Mla style course work super freakonomics summary

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SuperFreakonomics Summary
The book entitled SuperFreakonomics, teaches people that many apparent day-to-day
mysteries do not need to be very mysterious. People can illuminate and make them even more
fascinating when they ask the right questions and be able to draw links. For instance, the book
traces the reduction in violent crime rates to a drop in violent criminals, and borrows more on
Roe’s decision that forestall that the existence of some individuals who would be born in to
hardship and poverty.
According to the data on drug dealing in the city of Chicago it is evident that corporate
institutions such as McDonald have proved that top managers earning are unreasonably high.
While, those in position of supportive staff their earning are below average (The Hindu
Shopping. Par 3). The book continues teaching that the process of pumping Sulphur dioxide
stratosphere of the Earth’s Atmosphere, helps in the reduction of the of temperature levels. The
book goes on teaching that, the process of reducing human activities to reduce levels of carbon
dioxide in the Earth’s atmosphere will not have any effect. This is based on the reason that,
most of the green house gasses in the atmosphere are made of methane not carbon dioxide as it
is claimed.
The information in this book I already knew is that fascinating and informative
anecdotes. The information that explains that, over the years, prostitution has declined but not

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on the basis that the society has become morally upright, but since many women are having sex
free. When it is time for holidays, the demand for sex goes higher, and so does the supply, with
many prostitutes serving part time enters the workforce. It is quit challenging for someone to
clearly identify a terrorist by just looking at them, but the most appropriate way of identifying
them is through use of reliable terrorist profiles which has the person’s character which had
been documented for long. It is just a common knowledge that raising the estate taxes, old
individuals with estates usually tend to die earlier before the higher taxes are put in place and
when these taxes are lowered, they end up dying just after the new taxes are put in place. On
the other hand, some end up donating organs for the purposes that are altruistic, it is true that
these states that depend on this, end up loosing millions and millions of lives due to organ
shortages, whilst, those that usually compensate individuals who donate organs do not have
waiting lists. Fascinating SuperFreakonomics does make usual conclusions on famous and
normal tenuous evidence. It begins with comparing drunk walking and drunk driving. Many
normal assumptions, and guesses are made in this book, it just makes a few calculations and
then concludes, "A drunken walker is eight times more likely to get killed than a drunk driver."
(Russell Miller. Par 4).
The analysis provide in the book about effect of abortion which was banned in Romania.
It provides comparable feature and characteristics of the children which were born and year
before and after the ban. The results as explained in the book show that the ban has measurable
effects on the children once they are compared. They would test lower in school, they would
have less success in the labor market, and they would also prove much more likely to become
criminals. (Levitt & Dubner. 118)".

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The most interesting part is when the authors used the economic theory. The book states
that economic theory encompasses the demonstration of cheating among some wrestlers. In the
tournament of Sumo, all wrestlers who happen to be in the top division usually compete in a
round 15 matches, and one may end up being demoted after winning less than 7 matches. The
community of Sumo is very close-knit, and the wrestler placed at the top ranks, tend to know
each other very well. After looking at the final match and the case of wrestler with seven wins
and seven losses, with one game at hand, playing with 8-6 wrestler, according to the available
statistics, the 7-7 wrestler would have been slightly below as the 8-6 wrestler is slightly better.
On the other hand, the 7-7 wrestler in the real sense wins about 80% of time. This kind of
statistics and data gleaned from the wrestling matches of Sumo, on top of the effects that the
allegation of corruption have on the results of matches, were used to conclude that those
already having 8 wins colludes with those having 7-7, and let them win, as they have already
secured their position for the tournament that follows.
The author’s effort of demonstrating data mining power is also interesting. It is funny to
conclude that various incentives motivate teachers to cheat through the process of helping their
candidates with multiple choice high-stake tests. Such like cheating is inferred from detailed
analysis of candidates’ answers to questions that deal with multiple choices.
The least interesting part in this book is the trap of falling too much time with their fans
in chapter 5. The part explains about Allie, who tends to be a nice and intelligent well-paid
prostitute. “It turns out that Allie is quite a shrewd businesswoman, who does quite well out of
her business. This is only surprising if you think that prostitutes are incapable of behaving
intelligently. It's also just one person's story.” (Runciman, 6). This is not interesting as the part
treats interesting anecdotes to an extent that they are substituting hard data. The part continues

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explaining how drink walking is very dangerous as compared to drinking then driving. On the
other hand, it sheds some light on why children vehicle seats might not be safer than seatbelts.
In the real sense, the authors poorly expand on the questions presented; hence many questions
are left without answers: for example, it does not explain if more individuals die on their way
home while drunk and walking since they are simply more drunk, than individuals who still
think they still have the capability of driving. The author argued that economist just need to
concentrate on their duties and roles which are the areas they can be able to understand what is
happening. Hence, being able to explain the reason of the events being witnessed, therefore
issues such as the rationale of what happens in a car simulation crashing should be done by
scientist and engineers.
The book did not enhance any knowledge of economics in my mind. After reading
Freekonomics, I came out wondering what really Freekonomics was meant to achieve in
economics. Even the authors in the introduction admit that they did not know either. It just
seems that the title was dreamed up in a moment of desperation. At times, the authors stray into
territories that have been already lucratively colonized by Malcom Gladwell. For instance when
they point out that raw talents are vastly overrated and that becoming a master in any field of
activity still needs a lot of practice. However, their touch is much lighter than Malcom’s and
they end up taking enormous relish in absurdity. As an effect, their delight in meeting a high
level Chicago hooker called Allie who exposed that when she charges more money, she ends
up having less actual sex.
To a very minute extent, the book is educative in economics. For example learning that
prostitutes in Chicago are statistically more likely to have sex with police officers than to be
arrested does not explain anything about incentives. It is also informative as it elaborates on the

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factors of supply and demand how it supplements each other in the market. The book has
emphasized on the importance of balancing supply and demand with an aim of controlling the
market.

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Works Sited
Levitt, Steven. & Dubner, Stephen. SuperFreakonomics. New York: HarperCollins, 2009.
Runciman, David. Superfreakonomics. 25 October 2009.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009/oct/25/superfreakonomics-steven-levitt-stephen-
dubner. November 23 2010
Russell Miller. Rev. of SuperFreakonomics by Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner. 2010.
http://bestsellers.about.com/od/nonfictionreviews/gr/superfreakonomics.htm. 23
November, 2010.
The Hindu Shopping. Rev. of SuperFreakonomics by Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner. 2010.
http://skp.thehindushopping.com/super-freakonomics-steven-d-levitt-and-stephen-j-
dubner/books/9780061932922.htm. 23 November, 2010.