Confessions of a Steve Jobs Fanboy
…differently that people will never be able to figure you out; by failing, cheating, lying, having everyone hate you, and coming out the other side with more wisdom than the…
There are a lot of upsides to urban density — but viral contagion is not one of them. Also: a nationwide lockdown will show if familiarity really breeds contempt. And:…
Every year, Americans short the I.R.S. nearly half a trillion dollars. Most ideas to increase compliance are more stick than carrot — scary letters, audits, and penalties. But what if…
…differently that people will never be able to figure you out; by failing, cheating, lying, having everyone hate you, and coming out the other side with more wisdom than the…
…(As noted in SuperFreakonomics, more people are failing to die from heart disease and therefore live long enough to get cancer.) The study also found that “cancer accounts for only…
He’s an M.I.T. cosmologist, physicist, and machine-learning expert, and once upon a time, almost an economist. Max and Steve continue their conversation about the existential threats facing humanity, and what…
…is nothing to be gained for the graders/districts if they pass a student with a borderline score (at the basic level), rather than failing him/her. So my take on this…
The art market is so opaque and illiquid that it barely functions like a market at all. A handful of big names get all the headlines (and most of the…
…buying … you guessed it … trip insurance! By not noticing that Orbitz had used a pre-checked box, Jon had “agreed” (by failing to disagree) to a whopping $156.90 trip…
How can you summon courage when you’re terrified? Is hiking more dangerous than skiing? And what is the stupidest thing that Mike has ever done?…
Stephen Dubner’s conversation with the Virgin Group founder, recorded for the Freakonomics Radio series “The Secret Life of a C.E.O.”…
…for failing to recognize him as such. The Yale Book of Quotations, however, has the following entry under Lewis’s name: [Self-description:] Comedian from hell. Quoted in Chicago Tribune, Apr. 20,…
Can denial be a healthy way of dealing with the death of a loved one? What do the five stages of grief misrepresent about mourning? And why does Angie cover…
…would be present for foreclosing as well. 3) If mortgages are not stripped into pieces, are there firms out there trying to scoop up failing mortgages at rock-bottom prices and…
Only 5 percent of Fortune 500 companies are run by women. Why? Research shows that female executives are more likely to be put in charge of firms that are already…
…as a live sound engineer, mixing concerts in venues from Auckland to Zurich. He loves a good barbecue, hiking in the Adirondacks, and trying (…usually failing) to teach his dog…
…here is the reader challenge: find the best examples of the Coase Theorem failing on the web. What URLs seem like they should logically take visitors to one place, but…
What is the cost of admitting you’re wrong? How can intellectual humility make you more open minded? And will Stephen finally persuade Angela that rum-raisin is the best flavor of…
One prescription drug is keeping some addicts from dying. So why isn’t it more widespread? A story of regulation, stigma, and the potentially fatal faith in abstinence. (Part two of…
…who lives and breathes baseball, knows the existing sabermetric literature cold, but also brings a business perspective that goes far beyond his ability to manipulate statistics. Failing that, I think…
Promising drugs keep failing in trials. Allegations of fraud have cast a shadow over the field. An expert explains why Alzheimer’s treatments have been so hard to find — and…
…sales. The picture in Africa could not be more different. Approximately two-thirds of Africa’s population labors on small, dusty farms, frequently failing to produce enough food to feed their families….
Trump says it would destroy us. Biden needs the voters who support it (especially the Bernie voters). The majority of millennials would like it to replace capitalism. But what is…
We all like to throw around terms that describe human behavior — “bystander apathy” and “steep learning curve” and “hard-wired.” Most of the time, they don’t actually mean what we…
…identify any specific skills (academic, social or otherwise) which high schools may be failing to equip young people, thus making it more difficult for them to achieve success in college?…
…on any individual at bat. It would be crazy to say that he was in a home-run slump after failing to homer after just a few at bats. But the…
…to maximize the benefit to themselves. Happens over and over and neither lawmakers nor auditors take the change into account in establishing controls and oversight. Failing to figure out how…
…of a person for failing to protect his or her spouse from harm also has the potential to have a discriminatory impact, in a different and critical sense: it treats…
…above $250,000, probably the top 2 percent of taxpayers), scheduled to expire on December 31. A recent objection is that, by reducing net incomes of the rich, failing to extend…
Sure, markets generally work well. But for some transactions — like school admissions and organ transplants — money alone can’t solve the problem. That’s when you need a market-design wizard…
