Steven D. Levitt's Freakonomics

Freakonomics Review Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner’s Harper 2005 New York Times bestselling novel, Freakonomics, digs deep into the hidden side of economics. From comparing the safety of swimming pools and guns to discovering the truth about drug dealing, this book will have the reader questioning everyday life. Although the book uses odd examples and intriguing comparisons, the chapters themselves are tedious and lengthy.

Steven D. Levitt is an economist that went to Harvard and MIT for his degree. He became popular after his co-written research paper about how abortion ceased crime rates raised controversy. He was also chosen to be one of Time magazine 's "100 People Who Shape Our World" in

Levitt 's goal is to inform the readers about economics in an amusing way. He accomplishes his goal by having strange topics such as chapter five where he talks about how much parents actually matter in their children 's lives. He argues that a swimming pool is far more dangerous than a gun and that parents overreact to high outrage and underreact to low outrage. Levitt provides information to prove his claim in chapter five, “In a given year, there is one drowning of a child for every 11,000 residential pools in the United States. Meanwhile, there is one child killed by a gun for every 1 million-plus guns” (150). He also explains how drug dealers do not make as much as people think; only the top dogs of the drug dealing business make most of the money. This is said when Levitt talks about JT 's experience in the Black Disciples, "J.T 's hourly wage was $66. His three officers, meanwhile, each took home $700 a month, which works out to be about $7 an hour" (100). However, he tends to drag the chapters and stuff them with an overwhelming amount of information that made it feel like a

Anyone who enjoys economics would most likely love this book as it provides the information they need. The tone throughout the book is contemplative with an academic theme. Because it is a non-fiction book, it is hard to attract young readers which is why Levitt talks about topics that are bizarre such as sumo wrestlers and the most common black names. The main issue with the book is how the chapters are incredibly long and dull. Freakonomics is focused on a younger audience, around teenagers to young adults. Although Levitt uses strange examples to explain his claims, he still manages to inform the reader on economics very well. Despite the entertaining arguments and claims, Freakonomics was humdrum for people who have no interest in the overall topic of