Author Guide · Popular Economics
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Sumo wrestlers who throw bouts, Chicago schoolteachers who change their pupils’ test answers, crack dealers who still live with their mothers: these were the cases the University of Chicago economist Steven D. Levitt used to show that incentives explain behaviour nobody thinks of as economic. In 2003 he won the John Bates Clark Medal, given to an American economist under 40. Two years later he and the journalist Stephen J. Dubner turned his research into Freakonomics, which has sold more than five million copies in 40 languages and grew into a blog, a documentary film and the Freakonomics Radio podcasts. This guide covers his four key books, in order, and where to begin.
By Lisanne Swart · 4 key books · 2005–2015 · Updated October 2026
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Quick answer
Steven Levitt has written four books, all with Stephen J. Dubner: Freakonomics (2005), SuperFreakonomics (2009), Think Like a Freak (2014) and When to Rob a Bank (2015). Start with Freakonomics, the original; the guide below shows what each of the later three adds.
Where to Start with Steven Levitt
If you want the book that started it all
→ Freakonomics (2005) — cheating teachers, sumo wrestlers and baby names.
If you want more of the same, with bigger topics
→ SuperFreakonomics (2009) — from drunk walking to global warming.
If you want a method you can use yourself
→ Think Like a Freak (2014) — their approach to problem-solving, explained.
If you want short pieces to dip into
→ When to Rob a Bank (2015) — a decade of blog posts.
4 Steven Levitt Books, in Order
Freakonomics
Levitt’s research retold for general readers by Dubner: what schoolteachers and sumo wrestlers have in common, how real-estate agents and the Ku Klux Klan exploit information, why most crack dealers earn little, how parenting and children’s first names relate to later outcomes, and the controversial argument that legalised abortion helped cause the fall in US crime in the 1990s. Its premise is that economics is the study of incentives. It became a New York Times bestseller and was adapted as a documentary film in 2010.
SuperFreakonomics
Published by William Morrow in October 2009. It asks whether walking drunk is safer than driving drunk, compares street prostitutes with department-store Santas, looks at how cable television changed the lives of women in rural India and whether child car seats work, and describes the hand-washing protocol that saved thousands of lives. Its chapter on climate change, which favours geoengineering over cutting emissions, drew strong criticism from climate scientists.
Think Like a Freak
Published by Morrow in May 2014, this book turns from findings to method: how to frame a problem, find its root cause, think like a child, use incentives and know when to quit. Its examples include competitive hot-dog eating, why Nigerian email scammers say they are from Nigeria, and the game theory of King Solomon and David Lee Roth. Publishers Weekly called its arguments “lucid, catchy, and sometimes dubious.”
When to Rob a Bank
Published by Morrow/HarperCollins in May 2015, a selection of posts from roughly ten years of the Freakonomics blog. Topics run from an oil apocalypse and the benefits of cheating in sport to a proposal to let people pay to vote more than once, and a hunt for the best aptonyms, such as a dentist called Chip Silvertooth.
In What Order to Read Steven Levitt
The four books do not depend on each other, but publication order works well. Freakonomics sets out the idea that incentives explain behaviour, SuperFreakonomics applies it to larger questions, Think Like a Freak explains the method behind both, and When to Rob a Bank collects the short blog pieces.
If you read only one, read Freakonomics. Read SuperFreakonomics knowing that its climate chapter is the most disputed part of the series.
A reading path
1. Freakonomics (2005)
2. SuperFreakonomics (2009)
3. Think Like a Freak (2014)
4. When to Rob a Bank (2015)
Other Editions of Steven Levitt’s Books
Beyond the 4 key books: 2 more, grouped by kind.
Open a group with the + to see every book in it.
Revised and illustrated editions
2
2 books · 2006
- 2006Freakonomics: Revised and Expanded Editionthe 2005 book with added material
- 2006Freakonomics: The Illustrated Editionan illustrated version of the 2005 book
The years · 1967–2024
Quick facts about Steven D. Levitt
- Known for
- Steven D. Levitt is known for using economic data to explain everyday behaviour, from cheating to crime, and for bringing that approach to millions of readers in Freakonomics.
- 1967
- Born in Boston, Massachusetts
- 2005
- Freakonomics
- 2024
- Leaves academic economics
- Born
- 29 May 1967, Boston, Massachusetts; grew up in Minneapolis
- Education
- Harvard University (BA in economics, 1989); MIT (PhD, 1994)
- Taught
- University of Chicago from 1997; announced his retirement from academic economics in 2024
- Co-author
- The journalist Stephen J. Dubner, on all four books
- Honours
- John Bates Clark Medal (2003); Time’s 100 People Who Shape Our World (2006)
- Podcast
- Host of People I (Mostly) Admire since 2020, part of the Freakonomics Radio Network
The red mark is 2005: Freakonomics, the book that took his research to a mass audience.
How Steven Levitt Writes: Data, Incentives and Odd Questions
Levitt’s academic method is to find a set of data that answers a question nobody had thought to ask of it: sumo match results that reveal fixed bouts, test-answer sheets that reveal teachers changing answers, crime rates set against the timing of a change in the law. The books keep that structure, starting from an unlikely question and following the numbers to an answer.
The writing is a division of labour. Levitt supplies the research and Dubner, a journalist, turns it into stories with characters, scenes and a conversational tone. The idea that runs through all four books is that economics is the study of incentives: people respond to rewards and penalties, often in ways the rule-makers did not intend.
The approach has drawn criticism as well as readers. Critics have challenged the abortion-crime argument and the climate chapter of SuperFreakonomics, and reviewers of the later books found some arguments thin. For writers who take a similar approach to everyday puzzles, see books by Malcolm Gladwell.
Frequently asked questions about Steven Levitt’s books
How many books has Steven Levitt written?
Four, all with Stephen J. Dubner: Freakonomics (2005), SuperFreakonomics (2009), Think Like a Freak (2014) and When to Rob a Bank (2015). A revised and expanded edition and an illustrated edition of Freakonomics followed in 2006.
What are Steven Levitt’s books in order?
Freakonomics (2005), SuperFreakonomics (2009), Think Like a Freak (2014) and When to Rob a Bank (2015).
Where should I start with Steven Levitt?
Freakonomics (2005). It contains the research that made his name and sets out the idea, incentives, that the other three books build on.
What is Steven Levitt’s most famous book?
Freakonomics (2005), written with Stephen J. Dubner. According to the Freakonomics website it has sold more than five million copies in 40 languages.
Who wrote Freakonomics, Levitt or Dubner?
Both. Steven D. Levitt is the economist whose research the books are built on; Stephen J. Dubner is the journalist who co-wrote them and hosts Freakonomics Radio. All four books carry both names.
Is there a Freakonomics film?
Yes. Freakonomics (2010) is a documentary in segments by Morgan Spurlock, Alex Gibney, Eugene Jarecki, Rachel Grady, Heidi Ewing and Seth Gordon, covering baby names, sumo wrestling, the 1990s crime decline and an experiment paying ninth-graders for grades. It premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival on 30 April 2010 and was released by Magnolia Pictures.
Why is Freakonomics controversial?
Mainly for the argument, from a 2001 paper by John Donohue and Levitt, that legalised abortion after 1973 contributed to the fall in US crime in the 1990s. In 2005 Christopher Foote and Christopher Goetz reported statistical errors in the original study; Donohue and Levitt acknowledged it but said the link remained, and a 2019 follow-up by the two estimated that legalised abortion accounts for about 45% of the crime decline since the early 1990s. The economist John Lott also sued Levitt for defamation over a passage in the book; that claim was dismissed and a separate claim over an email was settled.
What is the climate chapter in SuperFreakonomics about?
The chapter behind the book’s “Global Cooling” subtitle argues that geoengineering, such as injecting sulphate aerosols into the atmosphere, could cool the planet more cheaply than cutting emissions. Climate scientists, including writers at RealClimate in October 2009, criticised it as underestimating the costs and risks.
What awards has Steven Levitt won?
The John Bates Clark Medal in 2003, awarded by the American Economic Association to an American economist under 40. In 2006 Time named him one of its 100 People Who Shape Our World.
Is Steven Levitt still teaching?
No. In 2024 he announced that he was retiring from academic economics at the University of Chicago, where he had taught since 1997, to concentrate on other work, including the podcast People I (Mostly) Admire.
Footnotes
- Steven Levitt — Wikipedia
- Steven D. Levitt — Britannica
- Freakonomics (film) — Wikipedia
- Interview with Steven Levitt: my career and why I’m retiring from academia — Conversable Economist, 2024
- Professor wasn’t defamed by Freakonomics author — Courthouse News, 2009
- Why Levitt and Dubner like geo-engineering and why they are wrong — RealClimate, 2009
Bibliography last verified 9 October 2026. Where sources give different first-publication years, this page uses the year in library catalogues or the publisher’s own record.
This list was not put together by a machine.
The notes are all mine,
and the books are all his.
Lisanne x
Written by Lisanne Swart, who has curated reading lists and author guides at lisanneswart.com since 2021.
See more on her personal bookshelf.
“Morality, it could be argued, represents the way that people would like the world to work—whereas economics represents how it actually does work.”
— Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner, Freakonomics (2005)
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