Michael Roth of Wesleyan University doesn’t hang out with other university presidents. He also thinks some of them have failed a basic test of good sense and decency. It’s time…
Youth baseball — long a widely accessible American pastime — has become overrun by $10,000-per-year for-profit travel leagues. Zachary Crockett peers inside the dugout….
American politics is trapped in a duopoly, with two all-powerful parties colluding to stifle competition. We revisit a 2018 episode to explain how the political industry works, and talk to…
Youth baseball — long a widely accessible American pastime — has become overrun by $10,000-per-year, for-profit travel leagues. Zachary Crockett peers inside the dugout.
Why does time fly when you’re having fun? How do you teach rats to play hide and seek? And what does all this have to do with Anne Boleyn?
In this special episode of People I (Mostly) Admire, Steve Levitt talks to the best-selling author of Sapiens and Homo Deus about finding the profound in the obvious….
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…
In 2023, the N.F.L. players’ union conducted a workplace survey that revealed clogged showers, rats in the locker room — and some insights for those of us who don’t play…
…the abortion proxy. It is an exercise which is incredibly demanding of the data. In light of this, it seems uncontroversial that one would want to do the best one…
I have a favorite thought exercise, especially when thinking about the sort of complex, dynamic systems that are interesting but difficult to write about: the health-care system, e.g., or education,…
…teaches business and government at Syracuse and is the recent author of Who Really Cares: The Surprising Truth About Compassionate Conservatism; Tyler Cowen, best known in these parts as a…
…from the Hindi film industry has managed to cross over — yet. Aishwarya Rai is perhaps our best known export. You do have flashes of Bollywood in the American mainstream…
The actor Ed Begley Jr. has a widely-circulated OpEd piece touting his eco-friendly activities, featuring a proud announcement that his exercise on his stationary bicycle generates the electricity he uses…
Martin Shubik invented a famous game-theory exercise, sometimes called “the dollar auction,” where a teacher auctions off a $20 bill to the highest bidder. Bids have to be in round…
…down a repressive or unrepresentative government; but they must stop short of forcing a duly elected leader from office. Just as there is a threshold of “legitimacy of exercise” that…
…Constitution’s Takings Clause is to reduce government’s inclination to take too much. A government that is forced to compensate for the exercise of its eminent domain power is less likely…
…a little creepy, I really enjoy profiling exercises. I like how human nature often betrays itself in ways we don’t typically realize. If I remember correctly, Ian obtained his job…
…to lose weight, you need to eat a bit less or exercise a bit more.? The $500 Diet is a different kind of diet plan because it doesn’t tell you…
…late-stage terminal cancer. This is sad but reality. What does it mean for an entrepreneur? Put good things into your body. Exercise. Don’t drink. Sleep 8 hours a day. That’s…
…demand models typically used to value urban amenities. And here’s the upshot: The findings from this exercise indicate that the preference estimates derived from our dynamic approach differ substantially from…
…and his research collaborators found behaves like a muscle: it can be strengthened through exercise but it becomes fatigued from overuse. Willpower is generated in large part by sleep and…
…do have one self-control issue, I’m fat. I can’t stay on a diet or exercise regimen for more than 3-4 months before simply giving up. If there is a single…
Also: how do you avoid screwing up your kids?
New York Times columnist Charles Blow argues that white supremacy in America will never fully recede, and that it’s time for Black people to do something radical about it. In…
For nearly a decade, governments have been using behavioral nudges to solve problems — and the strategy is catching on in healthcare, firefighting, and policing. But is that thinking too…
The quirky little grocery chain with California roots and German ownership has a lot to teach all of us about choice architecture, efficiency, frugality, collaboration, and team spirit.
Recorded live in Los Angeles. Guests include Mayor Eric Garcetti, the “Earthquake Lady,” the head of the Port of L.A., and a scientist with NASA’s Planetary Protection team. With co-host…
Born in Morocco and raised mostly by a single mother, Moncef Slaoui is now one of the world’s most influential scientists. As the head of Operation Warp Speed — the…
The quirky little grocery chain with California roots and German ownership has a lot to teach all of us about choice architecture, efficiency, frugality, collaboration and team spirit.
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…
