Freakonomics co-author Stephen J. Dubner uncovers the hidden side of everything. Why is it safer to fly in an airplane than drive a car? How do we decide whom to marry? Why is the media so full of bad news? Also: things you never knew you wanted to know about wolves, bananas, pollution, search engines, and the quirks of human behavior.
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Now and again, Freakonomics Radio puts hat in hand and asks listeners to donate to the public-radio station that produces the show. Why on earth should anyone pay good money for something that can be had for free?
A famous economics essay features a pencil (yes, a pencil) arguing that “not a single person on the face of this earth knows how to make me.” Is the pencil just bragging? In any case, what can the pencil teach us about our global interdependence — and the proper role of government in the economy?
Remember the torture of penmanship class when you were a kid? Now, how often do you take a pen to paper these days? If you’re like the average American, it’s been more than a month since you did. So why do we still bother teaching handwriting in school?
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 trouble.
If U.S. schoolteachers are indeed “just a little bit below average,” it’s not really their fault. So what should be done about it?
The Montgomery Bus Boycott, the South African divestment campaign, Chick-fil-A! Almost anyone can launch a boycott, and the media loves to cover them. But do boycotts actually produce the change they’re fighting for?
Experts and pundits are notoriously bad at forecasting, in part because they aren’t punished for bad predictions. Also, they tend to be deeply unscientific. The psychologist Philip Tetlock is finally turning prediction into a science — and now even you could become a superforecaster.
Discrimination can’t explain why women earn so much less than men. If only it were that easy.
Sure, we all want to make good personal decisions, but it doesn’t always work out. That’s where “temptation bundling” comes in.
A team of economists has been running the numbers on the U.N.’s development goals. They have a different view of how those billions of dollars should be spent.
The argument for open borders is compelling — and deeply problematic.
One woman’s quest to find the best burger in town can teach all of us to eat smarter.
He was handed the keys to the global economy just as it started heading off a cliff. Fortunately, he’d seen this movie before.
Even a brutal natural disaster doesn’t diminish our appetite for procreating. This surely means we’re heading toward massive overpopulation, right? Probably not.
In our collective zeal to reform schools and close the achievement gap, we may have lost sight of where most learning really happens — at home.
Lessons from Tom Petty’s rise and another rocker’s fall: A conversation with Warren Zanes, former member of the Del Fuegos and the author of Petty: The Biography.
On the menu: A kitchen wizard and a nutrition detective talk about the perfect hamburger, getting the most out of garlic, and why you should use vodka in just about everything.
Researchers are trying to figure out who gets bored — and why — and what it means for ourselves and the economy. But maybe there’s an upside to boredom?
Doctors, chefs, and other experts are much more likely than the rest of us to buy store-brand products. What do they know that we don’t?
The process is famously secretive (and conducted in Swedish!) but we pry the lid off at least a little bit.
When one athlete turned pro, his mom asked him for $1 million. Our modern sensibilities tell us she doesn’t have a case. But should she?
Anne-Marie Slaughter was best known for her adamant views on Syria when she accidentally became a poster girl for modern feminism. As it turns out, she can be pretty adamant in that realm as well.
Suspenders may work better, but the dork factor is too high. How did an organ-squeezing belly tourniquet become part of our everyday wardrobe — and what other suboptimal solutions do we routinely put up with?
From domestic abusers to former child soldiers, there is increasing evidence that behavioral therapy can turn them around.
Conventional programs tend to be expensive, onerous, and ineffective. Could something as simple (and cheap) as cognitive behavioral therapy do the trick?
How a pain-in-the-neck girl from rural Virginia came to run the most powerful university in the world.
We spend billions on end-of-life healthcare that doesn’t do much good. So what if a patient could forego the standard treatment and get a cash rebate instead?
Step 1: Hire a Harvard psych professor as the pitchman. Step 2: Have him help write the script …
What do NASCAR drivers, Glenn Beck and the hit men of the NFL have in common?
There are all kinds of civics-class answers to that question. But how true are they? Could it be that we like to read about war, politics, and miscellaneous heartbreak simply because it’s (gasp) entertaining?
In this episode, we try to answer a few questions: Why is soccer the best sport? How has Harlan Coben sold 70 million books? And why does “Apollo 13” keeps you enthralled even when you know the ending?
The comedian, actor — and now, author — answers our FREAK-quently Asked Questions.
People who sleep better earn more money. Now all we have to do is teach everyone to sleep better.
Could a lack of sleep help explain why some people get much sicker than others?
Takeru Kobayashi revolutionized the sport of competitive eating. What can the rest of us learn from his breakthrough?
We seem to have decided that ethnic food tastes better when it’s served by people of that ethnicity (or at least something close). Does this make sense — and is it legal?
Sure, markets generally work well. But for some transactions — like school admissions and organ transplants — money alone can’t solve the problem. That’s when you need a market-design wizard like Al Roth.
Sure, sex crimes are horrific, and the perpetrators deserve to be punished harshly. But society keeps exacting costs — out-of-pocket and otherwise — long after the prison sentence has been served.
One man’s attempt to remake his life in the mold of homo economicus.
The debut of a live game show from Freakonomics Radio, with judges Malcolm Gladwell, Ana Gasteyer, and David Paterson.
In which we argue that failure should not only be tolerated but celebrated.
Dubner and Levitt are live onstage at the 92nd Street Y in New York to celebrate their new book “When to Rob a Bank” — and a decade of working together.
Zappos C.E.O. Tony Hsieh has a wild vision and the dollars to try to make it real. But it still might be the biggest gamble in town.
When it comes to generating ideas and asking questions it can be really fruitful to have the mentality of an 8 year old.
America’s favorite statistical guru answers our FREAK-quently Asked Questions, and more.
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.
The practice of medicine has been subsumed by the business of medicine. This is great news for healthcare shareholders — and bad news for pretty much everyone else.
A lot of the conventional wisdom in medicine is nothing more than hunch or wishful thinking. A new breed of data detectives is hoping to change that.
If you are driving and kill a pedestrian, there’s a good chance you’ll barely be punished. Why?
Thick markets, thin markets, and the triumph of attributes over compatibility.
Sure, we all want to make good personal decisions, but it doesn’t always work out. That’s where “temptation bundling” comes in.
Every year, Edge.org asks its salon of big thinkers to answer one big question. This year’s question borders on heresy: what scientific idea is ready for retirement?
Advertisers have always been adept at manipulating our emotions. Now they’re using behavioral economics to get even better.
Jim Yong Kim has an unorthodox background for a World Bank president — and his reign thus far is just as unorthodox.
The White House is hosting an anti-terror summit next week. Summits being what they are, we try to offer some useful advice.
It’s a centerpiece of U.S. climate policy and a sacred cow among environmentalists. Does it work?
Economists preach the gospel of “creative destruction,” whereby new industries — and jobs — replace the old ones. But has creative destruction become too destructive?
As Kevin Kelly tells it, the hippie revolution and the computer revolution are nearly one and the same.
Verbal tic or strategic rejoinder? Whatever the case: it’s rare to come across an interview these days where at least one question isn’t a “great” one.
Influenza kills, but you’d never know it by how few of us get the vaccine.
Most people blame lack of time for being out of shape. So maybe the solution is to exercise more efficiently.
Imagine that both substances were undiscovered until today. How would we think about their relative risks?
Public bathrooms are noisy, poorly designed, and often nonexistent. What to do?
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?
Okay, 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.
We’ve all heard the depressing numbers: when compared to kids from other rich countries, U.S. students aren’t doing very well, especially in math, even though we spend more money per student than most other countries. So is the problem here as simple as adding two plus two? Is the problem here that our students aren’t getting very bright simply because … our teachers aren’t very bright?
Boris Johnson — mayor of London, biographer of Churchill, cheese-box painter and tennis-racket collector — answers our FREAK-quently Asked Questions.
Even a brutal natural disaster doesn’t diminish our appetite for procreating. This surely means we’re heading toward massive overpopulation, right? Probably not.
Corporations around the world are consolidating like never before. If it’s good enough for companies, why not countries? Welcome to Amexico!
A lot! “The Economics of the Undead” is a book about dating strategy, job creation, and whether there should be a legal market for blood.
The debut of a live game show from Freakonomics Radio, with judges Malcolm Gladwell, Ana Gasteyer, and David Paterson.
The Norwegian government parleys massive oil wealth into huge subsidies for electric cars. Is that carbon laundering or just pragmatic environmentalism?
The science of what works — and doesn’t work — in fundraising
A team of economists has been running the numbers on the U.N.’s development goals. They have a different view of how those billions of dollars should be spent.
Markets are hardly perfect, but the results can be ugly when you try to subvert them.
What does it mean to pursue something that everyone else thinks is nuts? And what does it take to succeed?
Doctors, chefs, and other experts are much more likely than the rest of us to buy store-brand products. What do they know that we don’t?
Airbnb, Uber, Lyft, EatWith, and other companies in the “sharing economy” are practically daring government regulators to shut them down. The regulators are happy to comply
The online universe doesn’t have nearly as many rules, or rulemakers, as the real world. Discuss.
There ain’t no such thing as a free parking spot. Somebody has to pay for it — and that somebody is everybody.
A look at whether spite pays — and if it even exists.
It’s awkward, random, confusing — and probably discriminatory too.
A kid’s name can tell us something about his parents — their race, social standing, even their politics. But is your name really your destiny?
Educational messaging looks good on paper but kids don’t respond to it — and adults aren’t much better.
It isn’t easy to separate the guilty from the innocent, but a clever bit of game theory can help.
Takeru Kobayashi revolutionized the sport of competitive eating. What can the rest of us learn from his breakthrough?
Dubner and Levitt answer reader questions in this first installment of the “Think Like a Freak” Book Club.
Is it really in a restaurant’s best interest to give customers free bread or chips before they even order?
Every four years, the U.S. takes a look at the World Cup and develops a slight crush. What would it take to really fall in love?
In which we argue that failure should not only be tolerated but celebrated.
You know the saying: a winner never quits and a quitter never wins. To which Freakonomics Radio says … Are you sure?
When it comes to generating ideas and asking questions it can be really fruitful to have the mentality of an eight year old.
Why learning to say “I don’t know” is one of the best things you can do.
Stephen Dubner and Steve Levitt talk about their new book and field questions about prestige, university life, and (yum yum) bacon.
If you are driving and kill a pedestrian, there’s a good chance you’ll barely be punished. Why?
When it comes to exercising outrage, people tend to be very selective. Could it be that humans are our least favorite animal?
Imagine that both substances were undiscovered until today. How would we think about their relative risks?
Unlike certain elected officials in Washington, mayors all over the country actually get stuff done. So maybe we should ask them to do more?
The war on cigarettes has been fairly successful in some places. But 1 billion humans still smoke — so what comes next?
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