Steven Levitt Essays

Freakonomics by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner is a unique book because it makes the reader think about our society in a peculiar way. The book take uncommon topics or two opposites ideas and compares the two together to show how similar they are. For example, the two authors compare the Klu Klux Klan to a group of real estate agents, which is interesting because the direct relationship might not be easily apparent, but however they are fairly similar. Freakonomics by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen

Critique The New York Times bestseller Freakonomics, written by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner, gave a lasting effect to the masses of audiences it claimed, but it did not last without hearing from its critics. Several academics and scholars alike took to the book disapprovingly, pointing out that not all of Levitt’s hypothesis were plausible, and that his explanations lacked substance and credit. Among the crowd was Steven Malanga, senior editor of the City Journal and associate of the Manhattan

to persuade others to agree with them on a topic. An author such as George Orwell writes in order to persuade others towards the kind of world they should want to be living in, and he crafts his writings in a way that achieves this purpose. In Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner’s Freakonomics, they utilize the rhetorical strategies of tone, comparison and contrast as

successful than others. Some of the questions Levitt and Dubner study felt unnecessary, that no one really cares about. But there are also some good subjects. The book changes subjects chapter to chapter. Chapter one there are three kinds of incentives: economic, social, and moral, and often incentive schemes will include all three of these. The next chapter aims to answer the question, “How is the Ku Klux Klan like a group of real estate agents”(Levitt, Steven D)? This chapter also discuss what happens

Superfreakonomics is a unique economics book that tackles a diverse range of topics written by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner. The book is based solely on facts, and seldom, if not, never deviates to personal opinions. Due to the themes mentioned in this book, it is recommended for High School students who are mature and would like to further their learning in the area of economics with an engrossing book. Superfreakonomics is an interesting book to read. One of the factors that aids the

Authors Steven D. Levitt and Stephan J. Dubner suggest viewpoints on crime, abortion, and education from an economic prospective while ignoring the right or left minded political viewpoints. Chapter 4 of Freakonimics answers the very question it proposes: “Where have all the criminals gone?” To begin answering the question Levitt and Dubner argue against the causes the press proposed regarding the 1990 crime drop. By refuting the explanations for the crime drop proposed by the tabloids Levitt and Dubner

definitively explain. This idea of why people do what they do is discussed in depth in Freakonomics, a book by Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner. They argue that people react in a market because of incentives. The three basic types of incentives are moral, social, and economic. By looking at unconventional situations, like bagel selling, crack cocaine dealers, and the Ku Klux Klan, Levitt and Dubner make generalizations about people and the actions we take in our lives and the effects these actions

Levitt and Dubner classify Freakonomics as a book having “no such unifying theme” (14), but all the unique topics discussed throughout the text connect back together in order to show the hidden side of human nature. The argument that the wide variety of topics and their abstract descriptions all link together draws the attention of a large audience and connects to issues that society is currently facing or has recently confronted. Freakonomics is organized as an argumentative piece that asserts

abortion, while managing to remain a single cohesive text. One thing that helps Freakonomics to remain a single piece of literature is the very distinct voice and writing style that Levitt and Dubner. The distinct writing style and voice also creates a tone that carries through the entire essay adding to the cohesion. Levitt and Dubner also make uses of several rhetorical techniques. The unique voice and writing style combined with the rhetorical techniques that are used makes it easy for one to make

obtained abortions, which meant that for every 4 births, there was an abortion. The authors make the assumption that “Legalized abortion led to less unwantedness; unwantedness leads to high crime; legalized abortion, therefore, led to less crime,” (Levitt & Dubner,

Judith Thompson in her analogy of abortion gives a scenario, of someone waking up one morning only to find that they have been plugged into a violinist that has a kidney failure, they are told by doctors that they will have to be plugged into the “famous” violinist for nine months, if they unplug, the violinist dies, if they stay plugged in, the violinist after the nine months recover however that person suffers their right to what happens to their body. The question posed following this analogy

The primary function of family is to provide socialization, caring, financial and emotional assistant. Affecting these factors by distinctive parental behavior, future development of children could be differed remarkably. The authoritarian parenting style, as known as harsh and strict parenting, is mainly mentioned in many research or essays because of the influence to the teenagers. In this case, this essay believes that this style has negative effect to individual youngster in the future. This

Levitt and Dubner classify Freakonomics as a book having “no such unifying theme” (14), but all the unique topics discussed throughout the text connect back together in order to show the hidden side of human nature. The argument that the wide variety of topics and their abstract descriptions all link together draws the attention of a large audience and connects to issues that society is currently facing or has recently confronted. Freakonomics, organized as an argumentative piece, asserts that

Conventional wisdom is described at convenient and comforting, but it does not always have to be that. It takes a lot for people to even begin to doubt that conventional wisdom is not true. In the rest of the chapter Levitt tries to dispute the different points of conventional wisdom. Levitt compares conventional wisdom to drug dealing which is one of the highest

called economics. Conventional wisdom is often wrong, information rules the world, people only follow incentives, and often obscure correlations can have massive results/spillovers. “This book has no unifying theme,” but the message is very clear (Levitt & Dubner 12). 2. Audience: The audience for Freakonomics is anyone that is well educated, and interested in learning more about the world of economics. Freakonomics is for those who accept the validity of thinking outside the box, and those who just

splurge (Levitt, 2004). The drastic decline in crime was definitely not predicted, but researchers have come out with explanations for why the reduction occurred. In an article titled Understanding Why Crime Fell in the 1990s written by Steven Levitt in 2004, he goes over

discipline of a child by providing them with special love, care and guidance as a parent. Parenting begins to set sail when a child comes into someones life and demands a lot of responsibilities, sacrifices and hard work. According to Freakonomics by Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner, parenting holds a massive impact about how the child is raised and how the child's mentality develops as they begin to mature overtime.

professor at Harvard University, Theodore Levitt once stated “Creativity is thinking up new things, innovation is doing new things”. Steven Spielberg was born on December 18, 1946, in Cincinnati, Ohio. He went to California State University. Throughout his childhood, he made several “mini movies”, he started very young. His first official movie was a 140 minute science fiction called “Firelight”. He made this movie when he was only 16. Later in life, Steven Spielberg made a creative, new, base in the

Social Exchange Theory Introduction I. I am going to start my speech with a corny joke. What do you call the “Children of the Corn’s” father? Popcorn. II. In my life I have made a many bad choices, but my greatest regret is a decision I made to quit something before I should have. III. Social Exchange Theory, if understood and used correctly can influence your life and the lives of those around you in a positive and beneficial way. A. Social Exchange Theory is a mental process we all use. B. Rural

William Jaird Levitt -- Levittown Founder Introduction After the world war II, the United States faced a severe baby boom during 1946 to 1964 where there were about 79 million babies born in that time period. This was a direct result of the war where the soldiers would get married in order to get that $50 more which was provided to married servicemen. Also, the war made the couples make faster decision on having a child because the soldiers might not come back and the couple would want to have a