The Big Idea
In the 1990s, violent crime rose in America and experts predicted it would continue to rise phenomenally. And then, suddenly, the crime rate fell. Experts then said this was because of better gun control laws, better policing, and the economic boom. But the theories were wrong. The real reason was that 20 years earlier, abortion became legal. And children who would have been born in adverse environments and thus were more likely to become criminals, were not being born anymore.

This is what “Freakonomics” by economist Steven D. Levitt and journalist Stephen J. Dubner is all about. It looks at the world and how it works by exploring “the hidden side of everything.” It challenges conventional wisdom and proves that it is often wrong. It asks fresh, interesting questions most economists wouldn’t even think about, such as: If drug dealers have so much money, why do they still live with their moms? Or which is more dangerous, a gun or a swimming pool?

Steven D. Levitt is a prominent American economist best known for his work on crime, in particular on the link between legalized abortion and crime rates.

Winner of the 2003 John Bates Clark Medal, he is currently the Alvin H. Baum Professor of Economics at the University of Chicago and the director of the Becker Center on Chicago Price Theory at the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business. He is one of the most well known economists amongst laymen, having co-authored the best-selling book Freakonomics (2005). Levitt was chosen as one of Time Magazines "100 People Who Shape our World" in 2006.