Here's the Spectrum article on the lecture:
"I'm not a real economist," Steven D. Levitt confided to the audience that gathered for the third installment of this year's Distinguished Speakers Series this past Wednesday. Levitt also admitted to receiving the lowest score out of all the students his teacher had ever taught on the Advanced Placement Calculus test in high school.Although the odds were stacked against him, Levitt has written a bestselling book, Freakonomics, and has been awarded the John Bates Clark Medal for his significant contributions to the field of economics - not bad for a fake economist.
The key to his success, Levitt said, was choosing a field in which he had a natural talent, then studying the things to which no other economist would want to attach their name. He followed in his father's footsteps and chose an area of his field that in which no self-respecting professional would want to be involved. For his father, it was intestinal gas; for Levitt, it is Freakonomics.
"I figured I better be an economist because otherwise I would be nothing," Levitt said. "If you're not good enough to compete head-to-head with the best people, then you have to do something else. I take all these questions that all the real economists are embarrassed to have their name associated with but...I've been able to scrape up a decent career by following that path."
Throughout the lecture, the self-proclaimed "Equal Opportunity Offender" told stories about his bold and often controversial research projects and the exceptional people he has met through his studies - many of whom are documented in Freakonomics.
Although many in attendance had not read Levitt's book, they were interested in hearing what the "rogue economist" had to say.
"I've heard a lot of good things about him, but I haven't read his book so I don't really know what he's all about. I'm here to find out," said UB's Chief Information Officer, Elias Eldayrie, who brought his daughter along. "I've heard his book is awesome."
One of Levitt's stories featured John Szilagyi, an Internal Revenue Service worker who had one good idea in his 40 years of working for the company: to fill in the social security numbers of children being claimed as dependents. Miraculously, seven million children vanished from the face of the Earth once the plan was implemented. Szilagyi has saved the IRS $2 million per year and now gets $25,000 per year for having that one good idea, thanks to a Congressman's pork barrel bill.
"If you have a good idea, one idea can be enough," Levitt said. "There are profound ideas like the Theory of Relativity...but there's also this set of just really simple ideas...where someone sees a need and figures out how to solve (problems) in a simple way."
Levitt also revealed the story behind how he was able to study the finances of a Chicago crack gang. J.T., the gang leader who appears in Freakonomics, provided Levitt with the gang's book of financial records through Levitt's colleague Sadir, who lives a double life as a sociologist studying gangs and a person living the gang lifestyle. The records allowed Levitt to study the hierarchy of crack gangs, which he has concluded are much like that of McDonald's restaurants. In fact, the gang members on the bottom of the hierarchy barely make minimum wage and often live with their mothers because they don't have the money to move out, Levitt said.
"I liked the story about the crime gang in Chicago - like how the drug dealers aren't really the way they are portrayed in the media and movies," said Tom Wojcik, a second year MBA student.
Levitt has teamed up with Sadir again for his most recent research: the economics of prostitution.
"Street prostitution is a really interesting business, and I think you can learn a lot about humanity," he said. "I always thought being a street drug dealer was the worst job in America until we started tracking the street prostitutes. There's no doubt that is the worst job you will ever find."
According to Levitt, the most interesting data to come out of this research is the fact that if you're a prostitute in Chicago, you're more likely to have sex with an on-duty police officer than to be arrested by one.
"You learn things you didn't expect to learn when you go out into the real world and collect data," Levitt said.
In a story that was a crowd-favorite, Levitt spoke about how he brought his research into the classroom when he had a former prostitute come in to teach his class one day, and his students thought it was the best class they had ever attended.
Liz Gyoerkoe, a junior psychology major, appreciated Levitt's storytelling, which provided for a more interesting take on economics.
"I thought it was cool to see how you can apply economics to something like...prostitution. I thought economics was really boring...but he explained it on a real level," she said.
Brad Torchia, a junior business major, agreed.
"He gave a unique perspective on ordinary topics," he said.
Shari Rosario, a senior economics major, saw the lecture as a testament to UB's "aggressive, holistic approach to education." Although Rosario expected Levitt to talk about more technical aspects of the economy, she enjoyed his entertaining approach to the subject.
"I think he has a modern, outside-of-the-box approach to economics...it's very refreshing," Rosario said. "He helps you really learn to apply what we learn in the classroom to normal topics and extends it to things that we need to look at but don't."
The audience was composed of not only students, but also community members of all ages.
Dr. Jacob Steinhart, who graduated from UB in 1945, and his wife, Sis, attend the Distinguished Speakers Series lectures to stay informed.
"We come to all the speeches because we like to keep up on what's happening in the world," Sis Steinhart said. "After a while, you get tired of reading books and TV news."
The couple purchased an autographed copy of Freakonomics, which was being sold by the UB Bookstore in the Alumni Arena lobby for $28.
Jill Kilinskas, UB alumnus from Williamsville who holds season tickets to the Series, also bought Levitt's book. She found Levitt to be a more animated speaker than Ishmael Beah, who was featured in the second installment of the Series last month.
"I didn't really know what to expect," Kilinskas said. "From a speaker point of view, I think this was better (than Ishmael Beah). He kept the audience more interested. Ishmael...read from his notes more than just speaking. I also think (Levitt) had a better presentation."
Levitt said he never planned on writing a book about his findings and was surprised when people actually read it after he and co-author Stephen Dubner wrote it.
"I wouldn't say I was inspired; they offered a lot of money - that's why we wrote the book. I didn't really want to write the book. I was busy doing my academic stuff, and I can't write at all," Levitt said in an interview. "I think we both agreed that if they were willing to pay us a lot of money, we'd give it a shot."
Levitt and Dubner have just begun their next volume of bold and freaky comparisons.
"It's going to be like the first book - no real focus at all, we're just going to wander from one thing to another trying to have some fun while making a little bit of sense of the world around us," Levitt said.
Readers can expect to see Levitt's latest research on the economics of prostitution delivered in detail if they read the upcoming book.
Levitt's next book might also help Britney Spears; he plans on presenting more statistical data in an expanded argument that he believes proves that child car seats don't work very well and the benefits of using a car seat rather than an adult seat belt are very small.
The pseudo-economist's advice for college students is to find a path that isn't crowded with others that have the same passion so you have a better chance of actually being able to do something you love.
"There are a lot of people who want to be in a rock band, a lot of people who want to be movie stars. That's a terrible idea. If your passion is the same as everyone else's passion then you're probably in trouble."
To Levitt, no matter what it is that you love, one fact is always true:
"If you're smart, and you work hard, and you make good choices, good things can happen," he said. "There's no substitute for hard work."
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