We launched this website back in March, just before Freakonomics was published. It was meant as little more than a place to summarize the book, provide some contact information, and maybe a little feedback. But we became more fond of it — and of you — than we planned, and now here we are, still blogging away seven months later, . . .
While 2005 is an off year for Presidential and Congressional elections, Tuesday is still Election Day, and in its honor, we got to wondering: why the heck do people bother to vote? That is the subject of our latest Freakonomics column in the New York Times Magazine. As always, we’ve posted a page elsewhere on this website with ancillary information. . . .
A few days ago, we blogged about a college kid who got kicked out of class for citing Freakonomics. Now comes even worse news — from a reader who claims that he was asked to leave the premises of a job for simply owning the book. I’m somewhat skeptical of the verity of this story; judge for yourselves: Mr. Levitt . . .
In the chapter of Freakonomics called “What Makes a Perfect Parent?”, we analyze the data from the U.S. Dept. of Education’s Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, and argue that many things that modern parents do to make their kids “smarter” (i.e. culture cramming), doesn’t have any effect on early childhood test scores. Apparently we’re not the only ones who think this . . .
This week, Paul Greenberg wrote in the New York Times Magazine about how worldwide demand for Chilean sea bass (the fish formerly known as the Patagonian toothfish) has created huge supply pressures. If you care about such things, you might want to take a look at this brief BBC article about a study that uses historical menu pricing data to . . .
We have changed platforms for our blog, so if you have this page bookmarked — and have been wondering where the heck we’ve been — you should change your bookmark to this page. We haven’t been writing much there, either; but we’re getting caught up, and eventually we’ll move the archives there as well. One difference: you need to register . . .
In recent weeks, we asked you to consider voting for Freakonomics as Best Business Book in the inaugural Quill Awards. (We know, we know: it’s not a business book, but it apparently didn’t fit any other category.) Well, the event was held a couple of nights ago and … we won. So to all of you who voted, or who . . .
Tonight (Oct. 7), there is another segment of “Freakonomics Friday” on ABC’s World News Tonight. Last week’s segment was an introduction to Freakonomics that also focused on the book’s cheating-teacher chapter. (It was incredibly well produced: smart and thoughtful and nuanced, which isn’t easy in 2.5 minutes; TV and ideas don’t always mix well but the ABC folks know seem . . .
Most of the events described in Freakonomics took place, or still take place, in the continental U.S. — except for the chapter describing how sumo wrestlers collude to throw matches. We’ve gotten a surprising number of e-mails from readers in Japan with interesting sumo comments but most of us don’t have regular access to live sumo. At least we didn’t . . .
That, at least, is what New York Magazine calls it.
Several years ago, Steve Levitt and Ian Ayres wrote a paper about Lojack, the silent anti-auto-theft device. They found that crime theft falls overall in areas where even a small percentage of the cars carry Lojack. I got to thinking about Lojack when we received this e-mail the other day from a reader frustrated with the volume of bicycle thefts . . .
Our latest New York Times Magazine column, appearing in the Oct. 2 issue devoted to New York City, concerns a long-standing problem: dog poop. We propose a fairly novel solution. And, as always, we’ve posted a page full of supplemental information, some of it inevitably more interesting than what ends up in the column.
Levitt and I are scheduled to appear on ABC’s Good Morning America tomorrow (Thu., Sept. 29), somewhere around 7:30 a.m. EDT, to talk about Freakonomics. We do have a pretty dismal record of getting bumped by breaking news, so maybe we’ll never actually appear on the airwaves chatting face-to-face with the splendid Diane Sawyer — but by God, that’s what . . .
Years ago, I got an M.F.A. in fiction writing, thinking I’d be one of those novel-writing university professors who wear tweed jackets with leather elbow patches. But I gave up on fiction, and here’s why. The novel I was writing at the time was about a family very much like my own. Although I knew a good bit about my . . .
March 5, 2021: These bookplates are no longer available. We’re sorry for the inconvenience. A few days ago, we made this offer to send a signed bookplate, free, to anyone who wants one. The good news is that a whole lot of people took us up on the offer. The less-good news is that, because of the volume, it’ll take . . .
The Berkeley psychologist Seth Roberts was good enough to guest-blog here all last week. A lot of people still have questions for him. He can be reached at shangriladiet@gmail.com; you can also click here to read about his research.
… to come hear me (Dubner) give a non-Freakonomics reading, on Mon., Sept. 26, 7:00 p.m., at the Half King. It’s an event to celebrate the publication of The Best American Crime Writing 2005, an anthology that includes a New Yorker article I wrote about a cunning silver thief. (Oops: I just showed you the free version of the article . . .
We have twice blogged — here and here — about Moodgrapher, a mood-tracking site built by Gilad Mishne at the University of Amsterdam. It tracks the blog entries of Live Journal users and aggregates their mood indicators to see how a given event (a terrorist act, a natural disaster, an election) influences societal mood. Levitt proposed that corporations might employ . . .
March 5, 2021: These bookplates are no longer available. We’re sorry for the inconvenience. Once in a while, someone writes to ask if we would autograph his or her copy of Freakonomics. And we say: sure, thanks for asking. But the logistics aren’t very smooth. A person would have to mail the book to one of us, and include a . . .
A while back, there was discussion, only half in jest, that Levitt might make a good Supreme Court Justice. Now things have gotten even crazier: he has been nominated (again, only half in jest) by the BBC to help rule the world: click here for the opening page, then the “click to start” tab and then “Economists.” (It is telling . . .
Here is the final post from our guest blogger, Seth Roberts. If you need to get up to speed on Seth’s unorthodox research with weight-loss, mood, acne, and sleep, click here (our N.Y. Times article about him), here (research extras and pix), here (the first round of reader comments), and here, here, here, here, and here for his earlier blog . . .
Here is the latest (and maybe final) post from our guest blogger, Seth Roberts. If you need to get up to speed on Seth’s unorthodox research with weight-loss, mood, acne, and sleep, click here (our N.Y. Times article about him), here (research extras and pix), here (the first round of reader comments), and here, here, here, and here for his . . .
Okay, how’s this for an example of crime prevention: transcendental meditation. Several years ago in Washington D.C., 3,000 people got together to meditate and … yes, drove drown crime throughout the city. That’s their story, at least. For all I know, this is an old story; it may also be totally insane. But it makes for interesting reading: click here . . .
Here is the latest post from our guest blogger, Seth Roberts. If you need to get up to speed on Seth’s unorthodox research with weight-loss, mood, and sleep, click here (our N.Y. Times article about him), here (research extras and pix), here (the first round of reader comments), and here, here, and here for his earlier blog postings. GUEST BLOGGER: . . .
Here’s a third post from our guest blogger, Seth Roberts, a psychology professor at Berkeley and, apparently, the next American diet guru. If you need to get up to speed on Seth’s unorthodox research with weight-loss, mood, and sleep, click here (our N.Y. Times article about him), here (research extras and pix), here (the first round of reader comments), here . . .
Freakonomics has been nominated for the inaugural Quill Awards and we would really appreciate your vote.* Click here to cast your ballot (and be prepared to wade through several screens before finding Freakonomics in the “Best Business” category). You can actually vote for it twice: as “Best Business” book and also “Book of the Year.” Be warned, however, that the . . .
Here’s another post from Seth Roberts, our guest blogger. If you need to get up to speed on Seth’s unorthodox research with weight-loss, mood, and sleep, click here (our N.Y. Times article about Seth), here (research extras and pix), here (the first round of reader comments), and here (for Seth’s first guest-blog, including comments and questions). GUEST BLOGGER: Dietary Non-Advice . . .
In yesterday’s New York Times Magazine, we wrote about a Berkeley psychology professor, Seth Roberts, whose intriguing history of self-experimentation has led to, among other things, a very interesting new diet. Click here to read the article and here for some extras, including Seth’s academic papers, photos, etc. Because there has been great interest in the article, we asked Seth . . .
Our latest New York Times Magazine column, to be published on Sun., Sept. 11, explores the work of Seth Roberts, a Berkeley psychologist who has used self-experimentation to arrive at, among other things, a diet that may prove revolutionary. Or at least very entertaining. Here is some additional information about Roberts and his work. I first learned of Roberts from . . .
In a previous blog entry, we posted a pair of slapdash haikus, one written by each of us, and asked you to guess who wrote which one. Many of you played along, and nicely, and wisely. Some of you wrote excellent haiku response, though most of those were sent to us directly via e-mail. Anyway … here are the answers: . . .
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