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Parents Are Less Happy. So What?

…parental over-investment in their children is causing parents to be unhappy. He infers from this that we should invest less in each child, and have more children. In the classic…




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Episode 77

How Can You Avoid Boredom?

Also: are we getting any better at assessing COVID risk?

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Episode 168

Think Like a Child

When it comes to generating ideas and asking questions it can be really fruitful to have the mentality of an eight year old.

My wife Jeannette gets her props

…“With biological children or children adopted from anywhere, there’s always a risk,” Jeannette Levitt said. “But you decide you’re gong to do it, and you’re going to love your children,…




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Episode 4

Ken Jennings: “Don’t Neglect the Thing That Makes You Weird”

…Time” title on Jeopardy! Steve Levitt digs into how he trained for the show, what it means to have a “geographic memory,” and why we lie to our children.  …

Preschool for Everyone?

…time mothers and children spend together on activities such as reading, the chances that mothers work, and children’s test performance as late as eighth grade. For higher-income families, however, we…



Good News for Child Obesity

…for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, was based on data from 11.6 million children age 2 to 4. The survey group included children eligible for federally funded programs of…



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Episode 168

Think Like a Child (Replay)

When it comes to generating ideas and asking questions it can be really fruitful to have the mentality of an 8-year-old.

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Episode 197

Hacking the World Bank

Jim Yong Kim has an unorthodox background for a World Bank president — and his reign thus far is just as unorthodox.

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Episode 581

What Both Parties Get Wrong About Immigration

The U.S. immigration system is a massively complicated machine, with a lot of worn-out parts. How to fix it? Step one: Get hold of some actual facts and evidence. (We…

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Episode 479

The Economist’s Guide to Parenting: 10 Years Later

In one of the earliest Freakonomics Radio episodes (No. 39!), we asked a bunch of economists with young kids how they approached child-rearing. Now the kids are old enough to…

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Episode 479

The Economist’s Guide to Parenting: 10 Years Later (Replay)

In one of the earliest Freakonomics Radio episodes, we asked a bunch of economists with young kids how they approached child-rearing. Now the kids are old enough to talk —…

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Episode 29

Smarter Kids at 10 Bucks a Pop

It won’t work for everyone, but there’s a cheap, quick, and simple way to lift some students’ grades.

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Episode 191

Why Doesn’t Everyone Get the Flu Vaccine?

Influenza kills, but you’d never know it by how few of us get the vaccine.

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Episode 37

Can Fear Be Good Medicine?

Fear is a popular tool in public health campaigns. But is it an effective one? Bapu Jena discusses new research on whether we can — and should — scare people…

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Episode 197

Hacking the World Bank (Update)

Jim Yong Kim has an unorthodox background for a World Bank president — and his reign has been just as unorthodox. He has just announced he’s stepping down, well before…



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Episode 7

Caverly Morgan: “I Am Not This Voice. I Am Not This Narrative”

…Levitt finds out what daily life is like in a silent monastery, why teens find it easier than adults to learn meditation, and what happy children can teach their parents….


The "Identity Economists" Answer Your Questions

…jobs, the low educational attainment of minority children, and weak work incentives when employees feel little attachment to their firm. Q. Which seemingly irrational economic habits are the most difficult…




The Politics of Amniocentesis

…Palin’s reason for doing the test was early planning, is that she kept not only the Down syndrome news a secret from her own children, but even the pregnancy itself….



The History of Obesity Revisited

…since the 1930s has measured children from shortly after birth until age 18. Most of the children come from the area near Dayton, Ohio, which is not a mirror of…



Speaking Very Ill of the Dead

…cruelty and shame that she delivered on her children,” the scathing obituary begins. … [It] was written by Johnson-Reddick’s adult children, whose horror stories prompted Nevada to become one of…



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Episode 48

Do Good Deeds Invite More Bad Ones?

Also: what is the most significant choice you will ever make?…

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Episode 167

The Three Hardest Words in the English Language

Why learning to say “I don’t know” is one of the best things you can do.

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Episode 511

Why Did You Marry That Person?

Sure, you were “in love.” But economists — using evidence from Bridgerton to Tinder — point to what’s called “assortative mating.” And it has some unpleasant consequences for society….