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Episode 1

The Dangers of Safety

What Do NASCAR Drivers, Glenn Beck, and the Hitmen of the N.F.L. Have in Common? Interviews and musings about danger and safety in the modern world.

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Episode 387

Hello, My Name Is Marijuana Pepsi!

Research shows that having a distinctively black name doesn’t affect your economic future. But what is the day-to-day reality of living with such a name? Marijuana Pepsi Vandyck, a newly-minted…

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Episode 184

Are You Doing Too Much?

How can you strive for excellence without overworking yourself? Why is perfectionism on the rise? And is Angela part of the problem?…

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Episode 64

How Larry Miller Went from Prison Valedictorian to Nike Executive

Climbing the corporate ladder to become head of Nike’s Jordan brand, he kept his teenage murder conviction a secret from employers. Larry talks about living in fear, accepting forgiveness, and…

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Episode 246

How to Get More Grit in Your Life (Replay)

The psychologist Angela Duckworth argues that a person’s level of stick-to-itiveness is directly related to their level of success. No big surprise there. But grit, she says, isn’t something you’re…

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Episode 59

Who Gives the Worst Advice?

Steve usually asks his guests for advice, whether they’re magicians or Nobel laureates. After nearly 60 episodes, is any of it worth following — or should we just ask listeners…

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Episode 215

Why Do We Really Follow the News?

There are all kinds of civics-class answers to that question. But how true are they? Could it be that we like to read about war, politics, and miscellaneous heartbreak simply…

Tricky incentives in tournament poker

Steve Rosenbloom at espn.com has written a really interesting article about the current debate going on in the poker world over this issue: (Thanks to John List for pointing this…




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Episode 10

Why Are Stories Stickier Than Statistics?

Also: are the most memorable stories less likely to be true?

Another U.S. Solar Firm Goes Bust

(iStockphoto) Two weeks ago, Steve Sexton wrote about the bankruptcy of Evergreen Solar in Massachusetts. Today it’s California’s Solyndra that’s shutting down. From the Washington Post: The unexpected announcement raised…



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Episode 221

Why Are We So Pessimistic?

Are things really as bad as they seem? Has Gen Z given up hope for the world? And why was the father of positive psychology a lifelong pessimist?…


After the iPhone, the Blood-Sugar Meter?

…of all sorts of things that you’d like to put Steve Jobs to work on: San Francisco-based journalist Amy Tenderich, who has Type 1 diabetes, runs the Diabetes Mine blog,…



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Episode 17

Rivalry: TMSIDK Episode 17

…and margarine that landed in the Supreme Court. Our panelists are: Steve Levitt, my Freakonomics friend and co-author, who didn’t quite fit-in with sports teams. Bridget Gainer, Cook County commissioner,…

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Episode 605

What Do People Do All Day?

Sixty percent of the jobs that Americans do today didn’t exist in 1940. What happens as our labor becomes more technical and less physical? And what kinds of jobs will…


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Episode 13

How Can You Stop Comparing Yourself With Other People?

Also: how can we stop confusing correlation with causation?

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Episode 42

The Upside of Quitting (Replay)

You know the saying: A winner never quits and a quitter never wins. To which Freakonomics Radio says … Are you sure?…


How Apple Sets Prices

…is a technology or design company, chime in: ‘Nope. What Steve Jobs sells is pricing,’” writes Ben Kunz. “Pricing? You bet. Jobs is a master of using pricing decoys, reference…



The Lanham Act Goes to the Movies

…(I’m a big fan of both Tina Fey and Steve Carell, but, like many critics, I was underwhelmed by the movie. The extended dancing scene was a particular misstep.) Aside…




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Episode 229

Ben Bernanke Gives Himself a Grade

He was handed the keys to the global economy just as it started heading off a cliff. Fortunately, he’d seen this movie before.

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Episode 575

The Curious Mr. Feynman

From the Manhattan Project to the Challenger investigation, the physicist Richard Feynman loved to shoot down what he called “lousy ideas.” Today, the world is awash in lousy ideas —…

The Hosts

…and the children’s book The Boy With Two Belly Buttons. He lives in New York City. Steven D. Levitt Steve is the host of People I (Mostly) Admire and co-author…




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Episode 296

These Shoes Are Killing Me!

The human foot is an evolutionary masterpiece, far more functional than we give it credit for. So why do we encase it in “a coffin” (as one foot scholar calls…

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Episode 402

The Opioid Tragedy, Part 1: “We’ve Addicted an Entire Generation”

How pharma greed, government subsidies, and a push to make pain the “fifth vital sign” kicked off a crisis that costs $80 billion a year and has killed hundreds of…

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Episode 482

Is Venture Capital the Secret Sauce of the American Economy?

The U.S. is home to seven of the world’s 10 biggest companies. How did that happen? The answer may come down to two little letters: V.C. Is venture capital good…