By Cristal Steuer

Which is more dangerous, a gun or a swimming pool? What do schoolteachers and sumo wrestlers have in common? Why do drug dealers still live with their moms? How did the legalization of abortion affect the rate of violent crime?

You can find the answers to those questions and a whole lot more in the popular book series FREAKONOMICS and SUPERFREAKONOMICS.

One of the co-authors, Steven Levitt, will be in town this month to give the 46th Annual Hanify-Howland Memorial Lecture at the College of the Holy Cross.

“I’m embarrassed to admit it, but the only reason we wrote Freakonomics was because the publisher offered us too much money to refuse,” shares Levitt. “We didn’t think for a second anyone would want to read it. We were shocked.”

Shocked, indeed. FREAKONOMICS hit the bestseller lists on its first day in print and has sold over 4 million copies worldwide.

The book demonstrates different economic theories. “Most of what we do is pretty simple, but we start by asking different questions, or looking at problems differently,” shares Levitt. “There is no reason that anyone else couldn’t do the same thing. But if we fail at that goal, we hope to at least entertain.”

The theory that surprised him the most? “Without a doubt it was the linkage between legalized abortion in the 1970s and the decline in crime in the 1990s. It is a theory that makes sense and is supported by reams of evidence, but it is so jarring and counter-intuitive that it is hard to wrap one’s head around,” explains Levitt.

His books get a lot of praise, but they also have their critics. “I’ve been heavily criticized for arguing that child car seats don’t work any better than adult seat belts in protecting kids,” he says. “The evidence is overwhelmingly in my favor on that one, but no one seems to care about the evidence.”

Even though the book series has taken off, Levitt’s first job is teaching. He is an economics professor at the University of Chicago. “On the first day of class I tell my students they are adults and it is their choice whether they want to come to class, or do the readings,” he explains. “I also invite them to surf the internet while I lecture…I figure if I can’t give good enough lectures that they want to pay attention, I’m not doing my job.”

In 2004, he was awarded the John Bates Clark Medal, which recognizes the most influential economist in America under the age of 40. More recently, he was named one of Time magazine’s “100 People Who Shape Our World.”

No stranger to Massachusetts, Levitt did his undergrad work at Harvard and received his Ph.D. from M.I.T. “In a decade in and around Boston, I never had a car. I always took the subway,” he remembers.

The lecture will be held October 6 at 8 p.m. in the Hogan Campus Center Ballroom at Holy Cross. It is free and open to the public.

For more information on the lecture visit: events.holycross.edu/events/index.php?com=detail&eID=3880&month=10&year=2011.

For more information on FREAKONOMICS, visit
freakonomicsbook.com.