When Is the 99% Really the 5%?
…have to think that his framing skills would be admired by Messrs. Tversky, Kahneman, and Thaler. If you’re looking for a somewhat headier argument about redistribution, you could try here….
…have to think that his framing skills would be admired by Messrs. Tversky, Kahneman, and Thaler. If you’re looking for a somewhat headier argument about redistribution, you could try here….
Humans have a built-in “negativity bias,” which means we give bad news much more power than good. Would the Covid-19 crisis be an opportune time to reverse this tendency?
Also: why do we habituate to life’s greatest pleasures?
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…
…less about the work of Kahneman and Tversky, as he was the earliest (and pretty much only) economist interested in harnessing the power of their decision-making research. Without Thaler, there…
…Kahneman. After a couple of long and pretty intense days talking about research (all with Matilda in tow), Danny observed that “Matilda has a very high tolerance for economics.” She…
…Kahneman calls being “blind to our blindness” — that is, how our biases lead us to form conclusions that we think are rational but in fact are merely extensions of…
Former professional poker player Annie Duke wrote a book about Steve’s favorite subject: quitting. They talk about why quitting is so hard, how to do it sooner, and why we…
Danny Kahneman‘s Thinking, Fast and Slow (read his blog Q&A here) named a Times book of the year. Congrats! Is “big data” really ready for primetime? An economist (Laurence Kotlikoff)…
Insurance forms that make no sense. Subscriptions that can’t be cancelled. A never-ending blizzard of automated notifications. Where does all this sludge come from — and how much is it…
…sidewalk, smoking cigarettes. Most powerfully (and humbling), I think of behaviorist-king Danny Kahneman‘s admissions that he himself falls prey to the planning fallacy and other behavioral missteps. Who else can…
Celiac disease is thought to affect roughly one percent of the population. The good news: it can be treated by quitting gluten. The bad news: many celiac patients haven’t been…
Some of the biggest names in behavioral science stand accused of faking their results. Last year, an astonishing 10,000 research papers were retracted. In a series originally published in early…
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.”…
Former professional poker player Annie Duke has a new book on Steve’s favorite subject: quitting. They talk about why quitting is so hard, how to do it sooner, and why…
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…
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….
Some of the biggest names in behavioral science stand accused of faking their results. Last year, an astonishing 10,000 research papers were retracted. We talk to whistleblowers, reformers, and a…
Experts and pundits are notoriously bad at forecasting, in part because they aren’t punished for bad predictions. Also, they tend to be deeply unscientific. The psychologist Philip Tetlock is finally…
Once upon a time, Bapu Jena was a graduate student at the University of Chicago. His most interesting teacher? The economist Steve Levitt. This week on Freakonomics, M.D., a replay…
Behavioral economists say “regret lotteries” are powerful motivational tools. When Philadelphia tried one in 2021, the results were disappointing. Bapu looks at how incentives can backfire — and what we…
Humans, it has long been thought, are the only animal to engage in economic activity. But what if we’ve had it exactly backward?
He’s a Harvard physician and economist who just started a third job: host of the new podcast Freakonomics, M.D. He’s also Steve’s former student. The two discuss why medicine should…
When we try to improve things, our first thought is often: What can we add to make this better? But Leidy, a professor of engineering, says we tend to overlook…
…greater lengths to avoid losses than they will to experience the equivalent gain. (Danny Kahneman, author of Thinking, Fast and Slow , Amos Tversky, and Dick Thaler, co-author of Nudge,…
It’s impossible to say for sure, but the Lebanese do remarkably well. Why?
Stephen Dubner, live on stage, mixes it up with outbound mayor London Breed, and asks economists whether A.I. can be “human-centered” and if Tang is a gateway drug….
Does a surplus of information create a shortage of attention? Are today’s young people really unable to focus? And do goldfish need better PR?…
How do you express yourself when you’re not sure what you want to say? What’s the number one way to get people to listen to you? And why are letters…
