The Lanham Act Goes to the Movies
…advertis[ement] or promotion” that “misrepresents the nature, characteristics [or] qualities” of the Kindle. I think it would be fine for movies to take some artistic license with the qualities of…
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…
Overt discrimination in the labor markets may be on the wane, but women are still subtly penalized by all sorts of societal conventions. How can those penalties be removed without…
…advertis[ement] or promotion” that “misrepresents the nature, characteristics [or] qualities” of the Kindle. I think it would be fine for movies to take some artistic license with the qualities of…
The science of what works — and doesn’t work — in fundraising
The science of what works — and doesn’t work — in fundraising.
A fast-food burger has to taste the same — and cost the same — thousands of times a day at restaurants across the country. Zachary Crockett mans the fryer….
It happens to just about everyone, whether you’re going for Olympic gold or giving a wedding toast. We hear from psychologists, economists, and the golfer who some say committed the…
…Can private companies ever be part of the solution? A: The conflicts of interest and compromise of healthcare involved in corporate sponsorship of medicine have been thoroughly parsed, documented, and…
…So sports playoff series can be fun and exciting, but being crowned “world champion” is not a reliable indication that a team is actually the best one. (p. 70-71) As…
Ken Goldberg is at the forefront of robotics — which means he tries to teach machines to do things humans find trivial….
Most travelers want the cheapest flight they can find. Airlines, meanwhile, need to manage volatile fuel costs, a pricey workforce, and complex logistics. So how do they make money —…
Economist Michael D. Smith says universities are scrambling to protect a status quo that deserves to die. He tells Steve why the current system is unsustainable, and what’s at stake…
Labor exploitation! Corporate profiteering! Government corruption! The 21st century can look a lot like the 18th. In the final episode of a series, we turn to “the father of economics”…
Hear diagnostician Gurpreet Dhaliwal try to solve the case of a patient who came to the emergency room with an unusual combination of symptoms. Plus, we discuss how difficult it…
He’s been an Arctic scientist, a sports journalist, and is now a best-selling author of science books. His latest, Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World, makes the argument…
Thanks to legal settlements with drug makers and distributors, states have plenty of money to boost prevention and treatment. Will it work? (Part two of a two-part series.)…
…skills. So please consider visiting the project web-site at http://www.goodjudgment.info. You will find what you need to register there and more information about the project. We are committed to maintaining…
…alternative that best balances the achievement of your competing objectives. Q. Many important personal and business decisions seem to come down to the proverbial balancing of apples and oranges. It…
…the segment. Machine tool companies on a global scale are at the forefront of a new employment trend and are struggling to find competent, skilled, trained, reliable workers to do…
Bestselling author James Nestor believes that we can improve our lives by changing the way we breathe. He’s persuasive enough to get Steve taping his mouth shut at night. He…
He’s a professor of computation and behavioral science at the University of Chicago, MacArthur “Genius Grant” recipient, and author. Steve and Sendhil laugh their way through a conversation about the…
…bet, it is not California Chrome to place or show, it is Commanding Curve to win. Commanding Curve will be a long shot — odds around 14-1 — but according…
You may have detected a theme in our three most recent podcasts: “Reasons to Not Be Ugly,” “What You Don’t Know About Online Dating,” and “Why Marry? (Part 1).” If…
You never know what Freakonomics Radio listeners will come up with after listening to our podcasts. Here, from Josh Miner, is a response to our recent episode “Which Came First,…
…spend tonight watching the ticker from political prediction markets a lot more closely than I’ll be watching the talking heads. Think of the market as distributed computing: Traders around the…
…your bed? What’s the benefit of hiring a lazy person? And how many cups of spinach can Mike fit in a red Solo cup? Take the Big Five inventory: freakonomics.com/bigfive…
In a conversation fresh from the Freakonomics Radio Network’s podcast laboratory, Michèle Flournoy (one of the highest-ranking women in Defense Department history) speaks with Cecil Haney (one of the U.S….
Stephen Dubner’s conversation with the founder and longtime C.E.O. of Bridgewater Associates, recorded for the Freakonomics Radio series “The Secret Life of a C.E.O.”…
The International Monetary Fund has long been the “lender of last resort” for economies in crisis. Christine Lagarde, who runs the institution, would like to prevent those crises from ever…
