Freakonomics is a book written in 2005 by Steven Levitt. Steven Levitt is an economist who is known for his unusual thinking practices. Even though he may have unorthodox ways to think about economics, he keeps the core of economics at heart with studying how people behave. Two things about the book stick out to me: the crime rates dropping dramatically and how a real-estate agent may not be the best way to sell a house. One reason most people thought that crime rates were dramatically dropping is because the increased police force, but Levitt shows that it is actually because abortion was legalized and many kids who would be fostered in bad homes were aborted and crimes rates decreased because of it. Another one of Levitt's finding is that a real estate agent may not go the extra mile to get the most value out of your house for example a house selling for about $300,000 and after everybody gets their share of the transaction the agent receives about 1.5% or 4500 dollars. If the house was actually worth $310,000 and the agent needed to put more time and effort to get that much out of it they most likely wouldn't because their 1.5 percent of 10,000 dollars is only $150 and it wouldn't be worth it for them. So real estate agents may not have the sellers interest at heart.
Freaky Freakonomics (older post, but posted it wrong earlier)
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Man it just really gives makes ya pause and think a bit more about everything in a way, don't it. Good thing to bring up in a psych class I'll say!
I had never heard of Freakonomics but that is quite interesting stuff. I enjoy radical points of view it really helps one to keep an open mind about a lot of things.
I read Freakonomics and watched the movie and I'd say they're both great ways of presenting rather dull, in my opinion, material. I think that if someone found a way of creating a "psychonomics" type book this class would be a lot more interesting! It's always nice to see how the stuff you're learning can be applied to the real world.
Generally, as I think of the lesson of heuristics, we associate the solving of problems or certain actions with the most convenient answer. I have not read Freak-economics, but it sounds like the author has used some unorthodox solutions to find the answers to different things. "Thinking outside the box" is very beneficial in coming up with new solutions.
Very interesting. I have never heard of that point of view on why the crime rates are down, but it makes complete sense, many of those who commit the crimes have been in the cycle of foster homes or orphanages, where they may witness or need to commit crimes themselves frequently And with the real estate agent, sadly I can't say I'm surprised, in such a capitalist economy, it's largely about fending for yourself, and making decisions that help you economically gain wealth.
I have read some of Freakonomics as well, its really an interesting approach to the subject. Taking an economics class you see many examples of it in the real world but the book is way different, making you think about things you never would have applied to economics. Great summary!