Freakonomics Essay

In chapter one of Freakonomics, Stephen Dubner and Steven Levitt describe how when incentives are strong enough, many usually honest people from different walks of life will cheat in order to gain financially or climb the ladder in their careers. The authors define an incentive as “a means of urging people to do more of a good thing or less of a bad thing.” This chapter covers three varieties of incentives: Economic, Social and Moral. Economic incentives motivate people with the promise of money or goods. Social incentives motivate people to respond in a certain way because they care about how they will be viewed by others. Moral incentives motivate people on the basis of right and wrong. We look at four

The 1980s and early 90s were home to an extreme wave of criminal activity that swept across much of the country. The dramatic uptick in crime can largely be attributed to the spread of the crack-cocaine epidemic and subsequent “War on Drugs.” New York City, for example, suffered from 2,605 murders and 208,813 burglaries in 1990, at the height of the violence . Much of this criminal activity centered around and affected the poorest individuals in those communities – which often included minorities.

Reiman and Leighton comprehensively begin the discussion of crime by outlining their main objectives, establishing the immediate problems surrounding crime control in America, and setting the groundwork for their premises. In recent years, the crime rate in the United States has declined. This decline is generally attributed to ‘tough on crime’ and mass incarceration policies, but the authors are quick to assert that other variables--economic, social-- are greater contributors to this decrease, with the ‘imprisonment binge’ only actually contributing a small amount to the decline. These strict crime enforcement policies might have a small impact on crime prevention, but criminologists are concerned with the potential effect such policies might have on criminal justice procedures--promoting profit rather than safety-- and endangering citizens’ rights (particularly those considered minorities).

Throughout crime in Australia, a noticeable increase in crime occurred between the 1970’s to the 1990’s but has declined to a stable rate of crime which is similar trend in America. However, crime itself is often complex to define due to the variety of crime. Therefore, it is difficult to accurately measure crime and if crime cannot be measured efficiently and it proposes concerns of whether crime in Australia is stable or not. Although Australia’s system of collecting crime data is striving to be as accurate as possible, the media will often manipulate the data which misleads the Australian public of crime stability. Inclusively, through gaining an understanding of defining crime, accurately measuring data and comparing Australia’s crime data

pp. 951). With the waning of the crack epidemic, crime rates dropped across the country

The idea of cheating to attain rewards is no new concept. Throughout history, people have performed actions that contradict their morals in order to advance in society. Leaders, parents, and even children have taken shortcuts that strike at their integrity. In recent times, cheating has become more prominent than ever before. The concepts of honesty, fairness, and morality are not enforced, therefore, deception, fraud, and dishonesty prevail in the shadows. In Cheating Culture, written by David Callahan, the author addresses the issue of lying, deceit, and trickery in today's world, while also recognizing a change in the near future is within the people's grasp.

The book’s fourth chapter, “Where have All the Criminals Gone?” in particular, includes several subjects the authors acknowledge will “provoke a variety of reactions, ranging from disbelief to revulsion, and a variety of objections” (140). By this point, readers already know the authors’ view that the legalization of abortion in Roe v. Wade caused the drop in crime during the 1990s because this idea first appears on page four. Rather than simply explaining why abortion lowered crime rates, Levitt and Dubner use a chart to introduce seven explanations commonly cited by experts for the sudden drop in crime during the 1990s, then examine the authenticity of each one. The first possible cause is “a fairly uncontroversial one: the strong economy”

[Additionally, an enormous change to the system is the increase in crime. Evidence shows that between 1982 and 1992 the number of people behind bars in America doubled to one million, and arrest rates continue to soar (Moyers, 1992). There are several schools of thought on the increase of crime, some attribute the influx of “crack” cocaine, and other

How far a student can go in life is already pre-determined by the generation before him. Success is no longer made up of solely intellectual ability, but rather if the streets the student walks through is gang-ridden or not, if their parents are absentees, and other conditions in which the child grows up in. Valerie Strauss expresses these concerns in her article, “What the Numbers Really Tell Us About America’s Public Schools” in which she discusses how income levels correlate with students’ success rate which is further accentuated through Kamiak and Mariner High School’s Standardized Test Results. “Motivation, a Major Factor in U.S. Student Test Performance” by Dian Schaffhauser continues this idea of external problems affecting low scores

After that introduction- they go on to tell the story of American crime in the 1990’s, and explore several other expert theories about the dramatic and unprecedented rise and fall of

Many, if not most, of the people in today's generation are constantly judged by others and even themselves based on what their identity comprises of. The concept of racial injustice and inequality among ethnic minorities constantly fills the media. Women's rights issues seem to arise rapidly whenever a single female is mistreated in the slightest way. The debate on homosexuality is also an enormous topic in our social lives today, with millions of supporters for it, but also millions against it. This internal segregation within our own human population is nothing new, since it has been continuing ever since verbal and written communication with each other has existed. All these components, and many more, are a huge part of what identifies a

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

The national crime rate has been dropping for the past several years. Over a 38% drop has been reported since 1993. The drop in the crime rate of America is mainly because of three top reasons. These reasons include the involvement of the community, the offenders of small crimes are being interrogated to come up with leads of larger crimes, and the new computer technology available today.

The mission of this book is to provide a statistical profile of the notable crime decline that started in New York City in the early 1990s and has further well past the of a new century. " The first portion of analysis will focus on three important features of the official

In the 1990s, as crime was continuing to rise at a steady rate, American leaders soon realized they had a crisis on their hands. In response to this, President Bill Clinton released a bill in 1994 aiming to take extreme action in combatting crime. This bill included many actions such as increasing the amount of police officers, more funding for cities’ law enforcement programs, and enforcing