Compare And Contrast Levitt And Dubner

Levitt and Dubner show how differences in information allow for power shifts. The mid-20th century KKK downfall is portrayed as information-caused, with Stenson Kennedy and John Brown's revealing of klan practices through radio leading to a decline in clan membership and action. Real-estate agents sell the houses of others for cheaper than possible in comparison to their own, as a small increase in commission is not a sufficient tradeoff for time spent. Life insurance policies had a decrease in average cost during the rise of the internet, as people gained the information to compare different policies. The authors then note how information usage can be found in more subtle forms through appearance, noting how people manipulate information for their advantage: people aim not to seem bigoted on the game show Weakest Link, and dating website users lie about themselves and their race preferences. …show more content…
Strong logic backed up by numerical data is found through the decrease in life insurance prices coinciding with the rise of sites allowing comparisons between different policies and the discrepancy in house sales prices when real estate agents sell their own home compared to those of of others. They expand on this idea of information by noting how people also hide information to maintain outside appearance. This says as much about the power of appearance to that of information. It is a stretch to say that information inequality in itself caused the downfall of the KKK. Rather, the decline of the klan seems to be rooted in public