s Klan, those who joined it, and the social and political impact that it had. They utilize a wide range of newly discovered data sources including information from Klan membership rolls, applications, robe-order forms, an internal audit of the Klan by Ernst and Ernst, and a census that the Klan conducted after an internal scandal”. This is the same that Kenney accomplished. Brown was capable to divulge that the Klan’s man used to append a Kl to many words at the beginning. The secret hand shake was a left/handed, limp wristed fish wiggle. When someone wanted to communicate with a Klan member he would ask for a Mr. Ayak (are you a Klansman) and he would hope for a response like Yes and I know a Mr. Akai (a Klansman am I).The incentive marked by the Klan which was lynching was not so used as it is thought it just made the Colored
When I first looked into finding this book I didn’t think much of it as I just thought it was just another type of text book or some sort. I was thinking that this would be some kind of auto biography or something I would not be interested in. In fact after reading this book I was stunned by the different views and aspects of economics that was explain and I would had never thought about them in that sort of way. This book covers a lot about we discussed in class. This book explains different examples of economic concepts that may be used in our daily lives. They
Public-private divide structure the priorities of human rights issues in Afghanistan. The private sphere is traditional and immune to outside interferences. The public sphere is subject to interference from the outsiders. The United States government, like many other governments, most always has a hidden agenda when they choose what issues to privatize and what issues to publicize. American troops tend to ignore private issues such as domestic abuse and women’s education in Afghanistan because these issues are seen as private issues; however, when there is something to gain from interfering it becomes a public issue. Sharbat Gula is a young Afghan girl who for seventeen years was only a picture, lacking a name and a story in the American media. Seventeen years later the photographer, Steve McCurry, returned searching for this young girl to publicize her previous unimportant story. He returned to publicize the violation to women’s right to education in Afghanistan. The hidden agenda was to show the American people that Afghan women needed saving from their culture and society. Yet, there was no mention that the war that the United States is a part of is what ruined these women’s futures. The United States troops in Afghanistan rescued a brutally tortured and abused Afghan woman named Aisha Bibi after she was left to die in the mountains by the Taliban. At first glance the American audience see the American troops as heroes, however, when closely analyzed a hidden agenda