Steve Levitt
Tuesday,
March 27, 2007
The TXU Electric Delivery Lecture
Steve Levitt is an innovative economist whose application of standard economic theory to unconventional subjects provides fresh insights into the modern world. Examples of his creative use of economic theory are presented in the 2005 best-selling book Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything, coauthored by Levitt and New York Times journalist Stephen Dubner. The book addresses subjects such as the economics of drug dealing, the impact of legalized abortion on crime, and the socioeconomic patterns of naming children. Levitt also has written more than 60 scholarly articles on topics ranging from political campaign spending to game strategies in soccer.
Time magazine included Levitt in its 2006 list of "100 people who shape our world." In 2003 he received the American Economic Association's prestigious John Bates Clark Medal, awarded annually to the nation's most promising economist under the age of 40. Levitt earned a B.A. degree from Harvard University and a Ph.D. in economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In 1997 he joined the faculty of the University of Chicago, where he is the Alvin H. Baum Professor in Economics and director of the Initiative on Chicago Price Theory. He also serves as editor of the Journal of Political Economy.