It’s impossible to say for sure, but the Lebanese do remarkably well. Why?
Once upon a time, office workers across America lived in fear of a dreaded infirmity. Was the computer keyboard really the villain — and did carpal tunnel syndrome really go away?
A 19th-century Georgia land lottery may have something to teach us about today’s income inequality.
Dubner and Levitt field your queries in this latest installment of our FREAK-quently Asked Questions.
The science of what works — and doesn’t work — in fundraising.
Being green is rarely a black-and-white issue — but that doesn’t stop marketers and politicians from pretending it is.
The online universe doesn’t have nearly as many rules, or rulemakers, as the real world. Discuss.
Spontaneous order is everywhere if you know where to look for it.
It’s time to do away with feel-good stories, gut hunches, and magical thinking.
More than 1 million people die worldwide each year from traffic accidents. But there’s never been a safer time to drive.
This week’s episode of Freakonomics Radio takes a look at Pope Francis’s critique of the free-market system in “Evangelii Gaudium” (“The Joy of the Gospel”), his first apostolic exhortation.
A commitment device forces you to be the person you really want to be. What could possibly go wrong?
Most people blame lack of time for being out of shape. So maybe the solution is to exercise more efficiently.
Dubner and Levitt talk about fixing the post office, putting cameras in the classroom, and wearing hats.
What “Sleep No More” and the Stanford Prison Experiment tell us about who we really are.
The “beauty premium” is real, for everyone from babies to NFL quarterbacks.
Thick markets, thin markets, and the triumph of attributes over compatibility.
The consequences of our low marriage rate — and if the old model is less attractive, how about a new one?
In most countries, houses get more valuable over time. In Japan, a new buyer will often bulldoze the home. We’ll tell you why.
Yes, it expands the mind but we usually don’t retain much — and then there’s the opportunity cost.
A psychology professor argues that the brain’s greatest attribute is knowing what other people are thinking. And that a Queen song, played backwards, can improve your mind-reading skills.
In many ways, the gender gap is closing. In others, not so much. And that’s not always a bad thing.
Thinking of Bitcoin as just a digital currency is like thinking about the Internet as just e-mail. Its potential is much more exciting than that.
The war on cigarettes has been fairly successful in some places. But 1 billion humans still smoke — so what comes next?
Unlike certain elected officials in Washington, mayors all over the country actually get stuff done. So maybe we should ask them to do more?
Imagine that both substances were undiscovered until today. How would we think about their relative risks?
When it comes to exercising outrage, people tend to be very selective. Could it be that humans are our least favorite animal?
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