SuperFreakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything

How do Levitt and Dubner’s writing style and use of storytelling enhance or detract from the credibility and accessibility of their economic arguments? Would their conclusions be as persuasive without their narrative techniques? Support your answer with examples from the text.

Compare the findings of controlled experiments like the Dictator and Ultimatum Games to the real-world behaviors discussed in SuperFreakonomics. What do these comparisons reveal about the limitations of experimental economics? Can these games be revised to more effectively reveal motives for human economic behavior? If so, how?

How does SuperFreakonomics challenge widely held beliefs about events such as the Kitty Genovese case, or Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth? What does the text suggest about the power of media narratives in shaping public perception?