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Episode 88

Freakonomics Goes to College, Part 2 (Replay)

College tends to make people happier, healthier, and wealthier. But how?

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Episode 149

Is It Harder to Make Friends as an Adult? (Replay)

How do friendships change as we get older? Should you join a bowling league? And also: how does a cook become a chef?…

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Episode 128

How Can You Give Better Gifts?

How many bottles of wine are regifted? What’s wrong with giving cash? And should Angela give her husband a subscription to the Sausage of the Month Club?

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Episode 181

Fixing the World, Bang-for-the-Buck Edition

A team of economists has been running the numbers on the U.N.’s development goals. They have a different view of how those billions of dollars should be spent.

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Episode 417

Reasons to Be Cheerful (Replay)

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?

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Episode 299

“How Much Brain Damage Do I Have?”

John Urschel was the only player in the N.F.L. simultaneously getting a math Ph.D. at M.I.T. But after a new study came out linking football to brain damage, he abruptly…

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Episode 52

Max Tegmark on Why Superhuman Artificial Intelligence Won’t be Our Slave (Part 2)

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…

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Episode 484

“A Fascinating, Sexy, Intellectually Compelling, Unregulated Global Market.”

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…

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Episode 321

Extra: Richard Branson Full Interview

Stephen Dubner’s conversation with the Virgin Group founder, recorded for the Freakonomics Radio series “The Secret Life of a C.E.O.”…


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Episode 295

When Helping Hurts

Good intentions are nice, but with so many resources poured into social programs, wouldn’t it be even nicer to know what actually works?

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Episode 479

The Economist’s Guide to Parenting: 10 Years Later

In one of the earliest Freakonomics Radio episodes (No. 39!), we asked a bunch of economists with young kids how they approached child-rearing. Now the kids are old enough to…

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Episode 138

Chris Anderson on the Power of TED

Under his helm, the TED Conference went from a small industry gathering to a global phenomenon. Chris and Steve talk about how to build lasting institutions, how to make generosity…

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Episode 2

Mayim Bialik on the Surprising Risks of Academia and Stability of Show Biz (Replay)

This new Jeopardy! host is best known for playing neurobiologist Amy Farrah Fowler on The Big Bang Theory, but she has a rich life outside of her acting career too,…


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Episode 530

What’s Wrong with Being a One-Hit Wonder?

We tend to look down on artists who can’t match their breakthrough success. Should we be celebrating them instead?…

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EXTRA

An Update on the Khan World School

Sal Khan returns to discuss his innovative online high school’s first year — and Steve grills a member of the school’s class of 2026 about what it’s really like….

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Episode 93

Annie Duke Thinks You Should Quit (Update)

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…

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Episode 157

The Deadliest Disease in Human History

John Green returns to the show to talk about tuberculosis — a disease that kills more than a million people a year. Steve has an idea for a new way…

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Episode 23

Greg Norman & Mark Broadie: Why Golf Beats an Orgasm and Why Data Beats Everything

Steve Levitt is obsessed with golf — and he’s pretty good at it too. As a thinly-veiled ploy to improve his own game, Steve talks to two titans of the…

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Episode 639

“This Country Kicks My Ass All the Time”

Cory Booker on the politics of fear, the politics of hope, and how to split the difference….

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Episode 405

Policymaking Is Not a Science (Yet) (Replay)

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…

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Episode 55

Jared Diamond on the Downfall of Civilizations — and His Optimism for Ours

He’s the award-winning author of hugely popular books like Guns, Germs, and Steel; Collapse; and Upheaval. But Jared actually started his varied career as an expert on gallbladders and birds….

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Episode 183

Does Free Will Exist, and Does It Matter?

Does anyone have any real agency? What do McDonald’s and Oxford University have in common? And why did Angela give up on philosophy?

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Episode 45

Why Is July a Bad Month to Visit the Hospital?

Learning requires practice — and if you visit a teaching hospital in July, there’s a good chance your doctor hasn’t had much of it. So, will your care suffer? The…

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Episode 144

What Should Be the Eighth Deadly Sin?

We asked you to nominate the worst sins of the modern age. Which one do Stephen and Angela think belongs on the list? And which does Angie struggle with the…

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Episode 88

Freakonomics Goes to College, Part 2

College tends to make people happier, healthier, and wealthier. But how?

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Episode 93

Annie Duke Thinks You Should Quit

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…

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Episode 479

The Economist’s Guide to Parenting: 10 Years Later (Replay)

In one of the earliest Freakonomics Radio episodes, we asked a bunch of economists with young kids how they approached child-rearing. Now the kids are old enough to talk —…

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Episode 102

I Consult, Therefore I Am

There are enough management consultants these days to form a small nation. But what do they actually do? And does it work?