…learned to be skeptical of common sense, especially when it is invoked as the solution to complex social problems. Sociology, of course, has its own conflicted history with common sense….
We had a poll earlier this week that asked: should you give your kids the company? That’s the question of our latest podcast and hour-long Freakonomics Radio special “The Church…
[omny:https://traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/aaea4e69-af51-495e-afc9-a9760146922b/14a43378-edb2-49be-8511-ab0d000a7030/e00d399b-cbd4-45f8-aeab-ab0d0019cf4d/audio.mp3] (Photo: Isabell Schulz) Our latest Freakonomics Radio podcast on Marketplace podcast is called “Why Family and Business Don’t Mix.” (You can download/subscribe at iTunes, get the RSS feed, listen…
…seasons, the NFL has averaged exactly six new teams in the playoffs every year, meaning that half of the playoff picture is completely different from the year before. The turnover…
…substitutes for a legitimate transaction — for example, a person who would have bought the DVD of the new Kate Beckinsale vampire film (who is that, actually?) but instead downloads…
[omny:https://traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/aaea4e69-af51-495e-afc9-a9760146922b/14a43378-edb2-49be-8511-ab0d000a7030/63c65c3f-9e7a-4218-bc2f-ab0d001b8b4a/audio.mp3] (Photo: photosteve101) Our latest Freakonomics Radio on Marketplace podcast is called “Playing the Nerd Card.” (You can download/subscribe at iTunes, get the RSS feed, listen via the media player…
We’ve written before about pay-as-you-wish commerce, most significantly the case of a bagel man in the Washington, D.C., area, but also a coffee shop in Seattle and three instances of…
For our latest podcast, “The Economist’s Guide to Parenting” (you can download/subscribe at iTunes, get the RSS feed, listen live via the media player, or read a transcript here), we…
[omny:https://traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/aaea4e69-af51-495e-afc9-a9760146922b/14a43378-edb2-49be-8511-ab0d000a7030/17c145df-6513-49fa-8477-ab0d001a1a4f/audio.mp3] (Photo: Julie Bocchino) Our latest podcast is called “Help Wanted. No Smokers Need Apply.” (You can download/subscribe at iTunes, get the RSS feed, listen via the media player above,…
[omny:https://traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/aaea4e69-af51-495e-afc9-a9760146922b/14a43378-edb2-49be-8511-ab0d000a7030/9876b5ad-d8d4-4980-aaaf-ab0d001b1bdd/audio.mp3] West Virginia University students drink cans of beer while tailgating outside Milan Puskar Stadium on Sept 1, 2012. (Photo: Chelsi Baker, All-Pro Photography) Our latest Freakonomics Radio on Marketplace…
…cuisine. Why do chefs continue to invent new dishes when others are free to copy them? In a series of earlier guest posts, we wrote about fashion and knockoffs-and how…
[omny:https://traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/aaea4e69-af51-495e-afc9-a9760146922b/14a43378-edb2-49be-8511-ab0d000a7030/3321f252-bc4f-4fc8-8b7e-ab0d001a60e9/audio.mp3] Do you remember this skeet-shooting outing with Stephen Dubner, Kai Ryssdal, Barack Obama, and John Boehner? Our latest Freakonomics Radio on Marketplace podcast is called “Sure, I Remember That.”…
(Photo: Alan Cleaver) Our latest podcast, “Save Me From Myself,” is about the use of commitment devices. (You can download/subscribe at iTunes or get the RSS feed.) A commitment device…
[omny:https://traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/aaea4e69-af51-495e-afc9-a9760146922b/14a43378-edb2-49be-8511-ab0d000a7030/a2aa80c9-b5c1-443d-a32a-ab0d001a5646/audio.mp3] (Photo: Joel) Our latest Freakonomics Radio on Marketplace podcast is called “The Downside of More Miles Per Gallon.” (You can download/subscribe at iTunes, get the RSS feed, listen via…
The good news is that Freakonomics is one of Amazon.com’s most popular products in hardcover, on audio CD, and even as a digital download. In hardcover, the other top-sellers include…
Our latest Freakonomics Radio podcast, “The Suicide Paradox,” (You can download/subscribe at iTunes, get the RSS feed, or read the transcript here) investigates the mystery of suicide. Photo: The U.S….
[omny:https://traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/aaea4e69-af51-495e-afc9-a9760146922b/14a43378-edb2-49be-8511-ab0d000a7030/33b86a34-957a-4047-8c78-ab0d001c4cc2/audio.mp3] (Hemera) In our latest Freakonomics Radio on Marketplace podcast, we look at the economics of charity — specifically, what works (and what doesn’t) when trying to incentivize people to…
If you copy this post and pass it off as your own, that’s called plagiarism. If you illegally download a Freakonomics e-book for yourself, that’s downlifting (or, more traditionally, bootlegging)….
…Japanese Family Firms,” which is featured in our latest podcast and hour-long Freakonomics Radio special “The Church of Scionology.” (You can download/subscribe at iTunes, get the RSS feed, listen live…
…In fact, most folks typically download the entire history of available macro data. So let’s see what happens if we extend it back to, say, 1970: Hmm… What conclusions…
[omny:https://traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/aaea4e69-af51-495e-afc9-a9760146922b/14a43378-edb2-49be-8511-ab0d000a7030/a4709bd0-2130-4205-8eaa-ab0d001a83c1/audio.mp3] (Photo: Ethan Prater) Our latest Freakonomics Radio on Marketplace podcast is called “How to Live Longer.” (You can download/subscribe at iTunes, get the RSS feed, listen via the media…
[omny:https://traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/aaea4e69-af51-495e-afc9-a9760146922b/14a43378-edb2-49be-8511-ab0d000a7030/1e7bf4da-4a5e-48bf-9b95-ab0d001c099a/audio.mp3] (Photo: Ingo Bernhardt) We seem to be in the midst of a national obsession with obesity. Our latest Freakonomics Radio on Marketplace podcast is about some of the surprising…
[omny:https://traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/aaea4e69-af51-495e-afc9-a9760146922b/14a43378-edb2-49be-8511-ab0d000a7030/17ef3558-3a0e-4f60-bda1-ab0d001a9fcf/audio.mp3] (Photo: ahenobarbus) Our latest Freakonomics Radio on Marketplace podcast is called “Have a Very Homo Economicus Christmas.” (You can download/subscribe at iTunes, get the RSS feed, listen via the…
…it has become commonplace. What this means is that BlackBerry’s competitive advantage in the instant-communications department (with their BlackBerry Messenger application) is significantly greater there than here; the odds are…
…Weather Service have begun testing the largest upgrade to the nation’s weather radars since Doppler was installed in the early 1990s. The new technology, called ‘dual polarization,’ is specifically designed…
Apple has just released an app called Podcasts which, yes, helps you download and manage podcast from the iTunes store. Coverage of the app can be found here, here, here,…
…would produce a compensating damage of $1,510. Consumer Reports says 37 mpg, suggesting that $2,330 would be the appropriate compensation. You can click here link to download an Excel spreadsheet…
…by the way. We set out to answer Vishal’s question in our latest Freakonomics Radio on Marketplace podcast. It’s called “How to Maximize Your Halloween Candy Haul.” (You can download/subscribe…
[omny:https://traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/aaea4e69-af51-495e-afc9-a9760146922b/14a43378-edb2-49be-8511-ab0d000a7030/f2ec02ec-5014-4288-80f4-ab0d001a4a51/audio.mp3] (Photo: Guillaume Capron) Our latest Freakonomics Radio on Marketplace podcast is called “When Is a Negative a Positive?” (You can download/subscribe at iTunes, get the RSS feed, listen via…
[omny:https://traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/aaea4e69-af51-495e-afc9-a9760146922b/14a43378-edb2-49be-8511-ab0d000a7030/0b265451-843e-41e1-95a5-ab0d001b77ea/audio.mp3] (Photo: Alan Cleaver) Our latest Freakonomics Radio on Marketplace podcast is called “A Cheap Employee Is … a Cheap Employee.” (You can download/subscribe at iTunes, get the RSS feed,…