Pop Culture dictionary
Freakonomics
[ freek-uh-nom-iks ]
What does聽Freakonomics mean?
贵谤别补办辞苍辞尘颈肠蝉听is a best-selling book and hit radio program and podcast by economist Steven Levitt and journalist Stephen Dubner. It takes an accessible look at various social and behavioral phenomena through an economic lens.
Where does Freakonomics come from?
Freakonomics听产濒别苍诲蝉 economics and freak. It’s聽an apt title for Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner’s application of economic theories to seemingly unrelated sociocultural phenomena in their best-selling 2005 nonfiction book,聽Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything.聽In it, Levitt and Dubner use economic theories to analyze such unexpected topics as鈥攁nd draw surprising and counterintuitive conclusions from鈥攃heating in sumo wrestling, trends in and effects of naming patterns, and the relationship between crime reduction and legalized abortion.
Since their book, Dubner and Levitt have built a whole enterprise centered on Freakonomics. They launched a website in 2005, came out with a follow-up book, SuperFreakonomics in 2009, released a film adaption of their work in 2010, and started a popular radio program and podcast (Freakonomics Radio) in 2010. Popular episodes have centered on how people think more expensive wine tastes better and the power of bundling temptations with tasks (e.g., watching your favorite shows only when you work out).
Thanks to the success and popularity of the brand, offbeat analyses of sociocultural and economic topics in general have become synonymous with Freakonomics, as has the discipline of behavioral economics, a favorite of the Freakonomics team.
Examples of Freakonomics
Tournaments have a place in economics. One of the insights popularised by Freakonomics back in 2005 was the idea that some jobs are tournament-like.
Who uses Freakonomics?
Freakonomics remains a popular source for economic discussion in popular culture (at least for the NPR-listening, Malcolm Gladwell-reading sort).
You are interested in mainstream sport training, than you have to listen to Freakonomics's episode in praise of incrementalism
— Theodor "dartheo" S. (@theodorstabile)
Freakonomics is also touchstone for out-of-the-box, counterintuitive approaches to sociology, psychology, and, yes, economics.
Basically a new age version of 'Freakonomics' with some interesting ideas and a different approach to behavioral economics.
'don't trust what people tell you; trust what they do.'
— Joshua Bonhotal (@jbonhotal)
贵谤别补办辞苍辞尘颈肠蝉听has drawn criticism, though, for its methods, conclusions, and topics.
Note
This is not meant to be a formal definition of Freakonomics like most terms we define on 亚洲网紅露点, but is rather an informal word summary that hopefully touches upon the key aspects of the meaning and usage of Freakonomics that will help our users expand their word mastery.