They start the introduction by talking about crime in the United States. Criminologist James Alan Fox, makes a hypothesis that crime rates will increase 15 percent in a optimistic scenario and double in a pessimistic scenario (Levitt, 2), because of "ruthless" (Levitt, 1) teenagers that roam the streets murdering and car jacking. According to his false hypothesis, the crime rates fell to the "lowest level in thirty-five years" (Levitt, 2). Criminologist's then believed it was because of "the proliferation of gun control laws" (Levitt, 3). Levitt and Dubner felt that is was mostly because of a "poor, uneducated, unskilled, alcoholic, drug-using twenty-one year-old, Dorma McCorvey. Her and her attorney, Jane Roe, fought for the legalization of abortion. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in their favor. Levitt and Dubner's reason to why this aspect impoved crime rates was because of the fact that when children are brought up in poor lifestyles, they are most likely going to be criminals (Levitt, 4). Authors Levitt and Dubner show credibility towards this aspect and support it by a strong anecdote.
The pursue to persuade goes in the next subject of real-estate agents. Many people believe that hiring an expert will do a better job. In the case of real-estate, it is the opposite that people expect to happen. Many real-estate agents sell property for cheaper then they could actually get on the estate. Due to laziness and lack of motivation agents try to spend the least amount of time on selling houses for their clients. For example, the agent sells the property for $300,000 which is a good deal for you. But what is indeed a fact is that the agent could have made you an extra$9,400 by selling the house for $310,000. The reason is because waiting an extra couple of days for agents to get you the price of $310,000, will only make them an extra $150 that they take to their pockets (Levitt, 5-7).
Dubner and Levitt provide many facts that indeed there is a hidden side of everything. Dubner and Levitt show that they are credible for talking about the riddles of economics. They use many anecdotes to support their idea and use many statistics to portray the intensity of the anecdotes. In conclusion, with Dubner and Levitt's background of higher education and professional experience, they show that they have credibility in this topic.
