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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. Which two cities does Levitt compare in his discussion of police population versus murder rate?

2. By how much did the homicide rate among young black males increase over the first five years of the crack boom?

3. Which of the following is not a reason why crack was so appealing to urban gangs in the 1980s?

4. How many times a year are elite sumo tournaments held?

5. According to the authors, what is the easiest way to ensure your will not get a good response to your dating profile?

Short Essay Questions

1. From what did the Ku Klux Klan derive its power in the twentieth century?

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

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

4. According to the authors, what motivates everyone?

5. How is the organizational structure of the Black Gangster Disciple Nation similar to McDonald's?

6. What example do the authors use at the end of the chapter to show that people will cheat if they know they won't be caught?

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

8. What argument do the authors make about experts?

9. How are nylon stockings and crack cocaine similar?

10. What unorthodox theory do the authors offer regarding the drop in crime in the late 1990s?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Write an essay on crack cocaine, dealing with its societal role in two parts: its origin and its effect. Where did crack cocaine come from, and how did it fill a hole in American drug culture? Why did it become so immensely popular in America? Secondly, how did it affect social trends regarding udban black Americans?

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

At its root, FREAKONOMICS is a study in contrarian thinking. Dubner and Levitt lionize the idea of the "hidden side," and their studies espouse a willful denial of conventional thought. Write an essay about the hidden side of three trends. What is the conventional wisdom regarding each trend? How do the authors disassemble these conventional theories? What fresh notion do they reach in the end?

Part 1) The drop in violent crime in the mid 1990's.

Part 2) The lucrative nature of hard drugs.

Part 3) The importance of parental involvement in a child's development.

(see the answer keys)

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