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Freakonomics Blog

As Part of New Healthcare Law, Calorie Counts Go Nationwide

We’ve blogged a few times about the effect of calorie-count postings in restaurants in New York City – the extra information is valuable, but its efficacy in changing eating habits may be minimal among the people most likely to need a change. That said, the New York movement is now going national as part of the new healthcare law, which requires restaurant chains with 20 or more outlets to post calorie information at all their restaurants.


Quotes Uncovered: Fool Me Twice

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.


Aggression and Accidents

Last post, I presented research showing that men are more deadly than women when behind the wheel. Researchers presume this is because men have a predisposition toward aggression and thrill-seeking, thanks to the testosterone that helped our male ancestors stalk, struggle and seduce their way to successful gene replication.


Water Around the World

March 22 was World Water Day, and two excellent photo essays draw attention to the issue.


Addressing the Ivory Surplus

The 1989 ivory trade ban has led to government stockpiles of ivory (from seizures/arrests and herd culling), and no legal means of selling the stuff.


What Can Economists Tell Us About Teenage Sexual Mores?

One point of our upcoming podcast is that economists — academic economists in particular — are generally free from the political and moral boundaries that restrict most people, and are therefore able to offer analysis or recommendations that politicians, e.g., wouldn’t go near with a ten-foot pole.


Wagner for Baby

Scottish Opera will soon launch Baby O, a series of concerts for infants.


If Economists Ran the Schools

A charter school organization in Arizona offers a glimpse at what the educational system would look like if economists were in charge.


Quotes Uncovered: The Full Monty

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.


Why You'd Rather Ride With a Woman Than a Man

Last post, I passed on some data showing that women are somewhat more likely than men to be involved in car accidents on a per mile driven basis. But men are far more likely (by between 50 and 100 percent) to be in crashes involving loss of life. Why are men’s crashes so much more tragic?


A Bleg: Ideas for Radio Hong Kong?

I have a brief visit to Hong Kong soon (my first!) and would like to bring back some material for our Freakonomics Radio podcast. Suggestions?


Richard Nixon, Filibuster Foe

In this interesting article from the American Prospect, Bruce Ackerman reveals how in 1957 Lyndon Johnson opposed an effort of Vice-President (and President of Senate) to reform the filibuster rule.


Mayor of Moscow Versus Mother Nature: A Winner is Declared

This fall, Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov made a bold declaration. With the help of the Russian Air Force, he was going to use cloud seeding techniques to keep it from snowing in Moscow this winter. Did Luzhkov vanquish Mother Nature as he predicted he would?


Crazy in the U.S.A.

The Daily Beast ranked America’s “craziest” cities by psychiatrists per capita, stress, eccentricity, and drinking.


Why Are Most of Football's Sideline Reporters Women?

If college and professional football are the unique and entire domain of male athletes, such that former players are most likely the most knowledgeable as to the game’s nuances both on and off the field, why is it that, while all the off-field commentary is also male-dominated, all the on-field interviewing and commentary is done by females who never touched a football, let alone played a down?


Hayek Propped Up by Government Intervention

Sunday’s New York Times reported on attempts by the Texas Board of Education to rewrite the high school curriculum in accordance with its conservative values. So I find the raw ideological force exerted by these “educators” to be both striking and dispiriting.


Time for the Kids? A Teaser and a Bleg

Today’s parents are spending dramatically more time on childcare than their parents did. What’s more, this rise has disproportionately occurred among those with the most education.