Freakonomics author biography books

Published on April 12, , by William Morrow , the book has been described as melding pop culture with economics. The book is a collection of articles written by Levitt, an economist who had gained a reputation for applying economic theory to diverse subjects not usually covered by "traditional" economists. In Freakonomics , Levitt and Dubner argue that economics is, at root, the study of incentives.

The book's chapters cover:.

Freakonomics genre

One example of the authors' use of economic theory involves demonstrating the existence of cheating among sumo wrestlers. In a sumo tournament, all wrestlers in the top division compete in 15 matches and face demotion if they do not win at least eight of them. The sumo community is very close-knit, and the wrestlers at the top levels tend to know each other well.

The authors looked at the final match, and considered the case of a wrestler with seven wins, seven losses, and one fight to go, fighting against an 8—6 wrestler.

Freakonomics summary

Statistically, the 7—7 wrestler should have a slightly below even chance, since the 8—6 wrestler is slightly better. Levitt uses this statistic and other data gleaned from sumo wrestling matches, along with the effect that allegations of corruption have on match results, to conclude that those who already have eight wins collude with those who are 7—7 and let them win, since they have already secured their position for the following tournament.

Despite condemnation of the claims by the Japan Sumo Association following the book's publication in , the Grand Tournament in Tokyo was canceled for the first time since because of allegations of match-fixing. The authors attempt to demonstrate the power of data mining , as a number of their results emerge from Levitt's analysis of various databases.

The authors posit that various incentives encourage teachers to cheat by assisting their students with multiple-choice high-stakes tests. Such cheating in the Chicago school system is inferred from detailed analysis of students' answers to multiple-choice questions. Levitt asks, "What would the pattern of answers look like if the teacher cheated?

In Chapter 2 of Freakonomics , the authors wrote of their visit to folklorist Stetson Kennedy 's Florida home where the topic of Kennedy's investigations of the Ku Klux Klan were discussed.