Chainsaws and Podcasts
…and music during the work day. I was listening to the “Upside of Quitting” episode and at the beginning you say something about how perfect radio is for multitasking except…
In which we argue that failure should not only be tolerated but celebrated.
Author and YouTuber John Green thought his breakout bestseller wouldn’t be a commercial success, wrote 40,000 words for one sentence, and brought Steve to tears.
Turkey sex and chicken wings, selling souls and swapping organs, the power of the president and the price of wine: these are a few of our favorite things
Economists have discovered an odd phenomenon: many people who use social media (even you, maybe?) wish it didn’t exist. But that doesn’t mean they can escape….
Our co-host is comedian Christian Finnegan, and we learn: the difference between danger and fear; the role of clouds in climate change; and why (and when) politicians are bad at…
Data scientist Nate Silver gained attention for his election predictions. But even the best prognosticators get it wrong sometimes. He talks to Steve about making good decisions with data, why…
There are a lot of factors that go into greatness, many of which are not obvious. A variety of Olympic and professional athletes tell us how they made it and…
Now and again, Freakonomics Radio puts hat in hand and asks listeners to donate to the public-radio station that produces the show. Why on earth should anyone pay good money…
Neil Shubin hunts for fossils in the Arctic and experiments with D.N.A. in the lab, hoping to find out how fish evolved to walk on land. He explains why unlocking…
What do the most creative people have in common? How open-minded are you, really? And what’s wrong with ordering eggs Benedict? Take the Big Five inventory: freakonomics.com/bigfive…
Steve usually asks his guests for advice, whether they’re magicians or Nobel laureates. After nearly 60 episodes, is any of it worth following — or should we just ask listeners…
He has been a lawyer, an instructor at the F.B.I. Academy, the owner of a frozen-yogurt chain, and a winner of the TV show Survivor. Today, Kwon works at Google,…
How final is a final offer, really? Does anonymity turn nice people into jerks? And should you tell your crush that you dreamed about marrying them?
…and music during the work day. I was listening to the “Upside of Quitting” episode and at the beginning you say something about how perfect radio is for multitasking except…
…quitting to write books. He is happy he did so. In addition to the Freakonomics series, he is the author of Turbulent Souls (Choosing My Religion), Confessions of a Hero-Worshiper,…
…flipping coins if you’ve got some hard decisions in front of you, whether it’s quitting your job, breaking up with your boyfriend, or participating in next year’s naked bike ride….
…ourselves, or a little financial stake for motivation. This goal can be exercising, studying, quitting smoking, or anything really. So we want to ask: have you tried one? What was…
…election. I was happy to support and contribute to several deserving individuals through my Liberty PAC. As far as quitting or staying with the Republicans, everyone will have to make…
Fewer Americans are quitting jobs that don’t satisfy, but as the Wall Street Journal reports, Google is worried enough about brain drain that it has developed an algorithm to identify…
…myself out of having a cigarette once. The cravings simply weren’t there — which breaks with my past experiences of quitting. Subsequently, the past two weeks I’ve had two similar…
Celiac disease is thought to affect roughly one percent of the population. The good news: it can be treated by quitting gluten. The bad news: many celiac patients haven’t been…
…on public radio. The titles: “The Church of ‘Scionology,’” “An Economist’s Guide to Parenting,” “The Folly of Prediction,” “The Suicide Paradox,” and “The Upside of Quitting.” If you live within…
…new NBER paper (gated) by Kerry Anne McGeary looks at smoking in marriages. It finds that one spouse quitting causes the other to quit, through bargaining: Previous research studying the…
…side of the smoking gap. On the other hand, it’s been argued that blacks have a harder time quitting because of their preference for menthols. The only downside I can…
…opportunity cost. A woman who takes his offer is presumably already employed. Quitting her job in order to become a kept woman would mean putting her career on hold or…
…think you should be giving We have the best of intentions for things we mean to get to, quitting smoking, eating better, exercising, but the unfortunate truth is that we…
…if they quit smoking, Van der Velden and colleagues conclude. What?! For starters, there is nothing in the study about quitting smoking — only about people who do smoke. Second,…
…like losing weight or quitting smoking. But this free program underscores that commitment contracts can be used on the job as well. People have already used stickK to commit to…
…episode on diamonds and asked my boyfriend for a gold bar for engagement instead. Then I heard the episode on quitting, so I broke up with him. I’ve been very…