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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. At what preeminent university does Venkatesh meet Steven Levitt?

2. Which two philosophers does Levitt cite who subscribe to the belief that people are inherently good?

3. What portion of the full commission does the seller's real estate agent generally get to keep?

4. On average, how many more days does a real estate agent generally keep her own house on the market as opposed to someone else's?

5. In his introduction, what does Levitt say he wants to replace with honest assessment?

Short Essay Questions

1. What mindset do the authors ask the reader to take at the end of the introduction?

2. Why is a real estate agent inclined to keep her own house on the market longer than her client's?

3. How did Sudhir Venkatesh become acquainted with the Black Gangster Disciple Nation?

4. How did the introduction of crack cocaine reverse a trajectory in American black culture?

5. What happens to the day-cares of Haifa, Israel when a late-pickup fee is introduced?

6. What is important to women on dating sites?

7. What does Paul Feldman learn about honesty from his bagel business?

8. Why would some winning sumo wrestlers throw a match?

9. How were predictions about violent crime in the Nineties incorrect?

10. What are the defining characteristics of conventional wisdom?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

In the world as analyzed by Dubner and Levitt in FREAKONOMICS, information is a tangible commodity. From it derives power and influence over others, and many groups primarily derive their power from information. Write an essay on information as a commodity, in three parts:

Part 1) Information asymmetry is the purposeful consolidation of information by a group for the sake of greater influence. How is this an effective technique in controlling others? What examples exist of information asymmetry exist in our culture?

Part 2) To what extent did the Ku Klux Klan's power derive from its secrecy? As such, how were Stetson Kennedy's techniques against the Klan particularly effective at disempowering them?

Part 3) The authors state that the advent of the internet was a boon for a society held hostage to information asymmetry. What businesses were affected adversely by this new freedom of information? How were they affected?

Essay Topic 2

Write an essay on the theories surround the drop in violent crime in America in the nineties. In the essay, discuss two theories that the authors determine had no effect on crime and one that they determine did. Why is each theory either effective or ineffective? How do the authors go about showing the validity of each? For the one that is deemed effective, how could policy be changed to incorporate this theory?

Essay Topic 3

The authors of FREAKONOMICS begin the book with five precepts that guided their writing, as opposed to a single subject. Write an essay about any one of these precepts. Why do Levitt and Dubner consider this rule central to their process? Choose three chapters from the book. How does the research done in these chapters reflect your chosen precept?

(see the answer keys)

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