Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything

1.  Which statement best explains the overarching premise of Freakonomics?

A) Conventional wisdom can often be wrong.

B) The simplest explanation is the most likely.

C) Laws don’t make a meaningful difference.

D) Whatever can go wrong, eventually will.

2.  Which best defines an incentive?

A) a payment for providing a good or performing a service

B) a monetary fine for breaking the law

C) a moral obligation requiring someone to take an action

D) a motivation for someone to do more good or less bad

3.  What are the three types of incentives? (short answer)

4.  According to the authors, what are common unintended side effects of incentives? Choose all that apply.

A) a rise in cheating

B) increased mental wellness

C) increased competition

D) increased white-collar crime

E)  reduced appeal

5.  What is the authors’ claim about “the conversion of information into fear”? (short answer)

6.  The Dunning-Kruger effect can best be defined as a tendency

A) to do the right thing.

B) to inflate one’s own abilities.

C) of a system to fall apart.

D) of something unexpected to happen.

7. What reason did Mitch Snyder give for making up his statistics about death and the homeless?

A) academic prestige

B) poor data skills

C) demands from the press

D) a desire to solve a social problem

8. According to Sudhir Venkatesh and Steven Levitt, what makes the Black Disciples similar to McDonald’s?

A) a pyramid-shaped corporate structure 

B) consistent 24-hour operations

C) distribution of an addictive product

D) a guaranteed path to job advancement

9. According to the authors, what prevents gun ban and registration laws from being an effective solution to gun crime?

A) ineffective record keeping

B) a thriving black market

C) lack of enforcement

D) a range of loopholes

10. Which best defines the broken window theory of policing?

A) Someone who breaks a window is more likely to commit a violent act.

B) Enforcing small infractions helps prevent more serious crime.

C) Criminals are more likely to live in buildings with broken windows.

D) Enforcing small infractions makes little difference in major crime prevention.

11. In Chapter 4, what evidence do the authors use to rebut the counterargument that legalized abortion and a reduction in crime is an example of correlation, not causation? (short answer)

12. According to the authors, what factor is most likely to cause someone to overestimate a risk?

A) dread

B) complacency

C) confidence

D) attentiveness

13. Which statement are the authors most likely to agree with? 

A) We overestimate the dangers associated with everyday activities.

B) Assessing risk is a more straightforward process than it seems.

C) Assessing risk is unlikely to make a difference in our everyday behavior.

D) We underestimate the dangers of things that seem within our control.

14. According to the authors, what most determines a child’s educational outcomes?

A) what parents do

B) who parents are

C) a child’s name

D) a child’s TV habits

15. Based on the data used in Chapter 6, which statement are the authors most likely to agree with?

A) Names can determine a child’s economic future.

B) Upper income brackets eventually coopt names used in lower income brackets.

C) Names can reflect a child’s economic and racial background.

D) Names are intentionally chosen to reflect class and racial solidarity.

16. Based on the types of patterns the authors study, which statement are they most likely to agree with?

A) Popular beliefs are popular because they are supported by data.

B) Data can reveal some popular beliefs to be unsupported.

C) Overemphasis on data can lead to a loss of nuanced understanding.

D) Conclusions drawn exclusively from data should be automatically suspect.