FreakanomicsBonus Matter

This is a LDBJ Production

Summary

• As Steven D. Levitt grew up, he knew that he himself wasn’t the best economist when it came to the norm.

• He couldn’t tell you what stocks were going to go up or down, but he went more in depth on the subject of economics and could find interesting patterns on things that other economists normally wouldn’t find.

• This special skill made Steven unique and respected by economists around.

College life

• Through college at Harvard and MIT Steven knew he wasn’t the smartest, for one day in class he asked a student how to do basic math problems and the student responded with, “you’re in big trouble”

• So he wasn’t the best in math, so while others strived on finishing math problems for homework, he wrote papers…

• He wrote about unusual economic similarities that made him the sought out, unique economist he is today

Continued

• In the chapter he was at a meeting/ dinner with some very smart business economists

• He thought he would not have anything to talk about because his style of economics was so much different from his

• But he was shocked when he kept rambling on about his works and papers and it intrigued the other economists at the table

• He was then asked what his basis of subject was, and he said he didn’t know yet.

Epilogue

• The overall point of the epilogue was to tell you what the book was really supposed to mean.

• And the facts and points of this book ay define new thoughts in your mind

• This book is not the normal style of thinking and may conflict with moral thoughts, your opinions, and actions.

continued

• The authors meant for the book to be written this way though, but wasn’t meant to mess with morality

• Then even though our group was not assigned chapter 5, the epilogue covers a question about two boys from that chapter about how environment affects the development of kids.

Environment affects the development of kids

• The questions was: One kid white, and with many benefits at home, the other kid black and became a gangster

• The second child at twenty eight is Roland G. Fryer Jr., a Harvard economist that studies black underachievement

• The first child also went to Harvard, and things turned for the worst, his name it Ted Kaczysnki