What can Eeyore and Tigger Teach Bernanke About Monetary Policy?
…may try to sound like Tigger, but revert to being Eeyore when the recovery starts. To succeed at the game of forward guidance, Bernanke needs to convince us he’s committed…
…may try to sound like Tigger, but revert to being Eeyore when the recovery starts. To succeed at the game of forward guidance, Bernanke needs to convince us he’s committed…
Hollywood loves stories of canine heroism. But can ordinary dogs really be heroes? To find out, Alexandra Horowitz talks to a dog-cognition researcher and to Susan Orlean, author of the…
…disagree with the bailout plan, I agree that we need to do something to get the credit markets going again. And I think that the current plan will likely succeed…
Most high-school math classes are still preparing students for the Sputnik era. Steve Levitt wants to get rid of the “geometry sandwich” and instead have kids learn what they really…
Are highly effective people quicker to share credit? What does poverty do to your brain? And how did Stephen’s mother teach him about opportunity costs? Plus: an announcement about the…
The restaurant business model is warped: kitchen wages are too low to hire cooks, while diners are put in charge of paying the waitstaff. So what happens if you eliminate…
What makes a con succeed? Does snake oil actually work? And just how gullible is Angela?…
Arnold Schwarzenegger has been a bodybuilder, an actor, a governor, and, now, an author. He tells Steve how he’s managed to succeed in so many fields — and what to…
Stephen Dubner’s conversation with the C.E.O. of Microsoft, recorded for the Freakonomics Radio series “The Secret Life of a C.E.O.”…
Politicians tell voters exactly what they want to hear, even when it makes no sense. Which is pretty much all the time.
…discrimination tended to come from older men, who were perhaps wary of a woman’s ability to succeed in a traditionally male environment. However, I must point out that I have…
Before she decided to become a poker pro, Maria Konnikova didn’t know how many cards are in a deck. But she did have a Ph.D. in psychology, a brilliant coach…
The gist: in our collective zeal to reform schools and close the achievement gap, we may have lost sight of where most learning really happens — at home.
…of misinformation and panic. I am very much rooting for the former, and for iMedix to succeed. (Here’s a brief writeup at TechCrunch.) How do you think it will play…
…conditions, and over a period of several hours you succeed in convincing them that dimethyl-meatloaf can’t cause leukemia, if leukemia is the kind of cancer they’re worried about. So you’ve…
…I run into a beggar, I would try to resist giving him money (I give enough to anonymous people via charity), but I am certain that I may not succeed….
She’s the C.E.O. of Zoox, an autonomous vehicle company. Steve asks Aicha about the big promises the A.V. industry hasn’t yet delivered — and the radical bet Zoox is making…
Most travelers want the cheapest flight they can find. Airlines, meanwhile, need to manage volatile fuel costs, a pricey workforce, and complex logistics. So how do they make money —…
If two parents can run a family, why shouldn’t two executives run a company? We dig into the research and hear firsthand stories of both triumph and disaster. Also: lessons…
As the cost of college skyrocketed, it created a debt burden that’s putting a drag on the economy. One possible solution: shifting the risk of debt away from students and…
…the research to succeed, is over $1000. I find this line of research to be unethical—it certainly violates the “informed consent” that is always required in biomedical studies. Nor is…
In a new book called The Voltage Effect, the economist John List — who has already revolutionized how his profession does research — is trying to start a scaling revolution….
Justin Trudeau, facing record-low approval numbers, is doubling down on his progressive agenda. But he is so upbeat (and Canada-polite) that it’s easy to miss just how radical his vision…
…But does it succeed? Andrew Gelman isn’t convinced by this effort. Over at fivethirtyeight.com, he takes a close look at this new state-based index, comparing a state’s ranking in this…
…in on health-insurance exchanges. “Put simply health care reform will succeed or fail?based on two fundamental criteria: Do people?get the coverage that they were promised, and?that they want?” writes Cutler,…
Unlike certain elected officials in Washington, mayors all over the country actually get stuff done. So maybe we should ask them to do more?
…likely to be promoted than others. Although we find optimists are more charismatic and are perceived by others to be more likely to succeed, these factors alone do not explain…
…if they aren’t looking at the ball. The best athletes, then, can succeed without having to open their eyes. “It’s a very, very amazing cognitive skill,” she says…” –?The Wall…
Advertisers have always been adept at manipulating our emotions. Now they’re using behavioral economics to get even better.
Is it more important to help society or to help yourself? Does the self-improvement movement do any good for the world? And which podcast episode does Stephen cling to as…
