The Resume

(May 29, 1967- )
Professor of economics at the University of Chicago
Co-author of ‘Freakonomics’ (2005)
Maintains a ‘Freakonomics’ blog for the New York Times

Why he might be annoying:

He said, ‘I just don’t know very much about the field of economics. I’m not good at math, I don’t know a lot of econometrics, and I also don’t know how to do theory.’
His wife said, ‘I wish he would get more than three haircuts a year and that he wasn’t still wearing the same glasses he got 15 years ago, which weren’t even in fashion then.’
He said of ‘Freakonomics’ co-author Stephen Dubner, ‘He created a totally fictional account of me, one that was far more interesting and likable and smarter than I was.’
He controversially argued that most of the reduction in crime rates during the 1990s was the result of abortion becoming legal in 1973.

Why he might not be annoying:

He said about the implications of a link between abortion and crime rates, ‘If a scientist presents evidence global warming is occurring, it does not mean he or she favors global warming.’
He received the American Economic Association’s John Bates Clark Medal for the most promising economist under age 40 (2003).
He credits his parents with showing him that ‘It’s okay to be different.’
He and his wife became close friends with the family of the girl who received the donated liver from their late son Andrew.
He actually makes economics sound interesting and relevant.

Credit: C. Fishel

Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

• C. Fishel's Profiles [Series 09]
• Celebrities Born on the Same Date [May] (Ranked: 5291967)
• I Adopted a Child
• I Attended Harvard
• I Attended MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)
• I Outlived My Child
• Mental Floss' 25 Most Influential Books of the Past 25 Years [2009] (Ranked: 23)
• Profiles 22001-22250 (Ranked: 22074)
• Starbucks ‘The Way I See It’ Quotations
• Time Magazine's 100 Most Influential People of 2006 [May 2006]

Year In Review:

For 2024, as of last weekly ranking, Out of 1 Votes: 100% Annoying
In 2023, Out of 3 Votes: 66.67% Annoying
In 2022, Out of 2 Votes: 0% Annoying
In 2021, Out of 9 Votes: 44.44% Annoying
In 2020, Out of 2 Votes: 100% Annoying
In 2019, Out of 4 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
In 2018, Out of 19 Votes: 68.42% Annoying
In 2017, Out of 2 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
In 2016, Out of 4 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
In 2015, Out of 3 Votes: 66.67% Annoying
In 2014, Out of 17 Votes: 70.59% Annoying
In 2013, Out of 11 Votes: 36.36% Annoying
In 2012, Out of 26 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
In 2011, Out of 15 Votes: 66.67% Annoying
In 2010, Out of 26 Votes: 57.69% Annoying
In 2009, Out of 44 Votes: 36.36% Annoying
In 2008, Out of 27 Votes: 74.07% Annoying