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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What happens when an existentially depressed and recently widowed young physicist from Queens gets a fresh start in California? We follow Richard Feynman out west, to explore his long and extremely fruitful second act. (Part two of a three-part series.)
They’re heading to the Super Bowl for the second time in five years. But back in 2018, they were coming off a long losing streak — and that’s the year we sat down with 49ers players, coaches, and executives to hear their turnaround plans. It’s probably time to consider the turnaround a success.
Michelle Feynman remembers her physicist father as the smartest person in the room, and then some.
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From the Manhattan Project to the Challenger investigation, the physicist Richard Feynman loved to shoot down what he called “lousy ideas.” Today, the world is awash in lousy ideas — so maybe it’s time to get some more Feynman in our lives? (Part one of a three-part series.)
Stephen Dubner appears as a guest on the Choice Words podcast.
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Michael Roth of Wesleyan University doesn’t hang out with other university presidents. He also thinks some of them have failed a basic test of good sense and decency. It’s time for a conversation about college, and courage.
We all like to throw around terms that describe human behavior — “bystander apathy” and “steep learning curve” and “hard-wired.” Most of the time, they don’t actually mean what we think they mean. But don’t worry — the experts are getting it wrong, too.
Talking science reform with Psychological Science editor Simine Vazire.
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Probably not — the incentives are too strong. Scholarly publishing is a $28 billion global industry, with misconduct at every level. But a few reformers are gaining ground. (Part two of two-part series on academic fraud)
Uri Simonsohn and Leif Nelson are two-thirds of the blogging collective Data Colada, which has taken the lead in exposing shady research practices in psychology and related fields. They talk to Stephen Dubner about how fraud happens, how they spot it, and what it’s like to face a $25 million lawsuit.
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Some of the biggest names in behavioral science stand accused of faking their results. Last year, an astonishing 10,000 research papers were retracted. We talk to whistleblowers, reformers, and a co-author who got caught up in the chaos. (Part one of two-part series on academic fraud)
Delta C.E.O. Ed Bastian explains how flying became safer than crossing the street, why the company bought its own oil refinery, and whether autonomous planes are the future.
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In a special episode of The Economics of Everyday Things, host Zachary Crockett explains what millennials do to show they care, how corrugated cardboard keeps your food warm, and why every city has a billboard for a guy who calls himself “The Hammer.”
Legal commentator Dahlia Lithwick wonders whether slippery-slope arguments are sliding into dangerous territory.
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In a special episode of People I (Mostly) Admire, Steve Levitt talks to Cat Bohannon about her new book Eve: How the Female Body Drove 200 Million Years of Human Evolution.
Vinod Khosla on how venture capital is like religion, why institutions can’t innovate, and why he wasted an hour talking to us.
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In a special episode of No Stupid Questions, Angela Duckworth and Mike Maughan talk about unfinished tasks, recurring arguments, and Irish goodbyes.
After our four-part series on failure, we took the show on the road. Hear Stephen Dubner talk to failure experts Amy Edmondson and Gary Klein, live in Boston.
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Lewis got incredible access to Sam Bankman-Fried, the billionaire behind the spectacular FTX fraud. His book is a bestseller, but some critics say he went too easy on S.B.F. Lewis tells us why the critics are wrong — and what it’s like to watch your book get turned into a courtroom drama.
The economist Jens Ludwig on the culture of police departments, the politics of gun control, and why there’s no social progress without truth.
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In policing, as in most vocations, the best employees are often promoted into leadership without much training. One economist thinks he can address this problem — and, with it, America’s gun violence.
New York City transit chief Janno Lieber thinks it’s more important to make trains and buses fast, safe, and reliable than to make them free.
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It boosts economic opportunity and social mobility. It’s good for the environment. So why do we charge people to use it? The short answer: it’s complicated. Also: We talk to the man who gets half the nation’s mass-transit riders where they want to go (most of the time).
The Harvard economist on what’s joyous about cities, what to do with vacant office space, and what his profession got wrong about China.
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Most industries have become more productive over time. But not construction! We identify the causes — and possible solutions. (Can you say … “prefab”?)
Pro footballer and star podcaster Jason Kelce is ubiquitous right now (almost as ubiquitous as his brother and co-host Travis, who’s been in the limelight for his relationship with Taylor Swift). After you hear this wide-ranging interview, you might want even more Kelce in your life.
Freakonomics Radio host Stephen Dubner answers your questions about how the show is made, what he’s looking forward to, and what he talks about at parties.
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They say they make companies more efficient through savvy management. Critics say they bend the rules to enrich themselves at the expense of consumers and employees. Can they both be right? (Probably not.)
Why did the Motor City never get to host the Olympic Games — and is it time for the International Olympic Committee to reconsider? A special postscript to the series “How to Succeed at Failing.”
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Evidence from Nazi Germany and 1940’s America (and pretty much everywhere else) shows that discrimination is incredibly costly — to the victims, of course, but also the perpetrators. One modern solution is to invoke a diversity mandate. But new research shows that’s not necessarily the answer.
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