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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. What now-infamous governor tried to introduce a plan to mail everyone in the state a book every month from birth to kindergarten?

2. How did the Chicago Public School system deal with the confusion of allowing students to choose any school in the city?

3. To what satirist do the authors liken their own abortion-violent crime claim?

4. What is the approximate ratio of abortions:murders in America as stated at the end of the chapter?

5. What final factor do the authors say affects the way a child develops?

Short Essay Questions

1. What study is cited involving names and job hiring?

2. What hypothetical comparison do the authors create between two boys' upbringings?

3. How do the authors explain the correlation between number of books and achievement?

4. What connection exists between celebrity and popular names?

5. How is name-choice an indicator of parenting?

6. By what rational do Levitt and Dubner reason that even a cynical person would not consider abortion a reasonable deterrent to crime?

7. How does Robert Lane's child-naming scheme work out?

8. What policy recommendations do the authors make regarding their theories?

9. How do the authors explain the above contradiction in fears?

10. How is the quality of life of an aborted child different from one that is born?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

FREAKONOMICS is at heart a challenge to conventional wisdom. The authors regard conventional wisdom as something to be wary of and questioned. Write an essay on the subject of conventional wisdom in three parts:

Part 1) How did the term "conventional wisdom" enter the common lexicon? According to the authors, why is conventional wisdom comforting to people? What purpose does it serve?

Part 2) Why dot he authors deem it so important to challenge conventional wisdom? What does it add to the common discourse, and how does it illuminate the enigmatic world?

Part 3) Analyze one of the topics of any chapter in the book. What conventional wisdom are the authors challenging? How are they going about challenging it, and what conclusion do they reach?

Essay Topic 2

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 3

The authors of FREAKONOMICS begin the book with five precepts that guided their writing, as opposed to a single subject. Write an essay about any one of these precepts. Why do Levitt and Dubner consider this rule central to their process? Choose three chapters from the book. How does the research done in these chapters reflect your chosen precept?

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