Freakonomics

Book Summary

Chapter 1 Summary: What Do Schoolteachers and Sumo Wrestlers Have in Common?

This chapter defines economics as a study of incentives and how they are pursued. How do we profit by what we do and what incentives are so attractive that they compel us to act unethically?

The author describes the research he used to identify a number of Chicago public school teachers who helped their students cheat on standardized tests. He analyzed standardized test answer patterns and identified suspicious groups of correct answers. A retest was administered to identify cheating teachers and the findings resulted in the termination of the clear offenders / cheaters, as well as systematic reforms in the school standardized testing practices.

Another research project involved the analysis of the scores and contest records of Japan’s top level sumo wrestlers. No definitive proof had ever been shown that cheating had been taken place in this sport, though there had always been suspicion. By comparing the performances of the wrestlers in matches with different stakes and potential consequences, the author found that cheating does often take place in the sport.

The story of an entrepreneur who sold bagels using the honor system to office workers in Washington, D.C. wraps up this chapter. The entrepreneur kept detailed financial records and found consistent patterns in the behavior of those who stole bagels. The author clearly illustrates that cheating can be predicted.

Freakonomics Chapter 2 Summary: How is the Ku Klux Klan like a Group of Real-Estate Agents?

The focus is on how individuals, organizations, and businesses often exploit their access to information at the expense of others. Entire industries have attained great success and many significant historical events have transpired as the result of an imbalance in the flow of information.

The authors describe a story of a man who helped cripple the racist Ku Klux Klan simply by widely disseminating their secrets. Stetson Kennedy infiltrated the group in the World War II time period and documented the secret rituals and codes of the organization. Kennedy then gave the records and reports to Hollywood writers, who used the information to create a long-running story on the wildly popular Superman radio program. Children across the United States imitated the shows in their schoolyard games, and gradually, the mystery and influence of the group were diminished.

The author also explores the real estate industry and the behavior of real estate agents. By reviewing data about real estate agents typical practices when they are selling their own houses, the author found that they may not always have their clients’ best interests at heart.

Also, the author claims that the world wide web / Internet has started a shift in many industries simply by providing consumers with more information than they have ever had access to before in the past.

Freakonomics Chapter 3 Summary: Why Do Drug Dealers Still Live with Their Moms?

The common belief that all drug dealers are rich is proved to be incorrect. The author uses the research from sociologist Sudhir Venkatesh. Venkatesh conducted field studies in Chicago which granted him access to the inner workings of gangs, including financial information.

The author compares the organizational structure of the gang to McDonalds. He explains how very few executives and upper level managers prosper from the work of 1000’s of minimum wage or low wage workers. He even found that most street drug dealers made less than minimum wage.

Freakonomics Chapter 4 Summary: Where Have All the Criminals Gone?

Research showed a link between the legalization of abortion in the United States in 1973 and the drop in violent crime in the 1990’s. The author’s research suggests that the drop in violent crime in the United States occurred at the same time that the first wave of babies conceived after the legalization of abortion were entering late adolescence. The author claims that many of the additional children who would have been born annually if abortion had remained illegal would have been at high risk for engaging in violent crime. The authors do not take an ideological stance on the issue, however, they do conclude that women with the right to choose abortion tend to make good decisions.

Freakonomics Chapter 5 Summary: What Makes a Perfect Parent?

Both chapters 5 and chapter 6 address aspects of parenting and the way that parents’ actions and choices can impact the outcomes of their children’s lives’. His research found that when allowing children to play in swimming pools, they were more than 100 times more likely to die in a swimming pool than playing with a gun.

The author found that “good” or “positive parenting outcomes” on their children are connected more strongly to factors such as socioeconomic status and the education of parents more than any specific parenting practices.

The author found that the following factors had an impact on children receiving high standardized test scores: highly educated parents, high socioeconomic status, low birth weight, English as the primary language spoken at home, parental involvement in the PTA, and many books simply in the home.

Factors that are not important based on the author’s research in determining high standardized test scores in children include: the family is intact, moved to a better neighborhood, the mother didn’t work between birth and kindergarten, the child attended Head Start, going to museums, being spanked, watching TV, the parents read to the child almost every single day.

Freakonomics Chapter 6 Summary: Would a Roshanda by Any Other Name Smell as Sweet?

In the final chapter, the authors extend the discussion of parenting with an overview of more economic aspects of parental choices. The focus is on the economic implications of children’s names. The author claims that having a distinctively “black name” was linked to lower attainment, less education, less income, and overall less success in life.

5 People You Meet in Heaven

Summary
The book begins with Eddie’s 83rd birthday at his work place, Ruby Pier. He is the head of Maintenance at the pier. At this day he goes about his normal routine until one of the rides malfunctions. Eddie gives a fellow worker, Dominguez, instructions on how to fix the ride; however, one of the carts breaks free from the ride and falls to the pier. Eddie jumps out of the way and tries to pull a little girl out of the path of the falling cart. Eddie does not get out of the way in time and is killed by the falling coaster cart. From that point, Eddie begins his trip through heaven where he meets 5 people that have played a part in Eddie's life. From each person, he learns a lesson. Also, throughout the chapter, the book flashes back to some of Eddie's previous birthdays.
Five People
1) “The Blue Man,” In Eddie’s first stop in heaven, it is revealed that this was “The Blue Man,” or Joseph Corvelzchik. Joseph lived his life as an attraction in a freak show at Ruby Pier. One day, he spills a pile of buttons all over the floor right in front of the foreman, who tells him that he is useless and must go. As his father pleads with the foreman to let him stay, Joseph soils himself in front of the foreman, his father, and the entire industry.

His father never forgave him. As the years passed, his nervousness and incontinence persisted, further humiliating him and disappointing his father. In an act of desperation, Joseph resorted to a primitive medicinal measure — drinking silver nitrate until his skin began to change color. Eventually he found refuge with a group of carnival men, and his life as a “commodity” had begun.
He explains that when Eddie retrieved his ball from the street, although he was quite safe and sound, the Blue man wasn't. Eddie had given him a heart attack when he was driving due to a sudden halt and the Blue man was not mad at Eddie because of this, which confused Eddie. The Blue Man then taught Eddie his first lesson, that we are all somehow or another connected. Everything that we do affects what will happen to another. The Blue Man then tells him "Strangers are family you have yet to come to know", meaning that although they never met, what Eddie did affected his life from then on.

The Blue Man taught Eddie the following lesson: "There are no random acts; we are all connected."

2) When Eddie was shipped off to the Philippines during World War II, “The Captain” became Eddie’s commanding officer. He was a few years older than Eddie and his fellow men and had spent his life in the military, as did three generations of his family before him. His stern demeanor and quick temper were his most noticeable attributes. He made a promise to his men: no man gets left behind.

The Captain is the second person Eddie meets in heaven. Here, it is revealed that he was the one who shot Eddie in the leg, crippling him for life. However, unbeknownst to Eddie, the captain was actually saving his life, as Eddie was about to run into a burning hut, thinking he saw the shape of a small child burning in the ruins. Shortly after saving Eddie, the captain steps on a land mine and is killed. His lesson was about sacrifices.

The Captain has taught Eddie the following lesson: "Sacrifice is the noblest thing you can do."

3) Ruby, the third person he meets, goes on to tell Eddie about the near-complete destruction of Ruby Pier. For Independence Day, Emile hired extra workers and utilized fireworks to draw extra customers. However, some of the “roustabouts” were drinking one night and began setting off fireworks, causing a fire that almost burned the entire pier to the ground. In a frantic attempt to save his life’s work, Emile tried to extinguish the fire with buckets of water, and in the process was critically injured and ended up in the same hospital room with Eddie’s father. Because of this, she is able to recount to him his father’s final living moments to him. Ruby helps Eddie understand the importance of forgiveness.

4) Marguerite, his wife was the fourth person he met. They had a happy, loving marriage even though they could not have children. They were planning to adopt a child until the events of Eddie's 39th birthday. That day he won $800 at the track and called Marguerite to tell her the good news. However, she did not respond positively. Out of spite Eddie put all his winnings on the next race. Marguerite attempted to drive to the track to apologize for yelling at him on his birthday and to convince him to stop betting. On her way there, a couple of drunken kids dropped whiskey bottles off the freeway that landed on her car. This caused her to get in a car crash that lacerated her liver and broke her arm. The cost of the medical bills and her health issues made them ineligible to adopt.

After that tragic event, Eddie and Marguerite's marriage changed. They often sat in silence that was permeated by sullen tension. As time passed, however, they were eventually able to overcome their emotional disconnection and became loving companions once again. However, only a few years later, Marguerite died of a brain tumor. She was the fourth person Eddie met.

Marguerite teaches Eddie that, even though she had died, their love never went away; it just took a different form.

5)During the war, Eddie was held captive in the Philippines by a troop of Japanese soldiers. After he and his fellow captives were able to escape, he set fire to their barracks. As he watched a straw hut burn to the ground, he thought he saw the shape of a small child inside and thought he heard screaming. Unsure if what he saw was real or a hallucination, he tried to run into the burning hut to save the child but was stopped, shot in the leg by his captain, thus saving Eddie's life. After talking with his Captain, Eddie believes he did have a hallucination and there was no child. However, when he meets Tala, his fifth person, she reveals to him that she was the shadow he saw run into the huts.

Tala allows Eddie to see that through his remorse and grief for his mistake that his life did have a purpose: to maintain the safety of each person that came to Ruby Pier. Because of Eddie's watchful eye when it came to maintaining rides, lives- born and unborn- were saved because he kept them safe. He washed her in a pond with a magical rock that wiped away her burns.

Five Lessons were learned:
1)There are no random acts; we are all connected
2) Sacrifice is the noblest thing you can do
3) Importnce of forgiveness and that we do not see the whole story.
4) Love in life never ends but does change
5)Every Life has a purpose and that purpose affects others

Questions in Jewish halacha and hashchafa

1) We are all connected
2) Can one risk their lives or sacrifice for another. Can one injure someone to save their life and what is their responsibility
3) Forgiveness and not seeing the whole story
4)What happeneds after we dies
5) Giving the benefit of the doubt.