Steven Levitt on Freakonomics and the State of Economics

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4.7 • 4.4K Ratings

🗓️ 9 November 2020

⏱️ 94 minutes

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Summary

Author and economist Steven Levitt is the William B. Ogden Distinguished Service Professor of Economics at the University of Chicago and host of the podcast "People I (Mostly) Admire." He is best known as the co-author, with Stephen Dubner, of Freakonomics. The book, published in 2005, became a phenomenon, selling more than 5 million copies in 40 languages. Levitt talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the book's surprising success, the controversy it generated, and how it shaped his career. Levitt says, for him, "economics is about going into the world and finding puzzles and thinking about how understanding incentives or markets might help us get a better grasp of what's really going on."

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to Econ Talk, part of the Library of Economics and Liberty.
0:06.4	I'm your host, Russ Roberts of Stanford University's Hoover Institution.
0:11.0	Our website is econtalk.org where you can subscribe, comment on this podcast, and find links
0:16.3	and other information related to today's conversation.
0:19.0	You'll also find our archives where you can listen to every episode we've ever done going
0:23.3	back to 2006.
0:25.5	Our email address is mailadycontalk.org.
0:28.0	We'd love to hear from you.
0:32.0	Today is October 21st, 2020.
0:33.8	I want to remind listeners you can get your e-con talk merchandise at RussRoberts.info
0:40.2	where I archive all my work, so feel free to look around if you go there.
0:44.1	My guest today is Stephen Levin.
0:46.4	He is the William Beogged in Distinguished Service Professor in Economics.
0:50.4	The winner of the John Bates Clark Medal in 2004, a prize for the best economist under
0:54.8	the age of 40.
0:56.4	And with Stephen Dubner, he is the author of the book Freakonomics and the Creators of
1:00.6	All Things Freakonomic.
1:02.8	Steve, welcome to Econ Talk.
1:04.5	Good to be here, Russ.
1:06.4	Thanks.
1:07.4	Let's start with the Freakonomics phenomenon.
1:09.6	Why do you think your book caught fire?
	...

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