Stephen J. Dubner, co-author of the international best-seller Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything, will speak at Vanderbilt University Tuesday, Nov. 18.
Dubner’s talk begins at 7 p.m. in the ballroom of the Student Life Center located at 310 25th Ave. S. on Vanderbilt’s campus. The university’s Speakers Committee, a student-run organization, is sponsoring the event.
Tickets for the lecture are available now. General public tickets may be purchased through Ticketmaster at 615-255-9600 or www.ticketmaster.com. General admission tickets are $10. Tickets are free to Vanderbilt students, faculty and staff and must be picked up in advance at the Sarratt Student Center box office. Only one free ticket may be picked up per person with Vanderbilt identification card. Tickets are $5 for non-Vanderbilt students with valid school or university identification – these tickets are available at the Sarratt Student Center box office and Ticketmaster outlets. For more information, call 615-322-2471.
Dubner, an award-winning author and journalist who lives in New York City, wrote Freakonomics with Steven D. Levitt, Alvin H. Baum Professor of Economics at the University of Chicago. The book, originally published in the United States in 2005, spent more than two years on The New York Times‘ bestseller list and has been translated in more than 30 languages. More than three million copies of the book have been sold worldwide.
In the book, Levitt and Dubner tackle the riddles of everyday life by applying basic economics – “how people get what they want or need, especially when other people want or need the same thing.” They explore society’s “hidden side” including the inner workings of a crack gang, the truth about real estate agents, the myths of campaign finance and the secrets of the Ku Klux Klan.
Levitt and Dubner maintain the popular “Freakonomics” blog found on The New York Times‘ website and are currently working on another book tentatively titled Superfreakonomics.
Freakonomics is primarily based on the work of Levitt, whom Dubner originally profiled for The New York Times Magazine. Dubner spent several years at The New York Times as an editor and writer. He has also written for The New Yorker and Time. He is the author of two previous books – Choosing My Religion and Confessions of a Hero-Worshipper – and a children’s book, The Boy with Two Belly Buttons.
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Media contact: Princine Lewis, 615-322-NEWS
princine.lewis@vanderbilt.edu