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…
Linguist and social commentator John McWhorter explains how good intentions may be hurting Black America — and where the word “motherf*cker” comes from….
Patrick Deneen, a political philosopher at Notre Dame, says yes. He was a Democrat for years, and has now come to be seen as an “ideological guru” of the Trump…
After the Supreme Court’s abortion decision, doctors in some states are concerned that delivering treatment could put them in legal jeopardy. Bapu Jena looks at how the practice of “defensive…
Also: Where is the line between acronyms, initialisms and gibberish?
Soil scientist Asmeret Asefaw Berhe could soon hold one of the most important jobs in science. She explains why the ground beneath our feet is one of our greatest resources…
Are you a problem solver or an opportunity seeker? Why is it so hard to find a good leader these days? And could you be Angela’s next boss?…
In this special episode of No Stupid Questions, Stephen Dubner and Angela Duckworth discuss the consequences of seeing every glass as at least half-full….
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…
It used to be a global capital of innovation, invention, and exploration. Now it’s best known for its messy European divorce. We visit London to see if the British spirit…
What is the evolutionary purpose of laughter? What’s the difference between Swedish depression and American depression? And why aren’t aliens interested in abducting Mike?…
…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….
Antibiotics save lives. But what happens when we use them too much? Bapu looks at how changing physician behavior could help prevent a major public health disaster….
Are we too busy watching Friends? Is porn driving us apart? And why did New Yorkers stop vacationing in the Catskills? Take the Seven Deadly Sins survey: freakonomics.com/nsq-sins/…
Also: what does your name say about who you are?…
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.
Steve Levitt has a novel idea for helping people make tough decisions.
In a wide-ranging conversation with Ezekiel Emanuel, the policymaking physician and medical gadfly, we discuss the massive effects of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic, Wegovy, and Mounjaro. We also talk about…
Insurance forms that make no sense. Subscriptions that can’t be cancelled. A never-ending blizzard of automated notifications. Where does all this sludge come from — and how much is it…
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…
Is pride an emotion? Where’s the line between self-esteem and hubris? And what does Stephen have against peacocks? Take the Seven Deadly Sins survey: freakonomics.com/nsq-sins/…
Why do people drink? Why do people not drink? And why specifically do Angela and Mike not drink?…
Economist Michael D. Smith says universities are scrambling to protect a status quo that deserves to die. He tells Steve why the current system is unsustainable, and what’s at stake…
What if the thing we call “talent” is grotesquely overrated? And what if deliberate practice is the secret to excellence? Those are the claims of the research psychologist Anders Ericsson,…
What does it take to “play 3D chess at 250 miles an hour”? And how far will $12.5 billion of “Big, Beautiful” funding go toward modernizing the F.A.A.? (Part two…
…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…
…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 other night from the National Council on Economic Education. My personal highlights were: sitting next to the Princeton economist Alan Krueger (who presented the Freakonomics award) and chatting with…
…paragraph #7 below). July 25, 1946. Document #8 (see paragraph #8 below). January 30, 1948. Freakonomics includes a chapter titled “How is the Ku Klux Klan Like a Group of…
…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…
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…