Is Levitt One of the 100 Most Influential People Around?

Time magazine thinks so. Malcolm Gladwell, a previous member of Time‘s 100-most-influential club, wrote a very good essay about Levitt’s rare talents. Here’s the kicker:

In Freakonomics and in his astonishing, wide-ranging academic work at the University of Chicago, Levitt, 38, reminds us that we owe a bigger debt to those with the humility to go wherever logic and discovery lead them. Does the possibility that abortion reduces crime raise uncomfortable questions? Of course it does. But Levitt believes that if we are to have an honest conversation about things like crime and abortion, we are obliged to consider those phenomena in all their dimensions. It takes a certain amount of courage to make an argument like that. And by the way, if you can come up with some good evidence to the contrary, Levitt will listen, and if you’re really convincing, he’s the sort of person who will change his mind. That takes courage too.