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Episode 115

Are You Having a Midlife Crisis?

How is aging different today than it was in the past? What do young people get wrong about happiness? And what does it mean if you impulsively decide to get…

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Episode 162

How Can You Be Kinder to Yourself?

How do you practice self-care if you don’t have time for a break? Is it weird to talk to yourself? And does Mike need a bag of Doritos — or…

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Episode 211

The Economics of Sleep, Part 1 (Replay)

Could a lack of sleep help explain why some people get much sicker than others?


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Episode 359

Should America Be Run by … Trader Joe’s? (Replay)

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.

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Episode 87

What’s So Great About Retirement?

How do you know when it’s the right time to retire? What does a “good” retirement look like? And will Stephen and Angela ever really hang up their hats?…


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Episode 60

Why Do We Complain?

Also: what do you really mean when you say you “don’t have time”?…

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Episode 102

What’s So Bad About Nepotism?

How does the profitability of family firms stack up against the rest? Has nepotism become more taboo over time? And why are 90 percent of adoptees in Japan not children…


An All-Pay Auction

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…



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Episode 75

What Is Sugar Really Doing to You?

Americans eat a lot of sugar — and it’s hard to determine how it affects our health. Bapu explains how a new study uses data from the 1950s to help…

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Episode 282

Could Solving This One Problem Solve All the Others?

The biggest problem with humanity is humans themselves. Too often, we make choices — what we eat, how we spend our money and time — that undermine our well-being. An…

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Episode 281

Big Returns from Thinking Small

By day, two leaders of Britain’s famous Nudge Unit use behavioral tricks to make better government policy. By night, they repurpose those tricks to improve their personal lives. They want…

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Episode 193

Are You as Conscientious as You Think You Are?

Is it really that important to make your bed? What’s the benefit of hiring a lazy person? And how many cups of spinach can Mike fit in a red Solo…


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Episode 108

Should You Try to Be Less Angry?

What is the purpose of negative emotions? Why do we engage with things we know will upset us? And how does Angie deal with rejection?

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Episode 98

Is Having Children Worth It?

Why have fertility rates dropped so dramatically? Do fathers or mothers get more happiness from parenting? And how does birth order affect a child’s future?…


The Consequences of Being Green

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…



If at First You Don't Succeed …

…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…



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Episode 179

Can You Really “Manifest” Success Through Positive Visualization?

Is there any scientific basis for the law of attraction? Are people who believe in “cosmic collaboration” more successful? And what happens when you write yourself a check for $10…


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Episode 17

Emily Oster: “I Am a Woman Who Is Prominently Discussing Vaginas.”

In addition to publishing best-selling books about pregnancy and child-rearing, Emily Oster is a respected economist at Brown University. Over the course of the pandemic, she’s become the primary collector…

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Episode 11

Are Ambitious People Inherently Selfish?

Also: why do we habituate to life’s greatest pleasures?

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Episode 632

When Did We All Start Watching Documentaries?

It used to be that making documentary films meant taking a vow of poverty (and obscurity). The streaming revolution changed that. Award-winning filmmaker R.J. Cutler talks to Stephen Dubner about…

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Episode 207

Should We Really Behave Like Economists Say We Do?

One man’s attempt to remake his life in the mold of homo economicus.

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Episode 389

How to Make Meetings Less Terrible (Replay)

In the U.S. alone, we hold 55 million meetings a day. Most of them are woefully unproductive and tyrannize our offices. The revolution begins now — with better agendas, smaller…

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Episode 478

How Can We Break Our Addiction to Contempt?

Arthur Brooks is an economist who for 10 years ran the American Enterprise Institute, one of the most influential conservative think tanks in the world. He has come to believe…