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Episode 228

Does “Early Education” Come Way Too Late?

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.

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Episode 32

Angela Duckworth Explains How to Manage Your Goal Hierarchy

She’s the author of the bestselling book Grit, and a University of Pennsylvania professor of psychology — a field Steve says he knows nothing about. But once Angela gives Steve…


Training to Save in Ghana

(Photo: Stella Benezra) Freakonomics fans will already know that financial literacy is a hot issue for researchers – it’s in everybody’s best interest to get people making better financial decisions,…



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Episode 146

Fighting Poverty With Actual Evidence

It’s time to do away with feel-good stories, gut hunches, and magical thinking.


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Episode 139

Would a Big Bucket of Cash Really Change Your Life?

A 19th-century Georgia land lottery may have something to teach us about today’s income inequality.

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Episode 601

Multitasking Doesn’t Work. So Why Do We Keep Trying?

Only a tiny number of “supertaskers” are capable of doing two things at once. The rest of us are just making ourselves miserable, and less productive. How can we put…

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Episode 50

The Truth Is Out There…Isn’t It?

There’s a nasty secret about hot-button topics like global warming — knowledge is not always power.

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Episode 228

Does “Early Education” Come Way Too Late? (Replay)

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.


The Economics of Mosquitoes

…Using individual-level census data, he finds that getting rid of malaria led to higher wages and literacy rates for children who grew up post-eradication. Wages rose 10 to 40 percent…



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Episode 147

Is Nudging Enough?

Is it enough to toss a soda can in the recycling? Why is Maria obsessed with Nobel Prize lectures? And wait — is that a news alert or a tiger?…


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Episode 527

Can Adam Smith Fix Our Economy?

Labor exploitation! Corporate profiteering! Government corruption! The 21st century can look a lot like the 18th. In the final episode of a series, we turn to “the father of economics”…

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Episode 16

Prop Money

Who makes the stacks of fake cash used in movies — and how do they stay clear of counterfeit law? Zachary Crockett follows the fake money….

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Episode 469

The U.S. Is Just Different — So Let’s Stop Pretending We’re Not (Replay)

We often look to other countries for smart policies on education, healthcare, infrastructure, etc. But can a smart policy be simply transplanted into a country as culturally unusual (and as…

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EXTRA

Roland Fryer Refuses to Lie to Black America (Update)

His research on police brutality and school incentives won him acclaim, but also enemies. He was suspended for two years by Harvard, during which time he took a hard look…

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Episode 301

What Would Be the Best Universal Language?

We explore votes for English, Indonesian and … Esperanto! The search for a common language goes back millennia, but so much still gets lost in translation. Will technology finally solve…

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Episode 30

Why Do We Seek Comfort in the Familiar? (Replay)

Also: is a little knowledge truly a dangerous thing?

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Episode 580

The True Story of America’s Supremely Messed-Up Immigration System

How did a nation of immigrants come to hate immigration? We start at the beginning, sort through the evidence, and explain why your grandfather was lying about Ellis Island. (Part…

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Episode 11

Are Ambitious People Inherently Selfish?

Also: why do we habituate to life’s greatest pleasures?

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Episode 632

When Did We All Start Watching Documentaries?

It used to be that making documentary films meant taking a vow of poverty (and obscurity). The streaming revolution changed that. Award-winning filmmaker R.J. Cutler talks to Stephen Dubner about…


Suze Orman Answers Your Money Questions

…consider adequate financial literacy. A: Whatever the percentage, it is woefully low; but entirely predictable too. It’s hard to be literate in a subject you receive no education or training…



James Surowiecki on Financial Illiteracy

James Surowiecki writes about one of this blog’s frequent topics of interest: financial illiteracy. Surowiecki includes insights from Annamaria Lusardi‘s research and Gary Rivlin‘s new book, Broke, USA. He proposes…



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Episode 405

Policymaking Is Not a Science (Yet)

Why do so many promising solutions — in education, medicine, criminal justice, etc. — fail to scale up into great policy? And can a new breed of “implementation scientists” crack…

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Episode 470

The Pros and Cons of America’s (Extreme) Individualism (Replay)

According to a decades-long research project, the U.S. is not only the most individualistic country on earth; we’re also high on indulgence, short-term thinking, and masculinity (but low on “uncertainty…

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Episode 120

100 Ways to Fight Obesity

Freakonomics asks a dozen smart people for their best ideas. Get ready for a fat tax, a sugar ban, and a calorie-chomping tapeworm.

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Episode 141

Is Greed Good?

Who’s greedier — gamblers or casinos? What’s the difference between betting on sports and entering a charity raffle? And does Angela know the name of her city’s football team? Take…