Does Money Really Buy Elections? (Ep. 57)
…listen live via the media player above, or read the transcript.) In a paper that tried to isolate the effect of spending in campaigns, here’s what Steve Levitt found: LEVITT:…
When it comes to generating ideas and asking questions it can be really fruitful to have the mentality of an eight year old.
…listen live via the media player above, or read the transcript.) In a paper that tried to isolate the effect of spending in campaigns, here’s what Steve Levitt found: LEVITT:…
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…
In this episode, we speculate what would happen if economists got to run the world. Hear from a high-end call girl; an Estonian who ran his country according to the…
We are constantly wowed by new technologies and policies meant to make childbirth better. But beware the unintended consequences.
Sure, we all want to make good personal decisions, but it doesn’t always work out. That’s where “temptation bundling” comes in.
In a new book called The Voltage Effect, the economist John List — who has already revolutionized how his profession does research — is trying to start a scaling revolution….
…Not to mention provide a reason to look again toward Steve Landsburg‘s theory that juries should be paid for their time and penalized for incorrect verdicts. (Hat tip: Jian Li.)…
Does anyone ever win the giant teddy bear? Zachary Crockett steps right up….
Every year, Edge.org asks its salon of big thinkers to answer one big question. This year’s question borders on heresy: what scientific idea is ready for retirement?
Their trade organization just lost a huge lawsuit. Their infamous commission model is under attack. And there are way too many of them. If they go the way of travel…
Also: how can we stop confusing correlation with causation?
…couple eating breakfast on their stoop. The woman called out, “Aren’t you Steve Levitt?” So I stopped to talk to them. I asked her how she knew who I was,…
…lists Steve Jobs and Apple design guru Jonathan Ive, among others, as the “inventors” — is a claim for a rectangular electronic device with rounded corners. That’s right, Apple is…
As Kevin Kelly tells it, the hippie revolution and the computer revolution are nearly one and the same.
Photo: Adam Pieniazek We’ve written a lot about University of Chicago economist Kevin Murphy. He teaches at the Becker Center on Chicago Price Theory, where Steve Levitt is the director….
You know the saying: a winner never quits and a quitter never wins. To which Freakonomics Radio says … Are you sure?…
…linguist has become a very public intellectual. But the self-declared “polite Canadian” has managed to enrage people on opposite ends of the political spectrum. Steve Levitt tries to understand why….
For years, economists promised that global free trade would be mostly win-win. Now they admit the pace of change has been “traumatic.” This has already led to a political insurrection…
