‘Freakonomics’ co-author Steve Levitt to speak at Notre Dame

Steven D. Levitt, economist and co-author of bestseller “Freakonomics,” will be the featured speaker for the University of Notre Dame’s Thomas H. Quinn Lecture Series. “Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything,” will take place at 3:30 p.m. ET, September 15, in the DeBartolo Performing Arts Center on the Notre Dame campus. This is a free but ticketed event. Tickets will be available for pick-up at the DeBartolo Performing Arts Center ticket office one hour prior to the event on the 15th. There are no advanced reservations for this event and tickets are limited to two per person.

Levitt is a tenured professor in the University of Chicago’s economics department and the 2003 recipient of the American Economic Association’s prestigious John Bates Clark Medal given to the country’s best economist under 40. Through forceful storytelling and wry insight, Levitt shows how economics is, at its root, the study of incentives or how people get what they want or need. He has applied his expertise to a diverse range of real-world topics from terrorism to prostitution to global warming. Originally published in the U.S. in 2005, “Freakonomics” spent more than eight years on The New York Times bestseller list, having sold more than seven million copies in 40-plus countries. Levitt and co-author Stephen Dubner have appeared widely on television and maintain the popular Freakonomics blog, which can be found on The New York Times website. Levitt and Dubner also co-authored “SuperFreakonomics,” “Think Like A Freak” and “When To Rob A Bank.” The Thomas H. Quinn Lecture Series is an annual event hosted by the Mendoza College of Business to honor the Notre Dame alumnus and former member and chair of Mendoza’s Business Advisory Council. Quinn earned a bachelor’s degree in economics from Notre Dame in 1969 and was a football monogram winner and member of the 1966 national championship team. Quinn was a managing partner and member of the investment committee and management committee of private investment firm The Jordan Company as well as the president and chief operating officer of Chicago-based Jordan Industries Inc. Quinn died April 29, 2016, at the age of 68. The Quinn Lecture is sponsored by Notre Dame alumnus and trustee John W. “Jay” Jordan II, Quinn’s college roommate, longtime friend and business partner. For more information, visit the Thomas H. Quinn Lecture Series website.