What does it mean to pursue something that everyone else thinks is nuts? And what does it take to succeed?
Our latest podcast episode — “How to Save $1 Billion Without Even Trying” — discusses research which finds that health-care experts generally buy generic medicines for their own use rather than the more expensive name brands. The episode discusses the various reasons that brand names might be more appealing despite the higher cost. A listener named Mike Dimore has written in . . .
Doctors, chefs, and other experts are much more likely than the rest of us to buy store-brand products. What do they know that we don’t?
Airbnb, Uber, Lyft, EatWith, and other companies in the “sharing economy” are practically daring government regulators to shut them down. The regulators are happy to comply
Considering its own company name, you wouldn’t think so. But here’s what I ran into during a recent spell-check:
The online universe doesn’t have nearly as many rules, or rulemakers, as the real world. Discuss.
There ain’t no such thing as a free parking spot. Somebody has to pay for it — and that somebody is everybody.
A look at whether spite pays — and if it even exists.
It’s awkward, random, confusing — and probably discriminatory too.
A kid’s name can tell us something about his parents — their race, social standing, even their politics. But is your name really your destiny?
Educational messaging looks good on paper but kids don’t respond to it — and adults aren’t much better.
From the (U.K.) Times:
It isn’t easy to separate the guilty from the innocent, but a clever bit of game theory can help.
Takeru Kobayashi revolutionized the sport of competitive eating. What can the rest of us learn from his breakthrough?
We just released our first installment of the Think Like a Freak
The first installment (“How to Screen Job Applicants, Act Your Age, and Get Your Brain Off Autopilot“) covered Chapters 1-3 of Think. Now it’s time for you to send in questions for Chapters 4, 5, and 6 (see Table of Contents, below). If your question ends up in the podcast, we’ll send you a signed copy of Think Like a Freak or a limited edition Think Like a Freak t-shirt. So fire away!
Dubner and Levitt answer reader questions in this first installment of the “Think Like a Freak” Book Club.
From a nice review of Freakonomics Radio on Stitcher (a great podcast platform, BTW, if you don’t know it):
We are starting to put together an anthology of posts from this blog, which we began in 2005, just before the publication of Freakonomics. It is a lot of fun going through the archives — more than 8,000 posts! — but also a bit overwhelming.
Are you willing to help? Whether you are a longtime reader or a new one, please tell us (in the comments section below) any blog posts that you think should be included (or that shouldn’t be). Maybe it was a post you loved … or hated … or something that changed the way you think … or gave you a good idea. Maybe it was simply something that was memorable for reasons you don’t understand.
Don’t feel that you need to troll through the archives as I’m doing, although you are certainly welcome to!
Many thanks.
Is it really in a restaurant’s best interest to give customers free bread or chips before they even order?
Every four years, the U.S. takes a look at the World Cup and develops a slight crush. What would it take to really fall in love?
In which we argue that failure should not only be tolerated but celebrated.
You know the saying: a winner never quits and a quitter never wins. To which Freakonomics Radio says … Are you sure?
When it comes to generating ideas and asking questions it can be really fruitful to have the mentality of an eight year old.
In Think Like a Freak
Hey Guys,
Loved Think Like a Freak.
One thought: Why don’t we trying paying parents for kids getting good grades??? If the parents are motivated to make money, from someone else’s hard work, then they’ll make the kids work harder and want them to stay in school. I think paying the kids doesn’t take advantage of the leverage of a parent over their child. Just a thought.
As a child in the feudal system of a blue-collar Irish-Catholic East Coast family, my Dad took great pride in and took the credit for his beautiful lawn. This would be the same lawn that his children did all the work on. Haha. Don’t see why it wouldn’t work for grades. And I’m sure the parents would be just as proud, even if they’re getting paid.
Gary’s note may also be referring to a brief passage in Think about the parents of schoolkids:
The best part of publishing a new book
One great example is the book’s second chapter, “The Three Hardest Words in the English Language,” which is about how people are reluctant to say “I don’t know” when in fact they don’t know the answer to a question or the solution to a problem.
We explored this topic in last week’s podcast, and I wanted to share with you some of the most interesting feedback.
Why learning to say “I don’t know” is one of the best things you can do.
Our new book, Think Like a Freak
How does it work? You write in your questions/comments/complaints in the comments section below and we’ll respond to some of them in our podcast. For now, we’re planning to do three episodes of the Book Club. (But if you know us even a little bit, you know we won’t be afraid to quit after one if it doesn’t work out!) Since there are nine chapters in the book, let’s start with questions that pertain to Chapter 1, 2, and 3 of Think. Those are: “What Does It Mean to Think Like a Freak?,” “The Three Hardest Words in the English Language,” and “What’s Your Problem?”
If we choose your question for the podcast, we’ll send you a signed copy of Think Like a Freak or a limited edition Think Like a Freak t-shirt. Thanks!
You never know what Freakonomics Radio listeners will come up with after listening to our podcasts.
Here, from Josh Miner, is a response to our recent episode “Which Came First, the Chicken or the Avocado,” in which we wondered why some people get upset over the plight of factory-farmed chicken while not many seem to care about the humans who suffer because of the extortion and violence in the avocado industry.
What makes Josh’s response so noteworthy? Among other things, it comes replete with flow chart. Read on!
I love your show — in fact, I loved this episode on the moral impact and consequences of our choices. I got so unbelievably mad, though, when you both simplified the question of how consumers’ choices about what they eat affects the food market in which they participate.
Here are some thoughts — not so well organized.
From a friend whose young daughter Lea, around 13 years old, grabbed the copy of Think Like a Freak that I send my friend and “is now devouring it.” But that’s not the good part:
She woke up this morning and told me that she had dreamed last night that we were at Yankee Stadium, the Yankees were winning 12-0, and when Lea looked around, everyone in the stands was reading Think Like a Freak.
No kidding.
And here’s a note from “an almost 13-year-old,” Charlotte, which came over the transom:
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