The science of what works — and doesn’t work — in fundraising.
Educational messaging looks good on paper but kids don’t respond to it — and adults aren’t much better.
The science of what works — and doesn’t work — in fundraising
In our collective zeal to reform schools and close the achievement gap, we may have lost sight of where most learning really happens — at home.
Season 5, Episode 14
On this week’s episode of Freakonomics Radio: Why would anyone want to think like a child? Aren’t kids just sloppy, inchoate versions of us? Hardly. As Stephen Dubner and Steve Levitt describe in their book Think Like a Freak, it can be very fruitful like a child.
And then: How can we get kids to eat healthier food? Educational messaging sounds like a good idea, but kids don’t respond to it. So why not bribe them?
Season 6, Episode 7 On this week’s episode of Freakonomics Radio: Why would anyone want to think like a child? Aren’t kids just sloppy, inchoate versions of us? Hardly. As Stephen Dubner and Steve Levitt describe in their book Think Like a Freak, it can be very fruitful to think like a child. And then, how can we get kids to eat healthier . . .
The gig economy offers the ultimate flexibility to set your own hours. That’s why economists thought it would help eliminate the gender pay gap. A new study, using data from over a million Uber drivers, finds the story isn’t so simple.
The gist: in our collective zeal to reform schools and close the achievement gap, we may have lost sight of where most learning really happens — at home.
Humans, it has long been thought, are the only animal to engage in economic activity. But what if we’ve had it exactly backward?
Corporate Social Responsibility programs can attract better job applicants who’ll work for less money. But they also encourage employees to misbehave. Don’t laugh — you too probably engage in “moral licensing,” even if you don’t know it.
Pharmaceutical firms donate an enormous amount of their products (and some cash too). But it doesn’t seem to be helping their reputation. We ask Pfizer’s generosity chief why the company gives so much, who it really helps, and whether all this philanthropy is just corporate whitewashing.
Season 7, Episode 40 Humans, it has long been thought, are the only animal to engage in economic activity. But what if we’ve had it exactly backward? To find out more, check out the podcasts from which this hour was drawn: “The Invisible Paw” and “There’s No Such Thing as a Free Appetizer.” You can subscribe to the Freakonomics Radio . . .
Season 7, Episode 42 Corporate Social Responsibility programs can attract better job applicants who’ll work for less money. But they also encourage employees to misbehave. Don’t laugh — you too probably engage in “moral licensing,” even if you don’t know it. To find out more, check out the podcasts from which this hour was drawn: “Does Doing Good Give You . . .
You said, “I’m sorry,” but somehow you haven’t been forgiven. Why? Because you’re doing it wrong! A report from the front lines of apology science.
Season 8, Episode 9 You said, “I’m sorry,” but somehow you haven’t been forgiven. Why? Because you’re doing it wrong! A report from the front lines of apology science. To find out more, check out the podcasts from which this hour was drawn: “Is the Government More Entrepreneurial Than You Think?” and “How to Optimize Your Apology.”
Humans, it has long been thought, are the only animal to engage in economic activity. But what if we’ve had it exactly backward?
The gig economy offers the ultimate flexibility to set your own hours. That’s why economists thought it would help eliminate the gender pay gap. A new study, using data from over a million Uber drivers, finds the story isn’t so simple. To find out more, check out the podcasts from which this hour was drawn: “What Can Uber Teach Us About . . .
It’s an acutely haphazard way of paying workers, and yet it keeps expanding. We dig into the data to find out why.
Tipping is an acutely haphazard way of paying workers, and yet it keeps expanding. We dig into the data to find out why. To find out more, check out the podcasts from which this hour was drawn: “Why Does Tipping Still Exist?” and “Why You Shouldn’t Open a Restaurant.”
Why do so many promising solutions — in education, medicine, criminal justice, etc. — fail to scale up into great policy? And can a new breed of “implementation scientists” crack the code?
Corporate Social Responsibility programs can attract better job applicants who’ll work for less money. But they also encourage employees to misbehave. And: how stupid is our obsession with lawns? Sure, lawns are beautiful and useful and they smell great. But are the costs — financial, environmental and otherwise — worth the benefits? To find out more, check out the podcasts from which . . .
Everyone agrees that massive deforestation is an environmental disaster. But most of the standard solutions — scolding the Brazilians, invoking universal morality — ignore the one solution that might actually work. And: humans, it has long been thought, are the only animal to engage in economic activity. But what if we’ve had it exactly backward? To find out more, check out the podcasts . . .
Why do so many promising solutions — in education, medicine, criminal justice, etc. — fail to scale up into great policy? And can a new breed of “implementation scientists” crack the code? To find out more, check out the podcasts from which this hour was drawn: “Policymaking Is Not a Science (Yet)” and No Stupid Question’s “How Should You Ask . . .
Why do so many promising solutions — in education, medicine, criminal justice, etc. — fail to scale up into great policy? And can a new breed of “implementation scientists” crack the code?
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. In this installment of the Freakonomics Radio Book Club, List teaches us how to avoid false positives, how to know whether a given success is due to the chef or the ingredients, and how to practice “optimal quitting.”
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. In this installment of the Freakonomics Radio Book Club, List teaches us how to avoid false positives, how to know whether a given success is due to the chef or the ingredients, and how to practice “optimal quitting.”
From baseball card conventions to Walmart, John List has always used field experiments to say revolutionary things about economics. He explains the value of an apology, why scaling shouldn’t be an afterthought, and why he moved to the private sector to stay at the forefront of science.
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. In this installment of the Freakonomics Radio Book Club, List teaches us how to avoid false positives, how to know whether a given success is due to the chef or the ingredients, and how to practice “optimal quitting.”
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