Authors of Freakonomics & Superfreakonomics

FREAKONOMICS

In the bestselling cultural phenomenon FREAKONOMICS, Mr. Levitt and Mr. Dubner explore the hidden side of everything - the inner workings of a crack gang, the truth about real-estate agents, the tell-tale marks of a cheating schoolteacher or the perfect parent. Their lectures are as entertaining as they are illuminating, using humor and first-rate storytelling to discuss the sort of topics that are on every business person's mind these days: the ways to create behavior change, the incentives that work and don't work, and the value of asking unpopular questions.

SUPERFREAKONOMICS

The SUPERFREAKONOMICS presentation is even bolder, funnier, and more surprising than FREAKONOMICS. From the rarefied corridors of academia to the grimiest street corners, Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner bring you stories inspired by engineers and astrophysicists, psychotic killers and emergency-room doctors, amateur historians and transgender neuroscientists. They address these topics with neither fear nor favor, letting numbers speak the truth. The economic approach isn’t meant to describe the world as any one of us might like it to be, or fear that it is, or pray that it becomes — but rather to explain what actually exists. Most of us want to fix or change the world in some fashion, however large or small. But in order to change the world, you first have to understand it. Believe it or not, if you can understand the incentives that lead a schoolteacher to cheat, you can understand how the subprime mortgage bubble came to pass.

Not Your Average Economics Book

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. Combining the empirical data characteristic of economics with witty, journalistic prose, Levitt and Dubner answer questions that veteran economists and scholars have declared unanswerable to explore the hidden side of everything - the truth about real-estate agents, the myths of campaign finance, the tell-tale marks of a cheating schoolteacher and much more. What unites these stories is a belief that the modern world is not impenetrable, is not unknowable. The book has won numerous awards and is now being made into a TV show and a documentary film; its way of thinking also lives on the popular FREAKONOMICS blog, which has been called “the most readable economics blog in the universe,” and is hosted exclusively on the The New York Times website. Levitt and Dubner's highly anticipated  follow-up book, entitled SUPERFREAKONOMICS, was released on October 20, 2009.  

Steven D. Levitt

Levitt is the recipient of the highly esteemed John Bates Clark Medal, recognizing him as the most influential economist in America under the age of 40 (which is frequently a precursor to the Nobel Prize). He is also a full professor in the University of Chicago’s economics department, where he received tenure after only two years. Read more about Steven Levitt...

Stephen J. Dubner

An award-winning author, journalist and TV personality, Mr. Dubner has been an editor and writer at The New York Times, taught English at Columbia University, appeared regularly on Good Morning America and World News Tonight, and, in college, he started a rock band that was signed to Arista Records. He is the author of two previous books, Choosing My Religion and Confessions of a Hero-Worshipper as well as a new children's book, The Boy With Two Belly Buttons. Read more about Stephen Dubner...