Levitt And Dubner's Freakonomics

The author is very affective with his argument, he uses logos and rhetorical questions the most to make the audience form their own opinions, but also listen to his. The main point in this book, Freakonomics, written by Steven Levitt, is to show that economics can explain many phenomenons. Levitt uses logos and rhetorical devices the most to display this argument. The audience is made to question if “It might be worthwhile to step back and ask a rudimentary question; what is a gun?” (Levitt 118). The audience asked to think about what the consequences of a gun can be. Levitt also uses data so show that these moments can be discomforting and dangerous. The most discomforting example that Levitt provided was that “The most famous gun-control

However, some may come to the deeper meaning of this text that the author was trying to get across. Some being the flaws of Capitalism and the “American Dream”; Social Darwinism, only the financially “fit” survive; and how Socialism could be the answer to those who need support financially. These issues have trailed the United States for many years, one example of a result of these issues is the creation of the Black Panther Party in the 1960’s; due to African American’s limited rights, inability to find a good paying job, and cold hatred towards the government. However, because of the ignorance by the majority of upper-class citizens, they would interpret the book as an attempt to persuade others to look down on Capitalism due to the struggles portrayed in the book in result of corrupt rich folk.

In Freakonomics, Levitt and Dubner write in a colloquial fashion and tend to keep their writing informal. For example, when they write, “like the proverbial butterfly that flaps its wings on one continent and eventually causes a hurricane on another” the allusion to the butterfly effect serves to engender common ground with their audience (Levitt and Dubner 5). Additionally, by using the word “butterfly” Levitt and Dubner are able to create imagery which will help their audience better visualize their simile. Also, when Levitt and Dubner write, “it may sometimes feel as if we are peering at the world through a straw or even staring into a funhouse mirror,” the words “straw” and “funhouse mirror” create vivid imagery which helps the audience to better visualize the narrow scope through which people view the world (Levitt and Dubner 14).

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

“An incentive is a bullet, a key: an often tiny object with astonishing power to change a situation” (Levitt & Dubner 16). Freakonomics is a book written in 2005 by award winning economist Steven Levitt and former New York Times journalist Stephen Dubner while they both resided in different states. The use of simple diction makes it so a larger audience can be reached; readers vary from everyday people to students to economists. In order to better explain economics, Levitt and Dubner appeal to their audience by forgoing economic jargon and using simpler terms to ensure that the readers understand and relate to what is being explained throughout the passages. The authors also appeal to the readers through their credible background and logically by using statistics, researches, facts and parallelism.

The book focuses on these aspects and at the end the reader is left with a feeling that more could have been said. Instead of devoting separate chapters on these themes he has scattered these all through the book. He has focused more on economics and politics. After reading the book there is the feeling that the problems of

Stephen J. Dubner and Steven Levitt in a passage from the book, Freakonomics, published in 2005, addresses the topic of incentives, and that people will do anything they possibly can to get what they desire. The authors support their claim through the use of diction, first by enumeratio, where the authors include details of a real life incident to influence the reader that their opinion is true; secondly by hyperbole, where the authors exaggerate a point to make their views more agreeable; and thirdly by epizeuxis, where the authors repeat the word ‘incentive’ to emphasize their point. The authors’ overall purpose is to influence the reader that people will do whatever they can to get what they want. Stephen J. Dubner and Steven Levitt create

In the United States, we encounter quite a bit of obstacles that we can’t seem to get rid of completely. We as a nation deal with inflation, unemployment, stagflation, recessions, depressions, and so much more. Reading these three articles opened my eyes to the world of economics, and even made me question the society we live in. I’ve learned that sometimes questions can’t be answered, and I learned that once we solve one issue, there is always another issue on its way. These articles made me analyze, and think about the future of economics, and what I can do to try and help the economy. These authors of these three articles make it very clear that there are issues in the United States, and they do an amazing job

He uses less factual pieces of information and numerical values to get his point across, but instead uses the art of storytelling. Brands gives a direct account of events as they unfolded, which makes the reader feel more connected to what happened, compared to just reading words and numbers off a page. Brands incudes a sort of dialogue that keeps you intrigued into what will happen next. This manner of work can more effective get the reader to experience what the author wants them to and makes the act of reading the book more enjoyable. On the other hand, this book jumps straight into it. If one if new to the subject of capitalism or the specific time frame it happened in, it might be in the best interest of the reader to brush up on their knowledge about what is going on. While this book is easy to read, it does not give much of a back story as to what happened right before this era. It does not give much information that would be good for the reader to have regarding where America was at before this movement, so they can compare it to where America gets to at the end of the

Through the use of rhetorical questions in the beginning paragraphs, the reader has time to reflect on what the purpose behind the various works

What is courage? Courage is the ability to do something difficult even when there’s a risk. It’s not about bravery it’s about perseverance. In Harper Lee’s novel To Kill a Mockingbird Lee teaches readers about what real courage is from her perspective. A few examples are when Jem confuses courage with strength or when Mrs Dubose was fighting her morphine addiction, when Atticus shoots the rabies infected dog,when Boo saves Jem and Scout and sneaks out the Radley house to give gifts to the kids and most importantly atticus’ determination to defend the town.

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.

As the novel matures the political atmosphere worsens as the Socialists are mounted on their efforts to win over the senate against the Conservatives. In the novel, nearly everyone was astonished to hear that the Socialist had won the election and the Conservatives quickly made plans to discredit and destroy the new government. The Conservatives made every effort to remove money from the country and decided to halt the production of goods. For the first time many people were able to purchase the goods they had always desired, however, now the stores were left empty. There was a shortage of goods and people stood in endless lines to purchase whatever they could not knowing what was being sold so they wouldn’t miss a chance at buying anything. The so

The narrative of the book is also significant as a part of its being a postmodernist novel. He does not focus on one single plot or a character and writes a straight story. From point to point voices of the characters jump into or out of the plot, as if they have their own will other than the narrator?s. One of the consequences of this kind of narration is the unmediated use of the dialogues. The dialogues are given without any markers. The reader has to figure out for him- or herself who "speaks," who it is that one is reading (or "listening to"):

In Chapter one the topic that comes to my first thought is; I feel that I’ve gained a better insight to the various types of economic systems. This is an area that I feel I’ve often struggled with in many aspects. I have traveled to several places outside of the United States and have often heard of people speak of their economic system. I always wanted to understand what they were talking about and how it impacted their countries. In chapter one it gave me that opportunity. I was able to gain a better understanding of the different types of economic systems and how they functioned.