Freakonomics Essay

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Research Paper Freakonomics Economics is a fundamental study of incentives, or in other words, what drives individuals to act and behave the way they do (Holt 1). Incentives therefore occur in every field of study and every walk of life. Levitt and Dubner look at the world in a way that is both surprising, occasionally funny, and always enlightening. They do so by drawing unexpected connections between two greatly different but complementary aspects of sociology and economics. Freakonomics begins with a review of the study of economics as interpreted by Steven D. Levitt. In the first chapter, “What do school teachers and sumo wrestlers have in common”, Levitt sets the tone for the rest of the book. For the most part, Freakonomics is about the examination and reinterpretation of economics in abstract forms (Simon). Levitt explains that incentives are a “means of urging people to do more of a good thing or less of a bad thing”. Thus the economic incentive to perform actions can be interpreted through several dimensions and perspectives. Levitt maintains that economists love incentives because they believe that incentives can fix just about any problem. He lists many incentives we react to during life, and what incentives urge people to do the right thing rather than the wrong thing. He also states that incentives “must be appropriate to be effective.” Lastly, Levitt discusses his theory that everyone cheats, in their own unique way. Many people try to find a way to beat the system, and spend their time thinking of ways of “getting more for less.” He discusses how this relates to education and testing, specifically how it might influence teachers to cheat to get a raise or keep their job. Economists identified patterns that might indicate a teacher was changing answers in a classroom, and discovered that some teachers in the Chicago Public Schools were cheating
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