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Can Organic Veggies Transform Education?

Jamie Oliver‘s war on obesity in America hasn’t been very popular, but there’s evidence that his methods did work in the U.K. “The proportion of 11-year-olds in Greenwich, south London,…



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Episode 58

What Do Hand-Washing and Financial Illiteracy Have in Common?

Education is the surest solution to a lot of problems. Except when it’s not.

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Episode 42

America’s Math Curriculum Doesn’t Add Up

…really need in the modern era: data fluency. Originally broadcast on Freakonomics Radio, this episode includes an update from Steve about a project he launched to revamp the education system….

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Episode 501

The University of Impossible-to-Get-Into (Update)

America’s top colleges are facing record demand. So why don’t they increase supply? (Part 2 of our series from 2022, “Freakonomics Radio Goes Back to School.”)…

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Episode 175

Why You Should Bribe Your Kids

Educational messaging looks good on paper but kids don’t respond to it — and adults aren’t much better.

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Episode 9

Reading, Rockets, and ‘Rithmetic

…changing in a multi-billion-dollar corner of the Department of Education. It’s an experiment, which takes cues from the likes of Google and millionaires who hope to go to the moon….

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Episode 189

How to Fix a Broken High-Schooler, in Four Easy Steps (Replay)

Our take: maybe the steps aren’t so easy, but a program run out of a Toronto housing project has had great success in turning around kids who were headed for…

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Episode 503

What Is the Future of College — and Does It Have Room for Men?

Educators and economists tell us all the reasons college enrollment has been dropping, especially for men, and how to stop the bleeding. (Part 4 of “Freakonomics Radio Goes Back to…



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Episode 501

The University of Impossible-to-Get-Into

America’s top colleges are facing record demand. So why don’t they increase supply? (Part 2 of “Freakonomics Radio Goes Back to School.”)…

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Episode 503

What Is the Future of College — and Does It Have Room for Men? (Update)

Educators and economists tell us all the reasons college enrollment has been dropping, especially for men, and how to stop the bleeding. (Part 3 of our series from 2022, “Freakonomics…

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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 88

Freakonomics Goes to College, Part 2

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

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Episode 189

How to Fix a Broken High Schooler, in Four Easy Steps

O.K., maybe the steps aren’t so easy. But a program run out of a Toronto housing project has had great success in turning around kids who were headed for trouble.

Are We a Nation of Financial Illiterates?

…the National Council of Economic Education (N.C.E.E.) are doing good work to raise awareness and introduce financial education in school. Q: If you were president of the U.S. for a…





The Value of a Tattoo in Higher Education

Levitt’s skepticism notwithstanding, it seems there may be a good reason for some people to get tattoos. David B. Wiseman, a psychologist, showed 128 undergraduate students photographs of tattooed and…



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Episode 502

“I Don’t Think the Country Is Turning Away From College.”

Enrollment is down for the first time in memory, and critics complain college is too expensive, too elitist, and too politicized. The economist Chris Paxson — who happens to be…

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Episode 114

Is Perfectionism Ruining Your Life?

Psychologist Thomas Curran argues that perfectionism isn’t about high standards — it’s about never being enough. He explains how the drive to be perfect is harming education, the economy, and…

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Episode 500

What Exactly Is College For? (Update)

We think of them as intellectual enclaves and the surest route to a better life. But U.S. colleges also operate like firms, trying to differentiate their products to win market…

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Episode 22

Sal Khan: “If It Works for 15 Cousins, It Could Work for a Billion People.”

Khan Academy grew out of Sal Khan’s online math tutorials for his extended family. It’s now a platform used by more than 115 million people in 190 countries. So what…

Robert Reich Answers Your Labor Questions

…marginal income tax on the top five percent. For the longer term, invest in education for lower income communities, starting with early-childhood education and extending all the way up to…




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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 72

Lottery Loopholes and Deadly Doctors

What do you do when smart people keep making stupid mistakes? And: are we a nation of financial illiterates? This is a “mashupdate” of “Is America Ready for a “No-Lose…

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Episode 391

America’s Math Curriculum Doesn’t Add Up

Most high-school math classes are still preparing students for the Sputnik era. Steve Levitt wants to get rid of the “geometry sandwich” and instead have kids learn what they really…

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Episode 134

Why Do We Still Teach People to Calculate?

Conrad Wolfram wants to transform the way we teach math — by taking advantage of computers. The creator of Computer-Based Maths convinced the Estonian government to give his radical curriculum…