Freakonomics Essay

Thesis Of Freakonomics
AP Macroeconomics Summer Homework
Seohee Lee
Period 5
I) Introduction
Book Title: Freakonomics
Author name: Steven D. Levitt, Stephen J. Dubner
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....show more content...
As an example of incentive, Levitt introduces a daycare study in which a daycare center fines $3
for parents who comes late. The study finds out that the number of parents coming late increased as
they put a $3 of fine. He explains that the incentive of $3 was too small, and the fine made the
parents to not feel the moral guilt for showing up late, resulting in more parents being late.
Levitt next examines the incentives that cause people to cheat. The first example of cheating is a
story of teachers cheating in Chicago public schools. To avoid the risk of getting fired or getting
penalty by the government for low test scores, many teachers chose to cheat and inflate their
students ' scores. They cheated by allowing the students to have more time during test, giving away
answers, and even by changing students' answers by themselves. In this case, we can see that the
schoolteachers are driven by economic incentives. For them, moral and social incentives are not as
strong as economic incentives. Similar cheating can be seen in sumo wrestling. In Japan, sumo
wrestling is a very popular sports and the high–ranked wrestlers get great honor. Also, among sumo
wrestlers, their rank determines their salary, reputation, how they are treated, and even how much he
gets to eat and sleep. Because they are so desperate for higher rank, the incentive for cheating is very
powerful. In the crucial matches that determines sumo wrestler's ranking, they cheat by
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Argument Analysis : ' Freakonomics '
Freakonomics Argument Analysis: Chapter Three
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

Analysis Of The Book ' Freakonomics '
Hailey Carrillo
Mrs. Reinhart
AP English Language and Composition
3 August 2016
Freakonomics
1. Give the title, author, genre, and date of original publication.
Freakonomics is the title of this nonfiction book; it was written by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J.
Dubner. On April 12, 2005, by HarperCollins.
2. What is author's purpose for writing the book? Write a paragraph summarizing the main argument
or purpose.
In this unique book, economist Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner, an award–winning author
and journalist team up to create a powerful and freakish work that challenges the typical rules of
economics. "Economics is above all a science of measurement. It comprises an extraordinarily
powerful and п¬‚exible set of tools that can reliably assess a thicket of information to determine the
effect of any one factor, or even the whole effect. That's what "the economy" is, after all: a thicket of
information about jobs and real estate and banking and investment. But the tools of economics can
be just as easily applied to subjects that are more–well, more interesting."(Dubner, Levitt 11). That is
exactly what this book is all about, not just the value of money but the way resources are managed
and how different factors affect one another. In Freakonomics, Levitt and Dubner collaborate to
"explore the hidden side of everything" (Dubner, Levitt 1). Through this writing, the two men
evaluate everyday situations in life and ask questions that have not yet

Levitt's Freakonomics
Freakonomics is a humorous and intriguing book about taking off the top layer of a situation and
understanding what is happening underneath. Through everyday examples Steven D. Levitt and
Stephen J. Dubner take perspectives that are unheard of in any other writing while simultaneously
comparing the most unique and uncommon ideas to each other. As they study everyday life, readers
see insight to the ways in which the world really functions and runs. As they study the world the
authors continue to ask questions, thus continuing to challenge the reader to seek for a deeper
answer. Through these highly untypical questions, Levitt and Dubner are able to display that the
root of economics itself is incentives. The book begins by asking the questions "what do
schoolteachers and sumo wrestlers have in common?"(15). The average person would most likely
respond with nothing, but Levitt and Dubner show the reader there is more in common with each
than you would think. Each party can be held accountable for cheating. Teachers are often seen
cheating in some form on a standardized tests to help improve their students scores. Through giving
the students answers...show more content...
The authors continue to question the qualities of people through examples such as the bagel
company in a hopes of determining if people are really good. Levitt and Dubner continue their
questioning with examples like relators and the KKK. They are able to compare the secret codes
of the Klan to the words that real estate agents use when trying to sell a house. Later on, Levitt and
Dubner bring up the question of "what makes a perfect parent?". They stress the idea that parents
are so afraid of making a mistake that they become terrible risk assessors and end up putting their
child in more danger. Again, Levitt and Dubner are focusing on an uncommon perspective to bring
insight to the reader of how the world really

Freakonomics
As western society has been aggressively expanding, the consumption of materials has followed
suit. This leads to a negative effect on the environment. To curb the decay of the planet, it is
important for humans to have a handle on how much we consume. One consequence of
consumption is the emissions produced by our vehicles. It is crucial to develop a government
policy that most effectively controls and reduces the amount of these emissions we give off. While
the government has introduced many subsidization policies, the most efficient policy the
government could enact is to raise the taxes on gas. In the Freakonomics podcast episode "Hey
Baby, Is That a Prius You're Driving?" The issue of emission is indirectly discussed. Specifically,
the podcast covers the topic of signaling. The term signaling is used to describe the process in which
an individual credibly gives information to others. More narrowly, in the podcast they talk about
conspicuous conservation. This is where people signal that they care about conservation of the
environment. With the "Prius Theory", it is found that people who live in more...show more content...
Almost all people rely on gas, green or not green. Due to this, a tax would affect almost everyone.
With raising taxes, people will consume less overall. This will lead all people to either drive less,
or to buy a more efficient car. As mentioned previously, a higher mpg does not mean less gas
consumption because may be inclined to drive more. If gas cost more, this would guarantee that the
quantity demanded of gas would move leftward up the demand curve, therefore less gas would be
consumed. Also, with this tax, the government would be left with some funds that could be used to
reduce emissions as well. One example could be to invest the tax funds into a green–friendly public
transport system. This would in theory reduce the amount of people using cars and reduce the
overall amount of

Freakonomics Research Paper
Cody Goyer
MWF 10:30–11:20
9/6/15
Freakonomics Essay #1 Due Date: 9/9/15 The first chapter in Freakonomics is a long comparison
between two types of people you would probably never think to group together, or have anything
to do with each other: Sumo wrestlers and school teachers. The main basis of the comparison is
the concept of incentives, and how both parties cheat because of the incentives that they have.
There are three basic forms of incentives. The first is economic, the second is social, and the third
is moral. The authors of the book explain to us how economics is basically just full of incentives,
and the rest is just back ground noise. The first chapter does a very good job of showing how this
could be a true statement. The first part of the chapter is about teachers that cheat, and the incentives
that they have to cheat. In 1996, Chicago Public Schools started to require their schools to
administer high–stakes testing every school year. A school with really low test scores would face
...show more content...
We found out how teachers cheat. Now how would a sumo wrestler cheat similarly to a teacher?
Well in Japan, the top 66 wrestlers in the country are considered to be "elite" athletes. A few times
a year, Japan has their wrestling tournaments to determine their top 66 wrestlers. Each wrestler has
15 fights, and the only way to get into the elite group is to win at least 8 matches. As long as you
win 8 matches or more, you are automatically in the top 66. A wrestler that is 7–7 and is facing a
wrestler that is 9–5 might bribe the 9–5 wrestler to throw the game for them so they can enter the top
66. It has never actually been proven that wrestlers do that, but most people have their suspicions.
The Japanese are too proud of their national sport to think that it is tainted or crooked. Either way, if
the wrestlers really do throw the games in exchange for money or a favor, that is an incentive to

Freakonomics
What is Freakonomics? Freakonomics is an interesting book that evokes a thoughtful and
provocative analysis of human motivation and modern living. It shows you a common world
through a totally different pair of lens. The author uses the raw data of economics to ask
imaginative questions while it forces the reader to think cleverly and divertingly of the answers. His
approach to economics was done in a very unconventional way– as a smart, curious explorer parallel
to Christopher Columbus when he discovered the Americas.
There is not one common theme in Freakonomics, instead the book is structured around four
essential ideas: incentives are the basis of modern life, conventional wisdom is often wrong,
dramatic effects often have...show more content...
The principles of incentives, among the other basic mindsets are all visibly used throughout the rest
of the book in solving the various problems presented. In the chapter "Why do crack dealers still live
with their mothers?" these authors examine and compare how a Chicago gang mirrors that of many
corporate companies. The authors use financial records kept by the gang to examine the pay system,
and use the experiences of a young sociologist that lived among the gang to examine the reasons for
joining and working for the gang. What the financial records show, is that the money earned through
dealing is concentrated greatly among the top 2.2 percent of the members, much the same as any
corporations like Wall–Mart or McDonalds. The gang even had its own "board of directors", which
was modeled off many businesses during the time. Incentives played a key role in the
membership of the gang's lower levels. The incentives of becoming the next drug lord, or the next
big seller, were enough to draw members to positions that paid less than minimum wage and
involve the risks of jail time and death. Although this would seem unlikely, a closer look reveals
that dreams and incentives of these gang members are no different than that of a girl waitressing
while she tries to make it in Hollywood. The author's show the pull of incentives are seen in every
aspect of life, whether it be drug

As I read through the introduction of "Freakonomics" by Stephen J. Dubner and Steve Levitt, I'm
highly dissatisfied with the way the author opens the book. Personally, I felt like it was well
written, but lacked appeal. To illustrate further, the book starts with information regarding the false
predictions of criminologists of crime rates. However, my feelings are slightly positively changed
as I find the author exposing "the hidden side of everything", as he claims (which is also the theme
of the book). For example, as he bypasses the information of the sky–high crime rate, he starts
talking about a woman who changed crime rates by legalizing an abortion (which is illegal at the
time). Sequentially, he explains how the crime–drop...show more content...
Examples of this would include when Mr.Dubner and Mr. Levitt relates to the reader on page
seventeen: "After all, every one of us regularly passes up opportunities to maim, steal, and defraud.
The chance of going to jail–thereby losing your job, your house, and your freedom, all of which are
essentially economic penalties–is certainly a strong incentive." I strongly agreed with this statement
due to the fact that even thieves did not steal something everywhere they go. They have
incentives, which the author defines as "a means of urging people to do more of a good thing and
less of a bad thing." Which we also all have, which just makes me more fond of the book. This all
comes down to how the parents did not have an incentive for coming to pick up their child on time.
After reading that, I thought way more about incentives, and used it in my daily vocabulary often
with my twin sister. Moreover, another new way of thinking this book caused was due to the
common bonds of teachers and sumo wrestlers, making me compare things that should would not be
naturally paired up. For instance, the other day I started thinking about what chairs and people have
in common. The author showed that teachers and sumo wrestlers both cheat, a concept that boggled
my mind. Due to my background and my observations, I never even dreamed about teachers or sumo

Freakonomics Research Paper
summarizing the entire point of the first book: "If pressed, you could boil it down to four words:
People respond to incentives." Incentives are basically the gains–whether actual, potential, or
perceived–to be had by acting a certain way. So Levitt and Dubner would say that people are
motivated to act as they do by what they can gain by those actions...the Freakonomics team gives
plenty of evidence for this conclusion. Time and again they present some bizarre trend in human
activity and then demonstrate that these people are merely responding to an incentive, whether it be
financial, social, psychological, emotional, etc. Some of the most powerful incentives they identify
are money, power, and fear. As a Christian, I see a lot of value in

Book Analysis: Freakonomics
For my summer reading assignment, I read, explored and analyzed the book, Freakonomics by
Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner. I chose this book because psychology and economics
have always interested me, and this book specifically looked at the psychological aspect of our
economy. I thought it would be an interesting experience to read it. I decided to take AP World
History because during my 8th grade year, social studies really started to interest me. My teacher,
Mr. Mark Matthews, really made history come alive for me through his teaching, and all of the
simulations he used. I found a sincere interest in history and did well. I have never been the best
student in my class, but I always do well and find myself interested in the topics...show more
content...
For instance, the chapter titled "How is the Ku Klux Klan like a group of real estate agents?"
brought a lot of information about the history of the Ku Klux Klan and real estate sales to my
attention. The Ku Klux Klan was started by a group of six friends former Confederate soldiers in
Tennessee immediately after the Civil War. They started out with harmless pranks, but soon evolved
into a terrorist group against emancipated slaves. They terrorized the slaves through lynching,
shooting, burning, whipping, and many other forms of torture, before the Klan was defeated through
legal and military protection. However, the Klan was quickly brought back together. They continued
to torture blacks, but as the years went on, public lynchings, the Klan's most common forms of
torture decreased rapidly. In the years 1890–1899, there were 1,111 lynchings, compared to
1960–1969 in which there were only 3 lynchings! This may have been brought about because of
Stetson Kennedy, a white citizen who was trying to bust the Klan. The Klan just figured that they
already had so much power that they didn't need to enforce it with public lynchings, therefore
giving more evidence of it's existence. A similar effect happened when the Internet was created in
1996 and people could easily compare the prices of life insurance. The prices dropped dramatically.
Before the Internet, it was very hard to compare the prices of term life insurance.

Freakonomics Essay
Freakonomics Book Report In chapter 1, Levitt and Dubner describe how many people in
different cultures and walks of life, which are otherwise inclined to be honest, find subtle ways of
cheating to advance their position or increase monetary awards when incentives are strong
enough. The authors define an incentive as "a means of urging people to do more of a good
thing or less of a bad thing," and identify three varieties of incentives. Economic incentives are
those, which a person responds to in the marketplace. Social incentives motivate people to
respond in a certain way because they care or are worried about how they will be viewed by others.
Moral incentives appeal to a person's sense of right versus wrong. Three case studies of the...show
more content...
Experts in a field often create conventional wisdom. They make observations and draw conclusions
without resorting to the facts. In chapter 4 the chapter considers a variety of possible explanations
for the significant drop in crime and crime rates that occurred in the 1990s. Based on articles that
appeared in the country's largest newspapers, the authors compile a list of the leading, commonly
offered explanations. The next step is to systematically examine each explanation and consider
whether available data support the explanation. What the authors, in fact, demonstrate is that in all
but three cases–increased reliance on prisons, increased number of police, and changes in illegal
drug markets–correlation was erroneously interpreted as causation and in some cases, the correlation
wasn't even that strong. In chapter 5 the author summarizes the results of studies by his coauthors, as
well as other studies, that examine the influence demographic, cultural and other variables have on
the performance of school–age children on standardized tests. In a now familiar theme, the results
are plangently counterintuitive. Based on a mountain of school children's test scores, a successful
child appears to be more "made" than nurtured, more mused than molded. The chapter begins by
reviewing how many parents get educated on raising their children and how parenting experts swing
from one extreme

Freakonomic Chapter Summary
In the 1990 the crime rate in the United States dropped substantially. This, all over the United
States, began to raise many question on why the crime rates had dropped so suddenly in a short
amount of time. These questions were thought to be very intriguing to Steven Levitt and Stephen
J. Dubner. They then decided to write a book call, "Freakonomic," with a chapter inside called
"Where Have All the Criminals Gone?" This chapter focused on why, in the 1990, had criminal
rates dropped substantially. The chapter, "Where Have All the Criminals Gone," it addresses all
the questions everyone has been asking. This chapter take a look at several different possibilities
on why the criminal rates may have dropped in the 1990's. It discussed tougher gun controls may
have caused it since they were limiting who could buy guns and how you could get them that few
people had guns to shoot others with. It also discussed the aging of the population and how...show
more content...
They also took a survey in Canada and only and estimated 5% of households had guns. They say
that the much higher prevalence of owning a gun might explain why crimes are much less in the
US. (Canadian Review of Sociology & Anthropology. Aug99, Vol. 36 Issue 3, p389
–408. 20p. 3
Charts, 4 Maps.) Proving that the crime rate drop is not due to gun control laws beings a country
that has more guns has a lower crime rate than a country with less guns. Going back to the
question everyone was wondering, where have all the criminals gone. Through this lit. Review I
have learned that the facts stated in the book, "Freakonomics" were most all true. The fact the
having stricter gun control laws was not responsible for the crime rate drop in the 1990. There is
some evidence to less guns owned in the 1990 but there is no real proof of owning a gun having
direct correlation to the crime rate drop in the

Summary: Freakonomics
Observing the world around me it is clear to see the vital role economics plays in every aspect of
life. A glimpse of a newspaper headline will tell you the influences that economics has on the
country. This has taken me to the idea of pursuing economics in university to widen my knowledge
on such an intricate subject.
Studying Level 3 Extended Diploma Business at Exeter College has allowed me the opportunity to
gain independence and develop a further detailed understanding of my chosen subject, but also made
me realise that economics is the subject for me to study at university. Few of the units I enjoyed
especially were The Business Environment and Business and The Economics Environment, within
these units I learnt how political, legal and...show more content...
Levitt and S. Dubner as they investigate different aspects of our society and the study of
economics on the principle of incentives. As well as reading many economical literatures in my
free time, I also enjoy reading articles in magazines such as The Economist, these out of textbook
reading allows me to expand my knowledge in the current state of our world economy. In my own
time, I have privately studied a–level economics and maths, within economics I am teaching myself
microeconomics and macroeconomics to be on the same page as everyone else and to be head of
the game. In maths a–level I am teaching not only for a–level, but maths that will be needed for
economics to help me better my knowledge in the subject, this has made it certain to me that
economics is the course right for me and will help me accomplish my life goal. Leading up to
applying for university I wanted to be certain that I was making the right choice, so I decided to go
to open events at various universities, which I then came with the conclusion to study in London the
business capital of the UK. Outside of college I have a keen interest in photography and film and
have been working on a documentary to inform people about the current state of Syria and
conflict–ridden countries to show why they need support and a sturdy government, I am lucky to
have been in discussion and talks with the head of documentaries at channel 4 to make this a

Examples Of Freakonomics
In the book Freakonomics, Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner note "An incentive is a bullet, a lever,
a key: an often–tiny object with astonishing power to change a situation" (16). This is to showcase
the amount of power an incentive can have over a person or a situation; either good or bad.
Humans are found to use incentives when it comes to making daily decisions. Often, people need
motives to proceed with their plans. Some tend to make either moral, social, or economic incentive.
The moral incentive is about self–respect; keeping in check with what was taught to believe is right
and wrong. The social incentive is how the public views the person; wanting to look good in front
others. Economic incentive, however, would relate to monetary benefit. While all three incentives
can affect people's decisions, economic...show more content...
As time passes, humans are seen implementing their early upbringing characteristics to their adult
life. Though moral incentive, caring about personal image, can be a simple way to control people's
behaviors, it does not however last. With simple tool as a smartphone, it has become easier to
change people's perspectives on what used to be detected as wrong. From the Freakonomics text, it
brings to light why sumo wrestlers may cheat their way during tournaments. As Levitt and Dubner
state, "In Japan, sumo is not only the national sport but also a repository of the country's religion,
military, and historical emotion" (34). Feeling the connection that the sport being played holds
historical meaning and is of a great value, causes athletes to feel the need to be part of a great deal;
that is even if it means to cheat the process. Although using such moral incentive may cause some
athletes to choose to scam the system, it is not however the strongest and stablest

Book Review Freakonomics Essay
"Anybody living in the United States in the early 1990s and paying even a whisper of attention to
the nightly news or a daily paper could be forgiven for having been scared out of his skin... The
culprit was crime. It had been rising relentlessly – a graph plotting the crime rate in any American
city over recent decades looked like a ski slope in profile... Death by gunfire, intentional and
otherwise, had become commonplace, So too had carjacking and crack dealing, robbery, and rape.
Violent crime was a gruesome and constant companion... The culprit was the so–called superpredator.
For a time, he was everywhere. Glowering from the cover of newsweeklies. Swaggering his way
through foot–thick government reports. He was a scrawny, big–city...show more content...
It was the proliferation of gun control laws, they said. It was the sort of innovative policing
strategies put into place in New York City, where the number of murders fell tremendously. These
theories were not only logical, they were also encouraging, for they attributed the crime drop to
specific and recent human initiatives, showing us that we had the power to stop it the whole time."
Author Steven D. Levitt defines Freakonomics as ?the science exploring the hidden side of
everything.? In this example, Levitt does just that. Instead of just accepting the conventional
wisdom of the time, that the drop in crime rate could be attributed to an innovative police force, a
good economy, stricter gun control, etc, Levitt looks to the source of the crime, the criminals.
Levitt first looked to many factors to identify the cause of the drop in crime, assuming all of these
factors to be a cause. Then he examined the data and saw that none of the causes cited by the media
at the time of the crime drop could have possibly had such an effect on crime, thus ruling them out.
Levitt wanted an explanation for the specific circumstances of the drop in crime rate. The drop
happened quickly and simultaneously all across the country. A roaring economy and innovative
police strategies, the two main causes supported by the media, had never before influenced crime
rate so significantly. He looked back to the identity of the criminal and noted the time

1. In the first chapter of Freakonomics by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner, it talks about
dealing with societal mores, economic incentives, and cheating. With schoolteachers, the
possibility of getting a pay raise and the grades their students get on standardized tests are some
of the incentives that derive them to cheat. In the book, Levitt explains how he examines sets of
answers to these tests and tries to see a pattern if teachers were changing answers for their
students. Dubner and Levitt, both incorporate samples of these scored tests and have the readers
try and find the cheating detected on there. "Teacher cheating is rarely looked for, hardly ever
detected, and just about never punished." (Levitt and Dubner 24) The incentives for teachers are
to be more recognized and a chance to get a better pay while, for sumo wrestlers, they can move
up a rank. The only difference is that for sumo wrestlers, they never got caught because in Japan,
they assume they are always telling the truth and never lying, while for teachers, some lost their
jobs because they were caught. "Cheating is a primordial economic act: getting more for less."
(Levitt and Dubner 21) Cheating is something I have witnessed multiple of times while being in
school. There were students who would help and talk during tests to get better grades on the exam
since the teacher wasn't paying attention to the class when we took the test. At the end of it all, they
did get away with it and the reason

Freakonomics Essay
The book Freakonomics by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner, is designed to pose
fundamental questions concerning economics using a variety of imaginative comparisons and
questions. Examples of these comparisons and questions can be seen in the list of contents, with
chapter titles such as "How is the Ku Klux Klan like a group of real–estate agents?" and "Why do
drug dealers still live with their moms?" Not everyone is interested in economics, but with titles that
grab attention, it is almost impossible not to pick up the book and read it for yourself. The two
chapters of Freakonomics I will be analyzing are "What do Schoolteachers and Sumo Wrestlers have
in common?" and "Perfect Parenting, Part II; or: Would a Roshanda by any other...show more
content...
Often, cheating is used to try and win, however there are several sport institutions that use cheating
to lose on purpose.
In Japan, a wrestler's rank determines how much money they make, how much they are allowed to
eat, sleep, and take advantage of successes. The top sixty–six ranked wrestlers in Japan make up the
'sumo elite,' and have significantly better lifestyles and luxuries than the wrestlers below them. To
raise their ranking, a wrestler must win at least eight of the fifteen bouts (rounds) at one of six
tournaments per year. If a wrestler does not get eight wins, their rank is lowered, and they can even
be removed from the 'sumo elite.'
Since getting at least eight wins is so crucial, seven wins is the tipping point for many wrestlers to
make deals, bribes, and promises. For example, a wrestler with a 7–7 record fighting a wrestler with
an 8–6 record on the final day of the special tournament would be desperate to reach eight wins. The
predicted chance of the 7–7 wrestler winning is 48.7%, however the data reflects the actual chance
of winning at 79.6%. When the wrestlers return to normal tournaments, the data shows the 8–6
wrestlers almost always win when fighting the former 7–7 wrestlers. This data suggests that
wrestlers who are desperate to raise their ranking and stay in the 'sumo elite' collude with opponents
to ensure themselves a win during the special tournaments. Sumo wrestling is the national sport of
Japan,

Freakonomics Essay
The Hidden Side of Everything
Steven D. Levitt is an award winning economist. Stephen J. Dubner is an award winning writer. The
two met in Chicago, and the result was Freakonomics, a book that claims to explore the hidden side
of everything, using real–life examples such as studies and polls conducted by Levitt to explain how
economics is everywhere, that economics is how the world really functions. Through everything
from analyzing the inner thought processes of real–estate agents and crack dealers, to predicting the
next popular baby names, Levitt and Dubner guide readers to think differently, ask questions, and to
use "Freakonomics" in their daily lives.
Freakonomics is divided into six chapters, each containing studies and stories...show more content...
For a person who believes that 1 newborn is worth 100 fetuses, those 1.5 million abortions would
translate–dividing 1.5 million by 100–into the equivalent of a loss of 15,000 human lives. Fifteen
thousand lives: that happens to be about the same number of people who die in homicides in the
United States every year. And it is far more than the number of homicides eliminated each year due
to legalized abortion" (Levitt 144). Levitt and Dubner's use of critical thinking and connection is
evident throughout their exploration of "The hidden side of everything", and it guides the reader to
start thinking the same way.
But perhaps the most prevalent tone is the authors' sense of conversationalism and humor. Levitt and
Dubner often use slang, including some unconventional writing styles, and joke with the reader, all
while maintaining focus and applying the facts to the topic at hand. This usually shows up in small,
yet noticeable ways. It is always apparent that the authors are talking directly to the reader as if there
is a conversation going on between them. They will often say things like: "But let's consider..."
(144). Or when presenting new information: "Now, here's what it cost..." (101). The most commonly
used devices in Freakonomics; however, are questioning the reader and the use of short, emphatic
sentences. When used together, as they sometimes are in this work, Levitt and Dubner can have a
big impact on the reader's thoughts. As they begin to discuss the

Freakonomics Chapter Summary
Jenna Burnham
Mrs. Ingraham
English 12 – Period 3
5 August 2015
On–Level English 12 Summer Reading Assignment
CHAPTER 1: "What Do School Teachers and Sumo Wrestlers Have in Common?"
1. In Freakonomics, Levitt and Dubner built the book on the foundation of incentives. Incentives
are described as a means of motivation that kick people to do more good or less bad in their daily
lives. As the entire book hits the different types of incentives, economic, moral, and social, chapter
one is the chapter that mainly focuses on economic incentives. Levitt and Dubner describes
economic incentives by stating, "The chance of going to jail–thereby losing your job, your house,
and your freedom, all of which are essentially economic penalties–is certainly a...show more
content...
In this chapter, Levitt & Dubner begin with mentioning a scholar by the name of Sudhir Venkatesh
who examined the crack culture of a specific group in Chicago named the "Black Gangster Disciple
Nation." That particular group was run and financed by the leader named J.T. He was well educated
and smart when it came to his business. Freakonomics mentions the comparison between J.T., his
Black Disciples, and the MacDonald's franchise! The book states, "In other words, a crack gang
works pretty much like the standard capitalist enterprise: you have to be near the top of the
pyramid to make a big wage" (Levitt & Dubner 100). J.T, being the head leader of the gang,
obviously was the one taking home the big bucks, while the Black Disciples also "took home well
more than half the money" (Levitt & Dubner 100). However, J.T's foot soldiers maintained
minimum–wage jobs, similar to lower employees at MacDonald's. In the American business world,
employees commonly begin their career at the bottom of the hierarchy pyramid: waitresses,
dishwashers, janitors, etc. They have hopes for reaching the top of the pyramid as managers or
maybe even CEO's. Just like in the business world, drug dealers begin at the bottom and pray to
succeed all the way to the top, where they are paid double, triple, or even quadruple what they
made before! Levitt & Dubner use this great example of the hierarchy ladder, "Well, for the same
reason that a pretty Wisconsin farm girl moves to Hollywood. For the same

Essay on Review of Freakonomics
Review of Freakonomics
This chapter's main idea is that the study of economics is the study of incentives. We find a
differentiation between economic incentives, social incentives and moral incentives. Incentives are
described in a funny way as "means of urging people to do more of a good thing or less of a bad
thing", and in this chapter we find some examples В–public school teachers in Chicago, sumo
wrestling in Japan, take care center in Israel and Paul Feldman's bagel business В– of how
incentives drive people and most of the time the conventional wisdom turns to be "wrong" when
incentives are in place....show more content...
As we can see this happens to the government which such policies as the ones illustrated in the
public school in Chicago ones.
From this chapter I mainly learnt that incentives are "the cornerstone of modern life" В– they drive
our actions more than we notice, even unconsciously, they are there, and it would be useful if we
are aware of this, in order to predict others behavior and probably would be useful too in negotiation.
Chapter 2: How is the Ku Klux Klan like a Group of Real–Estate Agents?
This chapter is very important from my point of view, since it talks about the importance of
information in all ways of life and particularly how information means power. The asymmetries of
information are a widespread problem even nowadays and we find it the most in the low class
society obviously because of the lack of education.
While reading about asymmetric information I thought of lawyers in Mexico, when they use the
misinformation about laws as an advantage to abuse people and get more money from them. I can
think of really lots of examples about this and each of them illustrate the importance of information,
not only to have power, but to prevent ourselves

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