Free “Freakonomics” for District 214 Students
…their parents, as well as kids and their teachers and kids and other kids. Now that District 214 students are free to read Freakonomics, we thought it might be nice…
The pandemic has hit America’s biggest city particularly hard. Amidst a deep fiscal hole, rising homicides, and a flight to the suburbs, some people think the city is heading back…
…their parents, as well as kids and their teachers and kids and other kids. Now that District 214 students are free to read Freakonomics, we thought it might be nice…
Climbing the corporate ladder to become head of Nike’s Jordan brand, he kept his teenage murder conviction a secret from employers. Larry talks about living in fear, accepting forgiveness, and…
The families of U.S. troops killed and wounded in Afghanistan are suing several companies that did reconstruction there. Why? These companies, they say, paid the Taliban protection money, which gave…
A while back, I wrote about the Game Theorist blog, in which my friend Joshua Gans writes about his adventures as an economist-parent (or equally, as a parent-economist). Each role…
A recent outbreak of illness and death has gotten everyone’s attention — including late-to-the-game regulators. But would a ban on e-cigarettes do more harm than good? We smoke out the…
Patrick Smith, the author of Cockpit Confidential, answers every question we can throw at him about what really happens up in the air. Just don’t get him started on pilotless…
Americans are so accustomed to the standard intersection that we rarely consider how dangerous it can be — as well as costly, time-wasting, and polluting. Is it time to embrace…
Photo: Caitlin Regan Heartbreaking facts: 2.7 million children have a parent behind bars-1 in every 28 children (3.6 percent) has a parent incarcerated, up from 1 in 125 just 25…
In the American Dream sweepstakes, Andrew Yang was a pretty big winner. But for every winner, he came to realize, there are thousands upon thousands of losers — a “war…
The 166-year-old chain, which is fighting extinction, calls the parade its “gift to the nation.” With 30 million TV viewers, it’s also a big moneymaker. At least we think it…
Also: Does knowing your family history affect your identity?…
…reduce his marginal incentive to save for his kids. But especially for one-percenters, like Greg, who care about their kids, we think they should also be asking whether they want…
…of my real kids. I plead guilty to anything that anyone wants to charge me with, but I was not about to write a kids’ book and leave my kids…
Avi Loeb is a Harvard astronomer who argues that we’ve already encountered extraterrestrial technology. His approach to the search for interstellar objects is scientific, but how plausible is his argument?
I hadn’t worn a Halloween costume in many years until last night, when my kids — Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz and a man-eating shark, respectively — encouraged me…
Tom Dart is transforming Cook County’s jail, reforming evictions, and, with Steve Levitt, trying a new approach to electronic monitoring….
Would you be more adventurous if you had more structure? Do you multitask while brushing your teeth? And what would Mike’s perfect brother Peter do?…
…fascinating profile of the Sereno clan from the Chicago Tribune. A nice sample: After the kids started school, [their father] Charles quit his engineering job at the state highway department,…
The director of the Hayden Planetarium is one of the best science communicators of our time. He and Steve talk about his role in reclassifying Pluto, bad teachers, and why…
He’s a world-renowned magician who’s been performing since he was seven-years-old. But Joshua Jay is also an author, toymaker, and consultant for film and television. Steve Levitt talks to him…
Amaryllis Fox is a former C.I.A. operative and host of the Netflix show The Business of Drugs. She explains why intelligence work requires empathy, and she soothes Steve’s fears about…
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….
He’s one of the world’s leading neuroscientists, with a focus on the physiological effects of stress. (For years, he spent his summers in Kenya, alone except for the baboons he…
Also: why do we hoard? (Rebroadcast From Ep. 28)…
Why are humans so eager for magic-bullet solutions? Can you explain how a pen works? And how does Angela feel about being forever branded “the grit lady”?…
When are negative emotions enjoyable? Are we all a little masochistic? And do pigs like hot sauce?…
Macy’s wants to recapture its glorious past. The author of the Wimpy Kid books wants to rebuild his dilapidated hometown. We just want to listen in. (Part two of a…
…that is true though. Is it that kids aren’t willing to get up early in the morning anymore? Or, maybe kids mostly do still deliver, but I don’t know many…
…home with a white picket fence and a family with 2.5 kids as their version of gay equality. In 1982, Gallup found that only 32 percent of Americans considered homosexuality…
