Pay Attention!
What are you actually accomplishing when you’re doing five things at once? Maybe not as much as you think.
When Freakonomics.com was launched in 2005, it was essentially a blog (c’mon, blogs were a thing then!). The first Freakonomics book had just been published, and Stephen J. Dubner and Steven D. Levitt wanted to continue their conversation with readers. Over time, the blog grew to have millions of readers, a variety of regular and guest writers, and it was hosted by The New York Times, where Dubner and Levitt also published a monthly “Freakonomics” column. The authors later collected some of the best blog writing in a book called When to Rob a Bank … and 131 More Warped Suggestions and Well-Intended Rants. (The publisher rejected their original title: We Were Only Trying to Help. The publisher had also rejected the title Freakonomics at first, so they weren’t surprised.) While the blog has not had any new writing in quite some time, the entire archive is still here for you to read.
What are you actually accomplishing when you’re doing five things at once? Maybe not as much as you think.
In The Tall Book, Arianne Cohen relies on insights from her own life (including a brief stint as one half of the world’s tallest couple), and research from economists and scientists to shed light on the pros and cons of life as a really tall person.
Here is part four of the WSHU “Better Biz” series, where Barry Nalebuff and Ian Ayres react to the challenges of specific businesses.
We’ve blogged at length about the shortage of donor organs in the United States. A company in San Diego is working on a solution to that problem.
As we get richer, we not only substitute toward higher-quality goods-we demand more diversity in what we consume and what we do.
“Okun’s law” is a much-loved rule of thumb – it links increases in the unemployment rate with decreases in output. But is it broken?
Foreign Policy explores the history of “cap and trade” – the phrase and the concept.
Each week, I’ve been inviting readers to submit quotations whose origins they want me to try to trace, using my book, The Yale Book of Quotations, and my more recent research. Here is the latest round.
Among 22-year-olds, there are 185 female college graduates for every 100 male graduates. This statistic, however, is a little misleading.
I’ve written before about the hidden power of prosody – which concerns “the syllable length, loudness, pitch, and the formant frequencies of speech sounds.”
Jezebel, the blog devoted to “celebrity, sex, fashion,” has just referred to the “hippest-economist-ever Betsey Stevenson.”
Why do men usually take the wheel when a couple is together in a car?
A preview of the second episode of Freakonomics radio.
In response to allegations of vote-trading and home-country bias among figure-skating judges at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake, the International Skating Union changed judging procedures. But have those reforms been effective?
Should publishing requirements for tenure go up for scholars in the humanities and social sciences?
Psychologists have found that your face tells people a lot about your political leanings.
A Freakonomics reader in Texas fakes her religion for the sake of her kids.
For most Olympics viewers, winning a silver medal at the Games would seem pretty impressive. For the silver medalists themselves, however, their feat can be disappointing.
Mathalicious provides free math lessons, including supporting materials, for teachers and parents. The organization hopes to “transform the way math is taught and learned by focusing not only on skills but on the real-world applications of math, from sports to politics to video games to exercise.”
With nearly one in ten American labor force participants out of work, it is clear that more needs to be done to stimulate hiring. Action is required, and I’m pleased to add my voice to those calling for a well-designed temporary hiring tax credit.
Twelve French wine producers were recently found guilty of selling “million of gallons of fake Pinot Noir” to American wine distributors.
Here is part three of the WSHU “Better Biz” series, where Barry Nalebuff and I react to the challenges of specific businesses.
Thomas Goetz, the executive editor of Wired, has written a new book that he hopes will give people some tools in this effort. Goetz has agreed to answer some of our questions about his book.
Kyle Whelliston describes the secondary market for Olympics tickets in Vancouver.
In wake of some of the latest chatter about The Wine Trials 2010 (this one from Joe Briand, wine buyer for New Orleans’s excellent Link Restaurant Group, e.g. Cochon, Herbsaint, with a response from Wine Spectator executive editor Thomas Matthews), I thought it was time for a quick clarification of first principles here.
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