A Coasean Sign
…hypothetical numbers and know a lot more about the offers and counteroffers. But the sign is, well, a powerful sign that the Coase theorem in this instance did not hold….
Robert Solow is 98 years old and a giant among economists. He tells Steve about cracking German codes in World War II, why it’s so hard to reduce inequality, and…
So you want to help people? That’s great — but beware the law of unintended consequences. Three stories from the modern workplace….
Also: would you take a confirmation-bias vaccine?…
…hypothetical numbers and know a lot more about the offers and counteroffers. But the sign is, well, a powerful sign that the Coase theorem in this instance did not hold….
…mortgage-backed securities were new, rapidly growing, and largely untested. And third, many investment bankers were being paid large bonuses on the assumption that their performance could be measured properly –…
…of problems. In short, we think it will be fun. If we were not running it, we would volunteer ourselves. Many thanks for considering this, and for passing this invitation…
Talithia Williams thinks you should rigorously track your body’s data. She and Steve Levitt trade birth stories and bemoan the state of STEM education….
It happens to just about everyone, whether you’re going for Olympic gold or giving a wedding toast. We hear from psychologists, economists, and the golfer who some say committed the…
How pharma greed, government subsidies, and a push to make pain the “fifth vital sign” kicked off a crisis that costs $80 billion a year and has killed hundreds of…
…passed a (presumably) homeless man holding up this sign: Photo: McWilliams liked the sign so much that he offered the man $10 for it. “Evidently,” McWilliams says, “more than his…
…meetings a day. Most of them are woefully unproductive and tyrannize our offices. The revolution begins now — with better agendas, smaller invite lists and an embrace of healthy conflict….
Google researcher Blaise Agüera y Arcas spends his work days developing artificial intelligence models and his free time conducting surveys for fun. He tells Steve how he designed an algorithm…
…meetings a day. Most of them are woefully unproductive, and tyrannize our offices. The revolution begins now — with better agendas, smaller invite lists, and an embrace of healthy conflict….
Are those travelers on their laptops just showing off? Why does V8 taste better at 35,000 feet? And why won’t Angela chat with her seatmate?…
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…
He’s been U.S. Treasury Secretary, a chief economist for the Obama White House and the World Bank, and president of Harvard. He’s one of the most brilliant economists of his…
How do you let go of resentment? Do apologies even work? And what grievances have Stephen and Angela been nursing for years?…
How psychologist Dan Gilbert went from high school dropout to Harvard professor, found the secret of joy, and inspired Steve Levitt’s divorce….
…$170 billion were probably just a reflection of inadequate business acumen on the part of the reporters. Clearly you understood that the bonuses were needed to keep the executives happy,…
…contracts in the N.F.L., but, in their stead, N.F.L. teams offer players substantial signing bonuses. Together these signing bonuses can amount to half or more of total player compensation. What…
When small businesses get bought by big investors, the name may stay the same — but customers and employees can feel the difference. (Part 2 of 2.)…
…will also tax any bonuses he receives for winning these tournaments as well as a portion of the ranking bonuses he will receive at the end of the year, all…
…in rural India “the average person’s monthly spending was about 500 rupees (approximately $11).” (Kindle 296) They found out that big bonuses didn’t improve performance.? “The low-and medium-bonus groups performed…
…on their students’ learning gains. If states introduced bonuses for teachers who raised achievement substantially and gave bigger bonuses to teachers who raised disadvantaged students’ achievement, considerable progress might be…
…sufficient incentives for examiners to act aggressively to prevent excessive risk. Bank regulators are rarely paid for performance, and in atypical cases involving performance bonus programs, the bonuses have been…
From the Manhattan Project to the Challenger investigation, the physicist Richard Feynman loved to shoot down what he called “lousy ideas.” Today, the world is awash in lousy ideas —…
We’ve collected some of our favorite moments from People I (Mostly) Admire, the latest show from the Freakonomics Radio Network. Host Steve Levitt seeks advice from scientists and inventors, memory…
Victoria Groce is the best trivia contestant on earth. The winner of the 2024 World Quizzing Championship explains the structure of a good question, why she knits during competitions, and…
…a sign of producer desperation rather than a sign of health by those designers.” Are rising prices at the top of the fashion food chain good news for producers—or bad?…
…contract. Durant signed a maximum contract in 2010. Green was apparently not deemed worthy of a significant long-term contract (and this conclusion is consistent with the statistical evidence), so he…
