Freakonomics A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner

The author asks of readers, “[d]o you feel as if you’re in a cult? Probably not” (Lasn, 115). By inquiring about how readers feel, he engages them to come up with their own response, even if it is merely rhetorical. Lasn’s point in proceeding this way is to encourage readers to interact with his argument. He desires for them to become less passive about the information they read, whether it be his essay or the advertisements that bombard them on a daily basis. If Lasn were to write in a solely third person point of view, simply discussing “American consumers”, readers would feel as if they were detached from the issue at hand, learning about how advertising adversely affects only those around

Specifically, Rubins’ use of clear, precise language helps her readers understand her analysis. For example, in every instance that Rubin uses historical context, she skillfully crafts her explanations and descriptions of the information presented in a way which is easily comprehended by an audience who may or may not have any background information on the subject. Furthermore, the structure and organization of Rubin’s essay, such as the way she meticulously walks her readers through each element of Coca-Cola’s ad, also lends itself to it’s ease of comprehension. Consequently, both of these elements work together in Rubin’s writing to bring together an analysis which is easily understood by the average

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.

In what way are schoolteachers and sumo wrestlers similar? At first, this question might be puzzling, but the answer is provided in the book Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything. Freakonomics is the result of a partnership between an award winning economist, Steven D. Levitt, and a journalist, Stephen J. Dubner. The duo decided upon making a book after Dubner was given an assignment to profile Levitt. Dubner realized that Levitt took a different approach to economics than other economists and he saw that Levitt had an interesting and effective way to explain statistics. This pushed the two to release the 315 page book to the public in 2005 in New York, New York. Since then, the book has flourished and has been republished numerous times. In Freakonomics, Dubner and Levitt reveal that fundamental ideas of economics can be used to interpret just about everything in modern society. The book focuses on a few key points including; incentives are the driving force behind everything, conventional wisdom is often wrong, small causes can often have dramatic effects, and the advantages of having information. The authors use many interesting stories and statistics to demonstrate these economic themes in the modern world. Stories include how some school teachers in the Chicago school system cheat, the influence that the legalization of abortions had on crime rates, and how real estate agents tend to sell their own homes for higher prices than if they

When people see or hear advertisements, whether it be in a magazine or on television, many do not stop to consider or analyze the techniques that go into making the advertisement effective. For instance, the Center for Disease Control has a campaign that has the purpose of promoting the influenza vaccination. If you examine the campaign closely, it becomes clear that the advertising campaign targets a diverse audience of all ages, genders, and races who could all benefit from getting an influenza vaccination. In this advertisement campaign, the Center for Disease Control effectively promotes the benefits of getting an influenza vaccination to a targeted audience using numerous persuasive techniques such as association and universal appeal.

Advertisements are an extremely prominent part of American society. Very few places exist that an individual can go without being exposed to some form of ad. From product placement to billboards, advertisements exist in nearly every facet of life. Marion Nestle discusses what she considers to be one of the more heinous forms of advertisement in her essay, “The Supermarket: Prime Real Estate.” Nestle uses several persuasive techniques to convince her audience of the evils of supermarkets. Her use of emotionally charged phrases paired with her more logical assertions help to drive her point home while her clear bias and lack of supportive source detract from her overall argument

READ: Naked Economics: Undressing the Dismal Science, Charles Wheeland, W.W. Norton, 2003. Completely- cover to cover.

READ: Naked Economics: Undressing the Dismal Science, Charles Wheeland, W.W. Norton, 2003. Completely- cover to cover.

Commercials airing on the television or radio, the billboards on the side of the freeways trying to grab your attention to buy their product, even while scrolling through various social media platforms, we go through our day to day lives with advertisements all around us. In Jack Solomon’s essay, Masters of Desire: The Culture of American Advertising, he states that the main purpose of all these advertisements is to show us our unhappiness within the American dream. He goes on to describe the differences in these advertisements which are known as the populist ads and the elite ads. Solomon's description of the contradiction between populism and elitism very much affects the way advertising and media is portrayed in American society.

Although they also have other minor purposes like to diffuse controversial issues or to demonstrate the power of numbers, their primary purpose in writing Freakonomics was to objectively present a new way of thinking which would cause their audience of teenagers and adults to reevaluate the way that they view the world. When they write, “” they use an allusion to emphasize that while simultaneously creating common ground with their audience thus boosting their credibility and the likelihood that the audience would consider adopting their new world perspective (Levitt and Dubner). Additionally, when they ponder, “” they employ rhetorical questions as a means of causing the discovery of knowledge to happen inside of the audience members which helps to prove the validity of their unique perspective since they did not have to explicitly state their conclusions rather the conclusions were so valid that anyone audience member could arrive at the same one (Levitt and

“An incentive is a bullet, a key: an often tiny object with astonishing power to change a situation” (Levitt & Dubner 16). Freakonomics is a book written in 2005 by award winning economist Steven Levitt and former New York Times journalist Stephen Dubner while they both resided in different states. The use of simple diction makes it so a larger audience can be reached; readers vary from everyday people to students to economists. In order to better explain economics, Levitt and Dubner appeal to their audience by forgoing economic jargon and using simpler terms to ensure that the readers understand and relate to what is being explained throughout the passages. The authors also appeal to the readers through their credible background and logically by using statistics, researches, facts and parallelism.

In “Propaganda Techniques in Today 's Advertising” by Ann McClintock, the author discusses how Americans are being brainwashed by advertisements and the different techniques they use to catch our attention. Ads are simply everywhere we look, it is impossible to get through the day without seeing one. All advertising companies put tons of research into how consumers spend money or even vote. Once these companies finish their research, they create advertisements that appeal to the masses. The basic propaganda techniques that McClintock writes about are Name Calling, Glittering Generalities, Transfer, Testimonial, Plain Folks, Card Stacking, and Bandwagon. Each one of these propaganda techniques is used in specific ways by advertisers to sell their product or service to consumers. I have selected a political ad which uses the Glittering Generalities technique, a coffee ad that uses Transfer technique, a soda ad that uses the Testimonial technique, and a soup ad that uses the Name Calling technique.

When to Rob a Bank discusses the media and politics and economics. Considering that Levitt is an economist and Dubner is his coauthor for Freakonomics, it is not a surprise that When to Rob a Bank is about economics. Most of the topics discussed in the book were interesting, like the section “I’m a High-End Call Girl; Ask Me Anything” from the sixth chapter of the book, and others were not so interesting, such as “How Is a Canadian Art-Pop Singer Like a Bagel Salesman” and it’s sequel entry “Jane Siberry Snaps” from the third chapter. The chapters were often random as a result of the book being a “book of blogs” and was completely compiled of the blog posts from Levitt’s and Dubner’s website, Freakonomics.com (Levitt and Dubner 4).

In 2011 there was a major scandal, the United States Congress invested money in NASCAR army racing and cut the budget set aside for homeless veterans. Corporations have become some of the world’s biggest economies consuming everything but they fall short in advertising. Advertising cannot deceive anyone anymore, the trust and belief has been lost because of social media and the ease of access and information from consumer experiences.

Redbook magazine are devoted to selling products ranging from shoes to shampoo. The entire magazine only has only 210 pages. Approximately 6-8 min of every half hour television show is produced by ad agencies. Americans are bombarded with advertisements. We see them everyday in many different forms and through different mediums. Advertisers study America’s population through a systematic breakdown and analysis of our likes and dislikes in relation to our differences. These differences include gender, sexual orientation, economic status, location, race, ethnicity, and more. Advertisers have substantial knowledge of what appeals to each of these demographics and how these demographics will respond to