A Critique on Freakonomics, A Nobel by Levitt and Dubner

All in all, The New York Times editors purpose of this article is to persuade the readers to help make abortion legal. They use emotional connection with the audience, a sophisticated word choice, and logic. Ultimately, the writers have proven that abortion is a woman’s own choice, not the

AP Macroeconomics Summer Homework Seohee Lee Period 5 I) Introduction Book Title: Freakonomics Author name: Steven D. Levitt, Stephen J. Dubner The author Steven Levitt studied economics at Harvard University and MIT. He is primarily known for his work in the field of crime. The title Freakonomics means a study of economics based on the principles of incentives. The title is related to the book since he emphasizes how incentives drive and affect people’s actions. Although this book does not have a single theme, the main focus of the book is a new way of interpreting the world using economic tools. He explores incentives, information asymmetry, conventional wisdom, crime and abortion, and parenting throughout the six chapters of the book.

Rhetorical Analysis of “The Children’s Era” Today, the availability of birth control is taken for granted. There was a time, not long passed, during which the subject was illegal (“Margaret Sanger,” 2013, p.1). That did not stop the resilient leader of the birth control movement. Margaret Sanger was a nurse and women’s activist. While working as a nurse, Sanger treated many women who had suffered from unsafe abortions or tried to self-induce abortion (p.1). Seeing this devastation and noting that it was mainly low income women suffering from these problems, she was inspired to dedicate her life to educating women on family planning—even though the discussion of which was highly illegal at the time (p.1). She was often in trouble with

When it comes to sensitive topics, there are few that draw on people’s emotions as much as abortion. Why it this so? It is the nature of the topic. Abortion is a topic in which people’s views are just as diverse as the population itself. Most people avoid writing about such topics altogether, especially when they are in support of such an act. However when economist Steven D. Levitt and writer Stephen J Dubner wrote chapter 4 of “Freakonomics” titled “Where have all the Criminals Gone?” they did just that. The chapter details historical examples of bans on abortion, possible reasons for the sharp decline in crime in the US, and a strong final argument for why abortion is the reason the crime rate dropped so suddenly. The emotionally

In the book Freakonomics, Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner note “An incentive is a bullet, a lever, a key: an often-tiny object with astonishing power to change a situation” (16). This is to showcase the amount of power an incentive can have over a person or a situation; either good or bad. Humans are found to use incentives when it comes to making daily decisions. Often, people need motives to proceed with their plans. Some tend to make either moral, social, or economic incentive. The moral incentive is about self-respect; keeping in check with what was taught to believe is right and wrong. The social incentive is how the public views the person; wanting to look good in front others. Economic incentive, however, would relate to monetary benefit. While all three incentives can affect people’s decisions, economic

Summary For this review I read Freakonomics written by Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner. This book was published by William Morrow an Imprint of HarperCollins and is copyrighted 2005. Freakonomics is a unique book where there is no central story. It is not a story where it goes from point a to point b and follows a traditional storyline. This book is broken up into a collection of mini stories where the authors try explore issues and approach them from a non-conventional way of thinking. Some of these issues in the book include comparing Ku Klux Klan members to real estate agents, why drug dealers live with their moms, and linking abortion to criminal rates. The book addresses the issues at hand and uses data they have accrued and in their

In Freakonomics, Levitt and Dubner write in a colloquial fashion and tend to keep their writing informal. For example, when they write, “like the proverbial butterfly that flaps its wings on one continent and eventually causes a hurricane on another” the allusion to the butterfly effect serves to engender common ground with their audience (Levitt and Dubner 5). Additionally, by using the word “butterfly” Levitt and Dubner are able to create imagery which will help their audience better visualize their simile. Also, when Levitt and Dubner write, “it may sometimes feel as if we are peering at the world through a straw or even staring into a funhouse mirror,” the words “straw” and “funhouse mirror” create vivid imagery which helps the audience to better visualize the narrow scope through which people view the world (Levitt and Dubner 14).

Abortion is one of those topics that most people feel very strongly about, and it’s also something that not a lot of people enjoy talking about. Under the communist rule of Nicolae Ceausescu, abortion was illegal in Romania. The import of contraceptives was halted as well because Ceausescu believed that increasing the number of babies born in Romania during his rule meant more Socialist citizens. While this was true, abortion did not become obsolete during his regime. In fact, abortions were still performed at alarming rates. When the Soviet Union fell and Ceausescu was no longer in power, abortion and contraception use were legalized. Despite the increase in availability, legalization of abortion and contraceptives after the fall of Ceausescu in post-socialist Romania has not resulted in a change of the abortion culture. This is because of the lack of sex education, misconceptions about contraception, and a poor economy. In order to understand this, a basic understanding of socialism is necessary, as is general knowledge of the history of Romania and the Soviet Union.

As the article goes on, Valenti enumerates and explains the recent violent attacks towards abortion clinics in the last few months, affirming that, in one of the attacks, “…the alleged perpetrator made a comment in its wake about ‘no more baby parts’.” The “baby parts” is the name often called

1) The activities that I completed in order to achieve my learning goal included watching We the Economy videos, analyzing two websites that provided resources to learn about taxes and The Federal Reserve, and listening to two Freakonomics radio shows. I think the We the Economy videos and the website

Another issue that I have with this abortion theory is that it is being conducted as a total, complete whole of all people in the United States. In the 1970’s non-white females were at their peak of abortions. One would expect that the crime rate should be the lowest then in the 1990’s for non-whites, but in the years of 1993 and 1994 homicide was at its peak for young black male adults. Even though the statistics prove this to be true, Levitt and his partner of this theory, John

Mneef Alajmi Reading Analysis of “Where Have All the Criminals Gone?” Executive Summary The article on “Where have all the criminals gone?” begins by giving a new incite to the effects of legalized abortion; which is its relation to the decreasing crime. Abortion which in general term is called as ‘miscarriage’ was not legalized years back. It was taken as a sin back then. Many of us still would make comments that abortion is a crime and equals to killing a human itself. Our norms tell us that a life to be born should never be put to an end as everyone is god’s creation and deserves to live a life. Due to this thought many women have given birth to babies as abortion is strictly prohibited. These babies have often been termed as the unwanted child and are hated most of the time by their family including mother herself. This hatred and tag as an unwanted child makes a bad impact on them. These types of children thus become rough, rude, and carefree and often commit a crime as a part of their revenge with the society. As a normal people, we might never think that this can be the reason for the increasing crime in the society. However on critical analysis as done by the writers of “Where have all the criminals gone?” the association seems to hold the truth. Giving birth to an unwanted child has a direct link to the increasing crime. Similarly, with abortion, unwanted children are not born due to which children are not taken as a burden. They are loved, cared and raised well

Stephenie Osewe Dr. Amir Azarvana Pols 1101 July 2nd 2015 Abortion. The tittle of the article I will be analyzing is “republicans seek to put abortion on the front burner in 2016”. The article was published in U.S. News and World Report, written by Tierney Sneed. Abortion is a never ending debate, it is one of the most common medical procedures performed in the United States each year. Abortion is also one of the most debated topics of all time, it is a never ending debate of whether it should be legal for women to terminate pregnancy. Some people are against abortion while others are for it. people that are against abortion also known as “pro-life” believe that women should not have an abortion because it would be considered murder,

Chapter four focuses on the effect of legalised abortion on the crime rate. The Roe v. Wade case is brought up to

Abortion The rate of abortion in the United States has been increasing rapidly since 1973, with an estimated total of over 55 million abortions. Research also shows that more Americans now commit abortion for less important reasons than rape of incest since the legalization-approximately 93% of the women who carry out abortion explain that they do it for “social reasons”. However, National Right to Life Committee(NRLC) provides some normative claims as to why should not be legalized as the rhetoric of their argument. The members of this organization explain the similarities between abortion and murder; the diary of an unborn child and the pains that they face during abortion. They also present some scientific theories that relate to pregnancy and life. According to science, as soon as fertilization takes place in a woman’s body, a new life begins; the heart begins to beat