Against (Discretionary) Snow Days
…think that most children are exposed to more miles of driving on a snow day than they would be if they went to school.? In our house, we often go…
According to a decades-long research project, the U.S. is not only the most individualistic country on earth; we’re also high on indulgence, short-term thinking, and masculinity (but low on “uncertainty…
…think that most children are exposed to more miles of driving on a snow day than they would be if they went to school.? In our house, we often go…
…deceives parents into thinking their children are being well-prepared for college. They take out loans, send Junior off to college where s/he sinks like a stone. Tragic. Q. I’ve read…
Trump says it would destroy us. Biden needs the voters who support it (especially the Bernie voters). The majority of millennials would like it to replace capitalism. But what is…
…is that you can make mistakes. The common one is punishing a child and then finding out they didn’t do it. When the children were young, I would just shrug…
…me think it was more of a deliberate policy. Now it was my turn to reply: Chris, I’m sorry but I think you are wrong on just about every front…
Air pollution is estimated to cause 7 million deaths a year and cost the global economy nearly $3 trillion. But is the true cost even higher? Stephen Dubner explores the…
The controversial theory linking Roe v. Wade to a massive crime drop is back in the spotlight as several states introduce abortion restrictions. Steve Levitt and John Donohue discuss their…
Harvard economist Claudia Goldin and Steve talk about how inflexible jobs and family responsibilities make it harder for women to earn wages equal to their male counterparts. But could Covid…
To her neighbors in the English countryside, the woman known as Mrs. Burton was a cake-baking mother of three. To the Soviet Union, she was an invaluable Cold War operative….
As the Biden administration rushes to address climate change, Stephen Dubner looks at another, hidden cost of air pollution — one that’s affecting how we think….
…I live in is sort of like Jane Austen, very marriage-oriented. Every girl (and boy for that matter) wants to get married, and does so in her early twenties. The…
Photo: eflon A new NBER working paper by Brian Jacob, Jens Ludwig and Douglas Miller examines how improved housing conditions impact child mortality rates in Chicago. The improvement in child…
People who sleep better earn more money. Now all we have to do is teach everyone to sleep better.
…to stay in school. I think paying the kids doesn’t take advantage of the leverage of a parent over their child. Just a thought. As a child in the feudal…
Fear is a popular tool in public health campaigns. But is it an effective one? Bapu Jena discusses new research on whether we can — and should — scare people…
Claudia Goldin is the newest winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics. Steve spoke to her in 2021 about how inflexible jobs and family responsibilities make it harder for women…
…dedicated war against child abuse in the United States of America.” Six of Johnson-Reddick’s eight children were admitted to the Nevada Children’s Home from 1963 to 1964 after they endured…
…the experience thinking, “It wasn’t bad.” I began to think that if I just had one appointment a month, I could pay my car loan with it, and have a…
Host Bapu Jena is an economist and medical doctor whose latest research measures the link between birthdays and Covid. He explains his team’s findings, explores the role that kids’ parties…
…baby was about 9 months. I thought the length of that lag was intentional — meant to represent the wait one would have for a biological child. In recent months,…
…like Michael Jordan or Mozart? Those kinds of extraordinary people must just be different than the rest of us — more genetically gifted, right? A. That’s what it looks like…
We now have more access to TV, movies, and streaming entertainment than anytime in history. So what do we actually know about what all that screen time does to us?…
…of living conditions. Yet even with controls, the elderly who live with children do worse. This is in sharp contrast to younger adults who live with children, likely their own,…
In this special episode of Freakonomics, M.D., host Bapu Jena looks at data from birthday parties, March Madness parties, and a Freakonomics Radio holiday party to help us all manage…
…like creative thinking and problem solving? Can a test in which the test-taker – that is, the student – does not have a direct stake in the outcome actually command…
…economic content. Let me address first the issue of which place you should think about investing your money. As with any decision like this, you need to know first what…
…so unpredictable, and perhaps world-changing, that they imprint themselves on our memories and con us into thinking of them as typical, or at least likely, whereas in fact they are…
In research with Roland Fryer, later written up in Freakonomics, we asked the question “Does the name you give your child matter for her life outcome?” (I say “her” because…
Conventional programs tend to be expensive, onerous, and ineffective. Could something as simple (and cheap) as cognitive behavioral therapy do the trick?
