One of the few books about economics to recently hit the New York Times bestseller’s list was Freakonomics

One of the few books about economics to recently hit the New York Times bestseller’s list was Freakonomics by Levitt and Dubner. The book was so popular they even made a movie about it. The specialty of Levitt and Dubner is applying economics to unconventional, controversial, or sometimes even downright bizarre topics. Some praise them for bringing economics to a wider audience, while others criticize them for not tackling serious issues or for delving into overly conversational areas.

So what’s all the fuss about? Take a look for yourself by viewing some of their videos from YouTube, including clips from their movie, or take a look at some articles at their blog. The links are below:

https://www.youtube.com/user/FreakonomicsVideos/playlists

http://freakonomics.com/category/freakonomics-blog/

Choose one of the videos or blog articles that you find most interesting, and share the link with your classmates. Discuss some of the following issues based on what you have viewed or read:

What did you find interesting about the video or article that you found?

Did you find anything from any of the videos or articles that might help you understand some concepts from the class, or is their stuff too odd or far out there to be useful for this class?

Overall, what is your impression of Levitt and Dubner? Silly? Interesting? Bizarre? Informative? Boring? Other?