How Can You Stop Comparing Yourself With Other People? (NSQ Ep. 13)
Also: how can we stop confusing correlation with causation?
Aisle upon aisle of fresh produce, cheap meat, and sugary cereal — a delicious embodiment of free-market capitalism, right? Not quite. The supermarket was in fact the endpoint of the U.S. government’s battle for agricultural abundance against the U.S.S.R. Our farm policies were built to dominate, not necessarily to nourish — and we are still living with the consequences.
Also: how can we stop confusing correlation with causation?
Steve Levitt has spent decades as an academic economist, “studying strange phenomena and human behavior in weird circumstances.” Now he’s turning his curiosity to something new: interviewing some of the most interesting, unorthodox people around — from actresses to athletes, authors to inventors. Levitt’s new podcast, "People I (Mostly) Admire" premieres August 21st.
After Bode Miller told 60 Minutes that he often drank the night before ski races, and that he'd even raced while still drunk, he was raked over the coals and forced to grovel and apologize. Now we learn that Tour de France winner Floyd Landis (here's a recent posting on the subject), who tested...
Also: how effective is the placebo effect?
Everyone agrees that massive deforestation is an environmental disaster. But most of the standard solutions — scolding the Brazilians, invoking universal morality — ignore the one solution that might actually work.
Also: why do we habituate to life’s greatest pleasures?
Most Americans agree that racial discrimination has been, and remains, a big problem. But that is where the agreement ends.
Also: are the most memorable stories less likely to be true?
The racial wealth gap in the U.S. is massive. We explore the causes, consequences, and potential solutions. Also: another story of discrimination and economic disparity, this one perpetrated by an international sporting authority. The first of a two-part series.
Also: how do you avoid screwing up your kids?
Christina Romer was a top White House economist during the Great Recession. As a researcher, she specializes in the Great Depression. She tells us what those disasters can (and can’t) teach us about the Covid crash.