to our guest host, steven levitt.iversity of chicago. -- professoron becker was revered across all of economics. he terrified steven levitt. i love what you wrote. i felt it in the times that i interviewed him. tell me why he terrified you. >> especially when he was younger, he was tough. he learned to never tolerate anything but where abs factor of zero. >> he studied praised.. theory. it.new everything about people like myself were not trained that way. i remember the first time i met im, i was a grad student and had always heard about him. he was almost like a demon. call him darth vader because he had the force. he was not using it in the right way. i agreed to pay for my own way go to california to speak at a conference. it was a two day conference and he sits there and as i get up to give my talk, he gets up and walks out of the room. talk and he walks out of the room and i blew it. he walks back into the room and its q&a time and he is the first one to raise his hand and he asks me an incredible question. he ac

i thought of levitt. my son is 13 and follows the soccer. in europe, he bought a juan jersey and came up to me this morning, solomon did, and said, you know what, dad? ever since i bought that jersey, juan mata has been doing crazy scoring goals, like six goals in five games and before i had been very cold. i said, obviously, you are buying the jeers y. he said, dad, causation does not equal -- (laughter) >> it may be too lat late for m, but him. he's a 13. it's a happy day. >> charlie: what is the impact of this extraordinary onslaught of data that we have? it affects everything people do. they can have sensors. they can tell you exponentially more than i've ever known before. >> so my belief, i think our shared belief is every important problem in the history of mankind we've solved has been solved through technology and big data is potentially an opportunity to solve a lot of problems. although i have to say i'm a big data skeptic. so what you're describing is essentially different, but when i think about the big data out there in terms o

levitt became an award-win can professor of economics at the university of chicago.hen dubner was living in new york city. >> this is freakonomics radio. >> lately he's been hosting a podcast and a radio program. but, before freakonomics, he was writing for the "new york times" magazine. and was assigned a profile of levitt. >> i wasn't really interested in everything the article written but it was the "new york times." >> for 36 hours of interviews later i've never been happier to see someone go. >> i think the fact that we turned out to be good partners was not remotely preordained or would have been easy to predict. >> it wasn't their idea to write a book together. but a publisher offered them so much money they couldn't say no. levitt's sister thought of the name. >> i said, this is the book, gave her a copy within about 15 minutes she said, freakonomics. i said, you're right. >> somehow that word just epitomizes something about the core of what we do. >> the new book tries to demystify that process. take, for example, the story of kobiashi. in the 2001 4th of ju

pistorius's lawyer, levitt says, denied the incident took place but levitt claims there are witnesses who saw pistorius talk to myers and saw her, in his words recoil in horror afterwards. in court today, three close neighbors of pistorius were asked to mimic the sound the athlete made allegedly as he cried for help. his lawyer barry rue trying to encourage the to sound like the "blade runner" on the fateful night. >> possible to make a sound that would resemble it. >> [inaudible] >> really, -- [screaming] it in the voice after man. >> reporter: dramatic day in court, this event when the cameras were switched off with pistorius and myers has completely overshadowed everything that happened officially in the room, jenna. jenna: could be an interesting development that will impact the case as you mentioned, paul. we have our legal panel coming up. surely questions for them coming up. paul, thank you. jon: right now out of control violence in eastern ukraine leaving dozens of people dead as fighting between government troops and pro-russian insurgents rages on in several eastern cities.

levitt and dubner. >> okay, levitt, what do you mean by think like a child?ildhood. we don't rule anything out. we tend to think really small. we don't try to answer the big questions. we handle the smallest questions. we go for the obvious a lot of times. things other people don't think are reasonable. >> kids have no preconceptions or bias. >> you follow your curiosity. everybody has been in that meeting where the boss says we are brainstorming, there are no stupid ideas. you say what about this and oh, there are some stupid -- once you have been hit like that, you stop. we can all learn to think like that. >> look at things with a beginner's eye, with a fresh eye. >> absolutely. i do work with firms and the only good advice i give firms because i know nothing at all. i ask questions they think are ridiculous. oftentimes the best ideas are right in front of us. we can't see them because we are blinded by conventional wisdom. >> the hot dog champ you talk about. most think how do i eat more hot dogs. he thinks what? >> kobe, an interesting guy that is a frie

. ♪ >> stephen dubner and stephen levitt are here.heir book freakonomics form a franchise encompassing radio and a documentary film. their new book offers advice on how to think more productively and creatively. it is called "think like a freak." i am pleased to have him at this table. i may begin with a quote from a review. in one of the many wonderful moments, they asked the question, who is the most foolish? the answer is always kids. instead of accepting as a fact, they said, the magician, somewhat in the business of fooling people, and asked what he thinks. his answer, adults. it is the way you guys think. it is unconventional thinking. let's test what hypothesis we have. >> you are right. go seek data. have fun doing it. >> that is a good life. >> we are lucky. >> then make it into a documentary. what does it mean? to think like a freak. >> the only good answer is that it took us so long to say it we had to write a book about it. it is not complicated. there are a number of steps. the biggest things, get rid of preconceptions. l

levitt the fire academy. >> you know the first responders to exempt three work every day. it is not every day that they get proper recognition. that is exactly what happened here this morning. some of those rescued joining in a big show of celebration and depreciation. according to the mom of the three year- old he would not be here today. >> know the outcome. if they did not show up as fast as they did. we knew the outcome. they told us. he had to be resuscitated during a family outing. thrill to see lieutenant and crew recognize tibet along with many other first responders during this award ceremony. the heroes were just as thrilled to see him. >> full of life of hope and that is all i wanted. who knows he might take my place. >> an emergency call came from the home of police department veteran john murphy last october. he had collapsed. he was revived nine times. when you dial 911 and some people like this show to make people like my wife and two sons >> clearly a lot of emotion to the. points up at the majority of emergency calls on any given day are ems and not fire.

we did the interview and levitt and i had no idea what the book would come.new book. >> it has taken on a new life of its own. this is "bloomberg surveillance" with a very excited tom keene and adam johnson. our guest is the former ceo of saks fifth avenue, currently on the board of jcpenney. let's get some updates from the files of bloomberg west. computerrsion of the is going on sale -- this was mostly by invitation only. google hopes that buyers will provide feedback for the hardware and software. in -- airbnb is in a investigators are trying to determine if they are running a legal hotels. and planning its first job cuts in 18 years, sap is moving its operations online. someone says that the jobs could -- someone involved says the job cuts will not be in the high thousands. >> we continue our discussion on an industry of profound top to bottom change, retail and shopping and clothes, are being transformed by the internet. we are shopping differently today than we did a few years ago. his does not describe facilities as the leader of the retail coalition -

. >> you can see more of charlie rose's interview with steven levitt and with steven dunner, " andrsakonomics "think like a freak" tonight at 8:00 and 10:00 on bloomberg. it is time for the foreign report. trying to get talks between venezuela's government and opposition back on track. brazil andives of ecuador as well as a represented from the vatican held closed-door meetings with both sides. arrests andmass antigovernment rounds were brought to a head last week. hopel's largest city will -- host the opening match of the world cup in less than a month. historically low levels at the main dams who supply water to sÃo paulo. it is trending cars in some neighborhoods. that is your latin american report for this tuesday. coming up, wondering why your house is not selling as fast as it should? it could be together all of the young students saddled with student loans. we will explain in just a moment. ♪ >> welcome back. this is "bottom line" on bloomberg television, and streaming on your tablet, your phone, and bloomberg.com. i'm mark crumpton. lastly, we saw two reports that looked at h

arthur levitt was scathing about the lack of transparency. the former chairman of the scc said he would not buy shares. >> it is up to the auditors to the hard work. we have much more coming up for it are too big to fail banks also too big to jail? ♪ >> good morning. i am tom keene. will you be on a 10:00? you are awesome. 6:00 to 8:00, then 10:00 to 12:00. let's do a data check. futures are at -3. euro.ur euro -- weaker fruit oil over 100 as well. scarlett, do you have more gainers than losers? higher.ays closed s inrom 12,000 cutes i february. they want to shift away from commodities trading. utility like banking. >> criminal charges against credit suisse may be announced. can a bank still operate under a criminal charge? holder says there is no such thing as too big to jail. is there? michael holland is with us. he is an investor in banks. well. geiger joins us as how scary is the thought of a criminal charge or indictment to a banking ceo? >> carrie is an expert. i believe it could put them out of business. that is not a good thing. cadre

craig levitt, the ceo of kate spade, joins us on set for a cnbc exclusive.s dennis gartman sounding the alarm on u.s. markets and make something big adjustments to his portfolio. we've got the details after right after this. in today's market, a lot can happen in a second. with fidelity's guaranteed one-second trade execution, we route your order to up to 75 market centers to look for the best possible price, maybe even better than you expected. it's all part of our goal to execute your trade in one second. i'm derrick chan of fidelity investments. our one-second trade execution is one more innovative reason serious investors are choosing fidelity. call or click to open your fidelity account today. they're the days to take care of business.. when possibilities become reality. with centurylink as your trusted partner, our visionary cloud infrastructure and global broadband network free you to focus on what matters. with custom communications solutions and responsive, dedicated support, we constantly evolve to meet your needs. every day of the week. centurylin

. >> we're going to look at the new book by steven levitt who will join us.a child. "think like a freak" is the new we will lookp across all of economics, the slowdown with europe and the new low yields. we will look at gold. edward maureen will join us. the big news overnight is a article on income equality. >> and looking at the memorial using them. it has been a long time coming. >> it has been along time coming. that is as likely right. this is hugely emotional in new york city. the president will visit downtown manhattan today. michael bloomberg, of course, a gentleman we work for the former mayor of new york, will introduce the president. city newspaper in new york is trying to get through the emotion of this day. i can't begin to convey the deep emotions is this museum opens, part memorial and part almost learning tool of a horrific day in 2001. >> the memories come flooding back. tom keene, we look for to joining you in 25 minutes time. >> let's get back to the foreign gdp. growing at a rate of 0.2%. looksesident mario draghi set to push ahead with me

>> arthur levitt, former sec chair.the institutional shareholder services, when are we going to see them say do not do this? >> where is iss on all ipo's. when youoks wonderful are getting $10 million valuations for uber. itld it fall apart, -- when falls apart, it is going to fall apart. iss is not at the table, nor is the sec. everyone is going to wonder what happened. >> steven davidoff from ohio state. one more question before we move onto jcpenney and other topics. who do you blame, what can the media do better to message away from the euphoria of the moment? the euphoria of these transactions. mediaryone is busy, the is trying to hit the story. they need to step back and see what is really going on. not be like bankers and follow the crowd. >> steven davidoff, i really recommend his book. it is a masterful -- it is a mouth feel. shotgun war," takeovers, government by deal, and the private equity implosion. steven davidoff. your recommendation, i just bought that on amazon last week. >> it is a page turner. you wil

. >>> hey, with us now, it's the wildly popular freakonomics series, authors steven levitt and steven first one, think like a child. >> we don't want to make our way through the world like 8-year-olds exactly because there are a lot of things kids need to do that they can't do. but what they can do is be relentlessly curious, and their brains are physiologically sharper. we're start to deteriorate at about 22 years old. we suggest people channel the inner child as best as they can. especially when you're trying to come up with good yquestions an creative solutions. >> give us an example how you can do that at work. >> think like a child? >> yes. >> kids don't know anything about the world and they have a lot of solutions. a lot of answers people come up with people think you're nuts but -- >> and also learn to say i don't know. >> and as adults we tend to present a theory or possibility as a certain tear. >> put away your moral compass. >> we don't mean to say people shouldn't be moral. nobody wants to live in a world where people don't have a strong moral compass. but if you're tryin