Search the Site

Search Results for: freakonomics quorum

Episode image
Follow this show
Episode 483

What’s Wrong With Shortcuts?

…Math and Life, the mathematician Marcus du Sautoy argues that shortcuts can be applied to practically anything: music, psychotherapy, even politics. Our latest installment of the Freakonomics Radio Book Club….

Episode image
Follow this show
Episode 118

“My God, This Is a Transformative Power”

Computer scientist Fei-Fei Li had a wild idea: download one billion images from the internet and teach a computer to recognize them. She ended up advancing the state of artificial…

Episode image
Follow this show
Episode 57

What Makes John Doerr Think He Can Save the Planet?

The legendary venture capitalist believes the same intuition that led him to bet early on Google can help us reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. But Steve wonders why his…

Episode image
Follow this show
Episode 81

Why Is It So Hard to Talk About Money? (Replay)

What’s the connection between conversations about money and financial literacy? Could the taboo against talking about your salary be fading? And why did Angie’s teenage daughter call Vanguard to learn…

Episode image
Follow this show
Episode 609

What Does It Take to Run a Cannabis Farm?

Chris Weld worked for years in emergency rooms, then ditched that career and bought an old farm in Massachusetts. He set up a distillery and started making prize-winning spirits. When…

Episode image
Follow this show
Episode 4

What Do Grocery Store Prices and Heart Surgery Have in Common?

Humans are hardwired to focus on the left digit in numbers. It’s why products are priced at $3.99 instead of $4.00. But does this left-digit bias also affect medical decisions?…

Episode image
Follow this show
Episode 35

David Epstein Knows Something About Almost Everything

He’s been an Arctic scientist, a sports journalist, and is now a best-selling author of science books. His latest, Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World, makes the argument…

Episode image
Follow this show
Episode 625

The Biden Policy That Trump Hasn’t Touched

Lina Khan, the youngest F.T.C. chair in history, reset U.S. antitrust policy by thwarting mega-mergers and other monopolistic behavior. This earned her enemies in some places, and big fans in…

Episode image
Follow this show
Episode 45

How Much Better Do You Really Want to Be?

Also: why do we pad our speech with so much filler language?…

Episode image
Follow this show
Episode 203

Diamonds Are a Marriage Counselor’s Best Friend

It may seem like winning a valuable diamond is an unalloyed victory. It’s not. It’s not even clear that a diamond is so valuable.

Episode image
Follow this show
Episode 142

The Troubled Cremation of Stevie the Cat (Replay)

We spend billions on our pets, and one of the fastest-growing costs is pet “aftercare.” But are those cremated remains you got back really from your pet?…

Episode image
Follow this show
Episode 512

Does Philosophy Still Matter?

It used to be at the center of our conversations about politics and society. Scott Hershovitz is the author of Nasty, Brutish, and Short, in which he argues that philosophy…

Episode image
Follow this show
Episode 78

Do Kids Cause Divorce?

Couples get divorced for all kinds of reasons. Is having kids one of them? Bapu talks about research that investigates what happens to parents who unexpectedly have twins. Plus, an…

Episode image
Follow this show
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…

Episode image
Follow this show
Episode 9

Why Fridays May Be Dangerous for Your Health

When researchers analyzed which day of the week most drug-safety alerts are released — and what it means for public health — they were stunned. So was Bapu Jena. He…

Episode image
Follow this show
Episode 77

How Can You Avoid Boredom?

Also: are we getting any better at assessing COVID risk?

Episode image
Follow this show
Episode 528

Yuval Noah Harari Thinks Life is Meaningless and Amazing

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….

Freakonomics Born Again

Freakonomics was originally published in April, 2005, with high hopes but low expectations. Now, roughly 2 million U.S. copies and many foreign editions later, we have just published a Revised…



Freakonomics in the Times Magazine: Flesh Trade

…July 9, 2006, Freakonomics column in the New York Times Magazine examines a simple supply-and-demand gap with tragic implications: the shortage of human organs for transplantation. This blog post supplies…



The Latest in Freakonomics Schwag

…whose roots go all the way back to here. Hand-signed copy of Freakonomics (paperback). The SuperFreakonomics t-shirt, worn by Ryan Hagen, a Freakonomics research assistant. Hand-signed copy of SuperFreakonomics (hardcover)….




The Latest in Freakonomics Swag

…Freak t-shirt.   A signed copy of Freakonomics (paperback) Freakonomics: The Movie DVD A signed copy of SuperFreakonomics (paperback) The SuperFreakonomics t-shirt, worn here by Ryan Hagen, a Freakonomics research…



“Freakonomics” and Christian Rock

July is shaping up to be Contemporary Christian Month in Freakonomics land. First, Levitt was interviewed by Pat Robertson on The 700 Club. Now, in a Village Voice article called…



Freakonomics on TV Again

…so far as to declare today “Freakonomics Friday.” Linda Jines, who is Steve Levitt’s sister and who came up with the title Freakonomics, should feel especially proud of herself today….



Last Chance to Vote for “Freakonomics”

Freakonomics has been nominated for the inaugural Quill Awards and we would really appreciate your vote.* Click here to cast your ballot (and be prepared to wade through several screens…



More “Freakonomics” on ABC-TV

Tonight (Oct. 7), there is another segment of “Freakonomics Friday” on ABC’s World News Tonight. Last week’s segment was an introduction to Freakonomics that also focused on the book’s cheating-teacher…




Ask Your Freakonomics Questions

The Freakonomics Radio beast never sleeps. It wants to be fed, always, more and more. So it has come to this: if you write in your questions in the comments…



Yes, This Blog Is Leaving NYTimes.com

…as Freakonomics.com. Our partner in the project is Chad Troutwine, an education entrepreneur, film producer and generally impressive guy who produced the Freakonomics film (which, BTW, is released on DVD…



About

Freakonomics began as a book, which led to a blog, a documentary film, more books, a pair of pants, and in 2010, a podcast called Freakonomics Radio. Hosted by Stephen…