Steven Levitt

Program Overview

Economist and Bestselling Author

Steven D. Levitt Bestselling Author, FREAKONOMICS Author of the Highly Anticipated Follow-Up Book, SUPERFREAKONOMICS (Pub Date 10.20.09) FREAKONOMICS Spent Over 2 Years on The New York Times Bestseller List, With More Than 4 Million CopiesSold Worldwide The Popular FREAKONOMICS Blog is Hosted Exclusively on The New York Times Website

When mild-mannered economist Steven D. Levitt published a paper linking a rise in abortion to a drop in crime, it set off a firestorm of controversy and had both the conservatives and liberals up in arms. But Levitt has no political agenda and is the last person to be called a moralist. He is a brilliant but uncomplicated man who uses simple questions to reach startling conclusions. The Wall StreetJournal has said "If Indiana Jones were an economist, he'd be Steven Levitt," he has shown other economists just how well their tools can make sense of the real world.

Steven Levitt is a tenured professor in the University of Chicago's economics department (he received tenure after only two years) and is the recipient of the American Economic Association's prestigious John Bates Clark Medal - given to the country's best economist under 40.

When Stephen Dubner (co-author of FREAKONOMICS and SUPERFREAKONOMICS) profiled Levitt in The New York Times Magazine, he was beset by questions, queries, riddles and requests-from General Motors and the New York Yankees and U.S. senators but also from prisoners and parents and a man who sold bagels. A former Tour de France champion called him to ask his help in proving that the current Tour is rife with doping; the Central Intelligence Agency wanted to know how Levitt might use data to catch terrorists.

Originally published in the U.S. in 2005, FREAKONOMICS instantly became a cultural phenomenon. Hailed by critics and readers alike, it went on to spend more than two years on The New York Times bestseller list, having sold more than 4 million copies around the world, in more than 30 languages. Levitt and Dubner have appeared widely on television and maintain the popular FREAKONOMICS blog, which can be found on The New York Times website.

A self-effacing, mid-western father of four, Levitt has an enormous curiosity and is set on course by personal experiences and the incongruities he sees in everyday life. He is an intuitionist. He sifts through a pile of data to find a story that no one else has found and devises ways to measure an effect that veteran economists have declared un-measurable.

Through forceful storytelling and wry insight, Levitt shows how economics is, at root, the study of incentives - that is, how people get what they want, or need, especially when other people want or need the same thing. FREAKONOMICS shows that the modern world, despite a great deal of complexity and downright deceit, is not impenetrable, is not unknowable, and-if the right questions are asked-is even more intriguing than we think. All it takes is a new way of looking.

His unconventional wisdom continues with SUPERFREAKONOMICS, which he and co-author Stephen Dubner spent the past four years researching. SUPERFREAKONOMICS is even bolder, funnier, and more surprising than the FREAKONOMICS, and is destined to be a bestseller. The book delves into the biggest issues of our time: healthcare, terrorism, global warming, the current financial crisis, and much more. In his presentations around the globe, Levitt presents results from his research and tailors his remarks to the specific needs and objectives of your organization, all with a healthy dose of humor!

Program Overview