Freakonomics

Starring: Gordon, Seth

Product Description

The highly anticipated film version of the phenomenally bestselling book about incentives-based thinking by renowned economists Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner. Like the book, the film examines human behavior with provocative and sometimes hilarious case studies, bringing together a dream team of filmmakers responsible for some of the most acclaimed and entertaining documentaries in recent years.

• Format: Blu-ray
• Language: English
• UPC: 876964003582
• Release Date: October 2014
• Rating: PG-13 (Parents Strongly Cautioned)
• Publisher: Magnolia Pict Hm Ent
• Directors: Ewing, Heidi, Gibney, Alex
• Starring: Gordon, Seth
• Runtime: 1 hour, 46 minutes
• Number of Disks: 1
• Other Video Info: Blu-ray
• Weight: 0.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 7.5" x 5.4"
• Age Range: 13 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 8 and higher

Customer Reviews

A unique look at incentives

Occasionally, somebody comes along and finds a unique way to look at life. Some of these people with different types of insights get published. This presentation is based on a popular book by the same name, "Freakonomics". The title might be a bit misleading; it's really about incentives and misleading statistics. Here, Freakonomics takes the discipline down to the individual. I have already had several economics courses that showed things such as all world history, including wars, and even the U.S. Constitution can be boiled down to economic incentives. So, the economic concept is not new, but applying it to individual cases or other disciplines is what makes this presentation unique. As with all concepts, there is no way that you can cram the whole theory from the book into an hour and a half program. So here we get a superficial overview that does not quite live up to the standards. I was impressed when the program started out with the section on real estate; they showed what I always suspected. The section on cheating was pure statistics and not as impressive, but useful. The section on parenting was a little dragged out and not quite as focused; however, I did find the part on getting kids' names interesting. The section on incentives showed nothing new; however, I could name a few people who could learn something from this feeling. The section on cause and effect pretty much wraps up the concepts that are trying to be presented here. I suggest you listen to the commentary as it gives some insight as to what is trying to be accomplished in the presentation(s). Why did they pick different directors and so forth? Filmmakers will find this interesting.