Freakonomics in the Times Magazine: Up in Smoke
…same research that formed the basis of “Why Do Drug Dealers Live With Their Moms?”, the third chapter of Freakonomics.) Click here for a paper by the criminologist Alfred Blumstein…
…same research that formed the basis of “Why Do Drug Dealers Live With Their Moms?”, the third chapter of Freakonomics.) Click here for a paper by the criminologist Alfred Blumstein…
…conclusions are always predictable and anyone applying basic logic will arrive at the same conclusion. Take your “investigation” of the reason behind the fact that so many drug dealers live…
…15 years ago.” That said, hospital admissions for drug-poisoning rose 4.8 percent last year, and drug-related deaths may also be rising. One expert thinks alcohol may be to blame: “We’re…
The AP reports that Brazilian drug lords are colluding to get rid of crack cocaine even though it will result in millions of lost dollars. Why? Because crack customers have…
…needles. And the number of people seeking drug treatment has soared. Portugal’s drug liberalization has helped re-assimilate problem drug users into society. Meanwhile, in the U.K., the perfectly legal drug…
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….
Evidence from Nazi Germany and 1940’s America (and pretty much everywhere else) shows that discrimination is incredibly costly — to the victims, of course, but also the perpetrators. One modern…
…Many of his patients, he explained, must pay for their drugs out-of-pocket, and yet even the generic drugs at pharmacy chains like Walgreens, Eckerd, and CVS could cost them dearly….
Bapu Jena talks with Albert Bourla about his unusual path to the top, developing a life-saving vaccine in record time, and the second-hardest decision he made along the way.
(Photo: Babak Fakhamzadeh) An FDA panel just approved the first drug recommended for preventing infection by, rather than limiting the effects of the HIV virus. Part of the discussion by…
Five years ago, we published an episode about the boom in home DNA testing kits, focusing on the high-flying firm 23andMe and its C.E.O. Anne Wojcicki. Their flight has been…
G.M. produces more than 20 times as many cars as Tesla, but Tesla is worth nearly 10 times as much. Mary Barra, the C.E.O. of G.M., is trying to fix…
…in order to increase the drug dealers’ profits. The Leipzig doctors estimate that the contaminated marijuana had a 10 percent lead content. If marijuana were decriminalized, as several people advocated…
Chapter 3 of Freakonomics has finally made it to the small screen. In last week’s episode of The Mentalist, Patrick Jane (played by Simon Baker) asks two drug dealers about…
…years of the “War on Drugs,” we have expended enormous amounts of resources locking up drug dealers. (Contrary to public opinion, the punishment of drug users has been relatively limited;…
…ghetto legend was quickly dispelled when I watched episode three of The Wire with the usual cast of thugs from New York and New Jersey — ex-gang members and drug…
…tricked colleagues into drinking cheap wine and opined that drug dealers in Sao Paulo would do a better job keeping communities safe. But his moral compass went spinning when the…
By some estimates, medical error is the third-leading cause of death in the U.S. How can that be? And what’s to be done? Our third and final episode in this…
Kidney failure is such a catastrophic (and expensive) disease that Medicare covers treatment for anyone, regardless of age. Since Medicare reimbursement rates are fairly low, the dialysis industry had to…
…firms. Levitt gets a hat tip in the “Drug Dealer” write-up. A CDC study finds that violence costs the U.S. more than $70 billion per year, as much as the…
Planet Money interviews Nassim Taleb, who recently participated in a Freakonomics quorum on financial reform, for its Deep Read series. Taleb compares the developed world’s dependence on debt to drug…
By mid-century, 10 million people a year are projected to die from untreatable infections. Can Cassandra, an ethnobotanist at Emory University convince Steve that herbs and ancient healing are key…
What does the Seven Deadly Sins survey tell us about the people who listen to this podcast? Are we more afflicted by sloth or by lust? And what does Angela…
…territory. Instead we have several organizations looking to “win” the drugs market, but they are also diversifying theirs activities. It’s not just the drugs anymore; it’s rape, kidnapping, murder and…
By some estimates, medical error is the third-leading cause of death in the U.S. How can that be? And what’s to be done? Our third and final episode in this…
As of May 1, it is illegal for foreigners to buy soft drugs in three border provinces of the Netherlands. This new constraint is especially restrictive in Maastricht, which lies…
…evidence of the illegal deals. Legitimate weapons dealers that obey the embargoes are hurt by them, while illicit dealers benefit. So DellaVigna and La Ferrara examined how the stock prices…
In our most recent podcast, “Are We Ready to Legalize Drugs? And Other FREAK-quently Asked Questions,” we discussed drug legalization. Here’s what Steve Levitt had to say on the benefits…
Spontaneous order is everywhere if you know where to look for it.
…Episode 6, Marlo Stanfield has killed off the competing retail drug lords and also the chief wholesaler, Proposition Joe. At the next meeting of Baltimore drug lords, Marlo allocates territories…
