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Episode No.
Date
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No. 246

How to Get More Grit in Your Life

The psychologist Angela Duckworth argues that a person’s level of stick-to-itiveness is directly related to their level of success. No big surprise there. But grit, she says, isn’t something you’re born with — it can be learned. Here’s how.

5/4/16
44:25
No. 245

Being Malcolm Gladwell

“Books are a pain in the ass,” says Gladwell, who has written some of the most popular, influential, and beloved non-fiction books in recent history. In this wide-ranging and candid conversation, he describes other pains in the ass — as well as his passions, his limits, and why he’ll never take up golf.

5/1/16
28:18
No. 244

How to Become Great at Just About Anything

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, who has been studying the science of expertise for decades. He tells us everything he’s learned.

4/27/16
51:51
No. 243

How to Be More Productive

It’s Self-Improvement Month at Freakonomics Radio. We begin with a topic that seems to be on everyone’s mind: how to get more done in less time. First, however, a warning: there’s a big difference between being busy and being productive.

4/20/16
38:34
No. 242

Is the World Ready for a Guaranteed Basic Income?

A lot of full-time jobs in the modern economy simply don’t pay a living wage. And even those jobs may be obliterated by new technologies. What’s to be done so that financially vulnerable people aren’t just crushed? It may finally be time for an idea that economists have promoted for decades: a guaranteed basic income.

4/13/16
37:53
No. 241

Are Payday Loans Really as Evil as People Say?

Critics — including President Obama — say short-term, high-interest loans are predatory, trapping borrowers in a cycle of debt. But some economists see them as a useful financial instrument for people who need them. As the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau promotes new regulation, we ask: who’s right?

4/6/16
49:36
No. 212

The Economics of Sleep, Part 2 (Replay)

People who sleep better earn more money. Now all we have to do is teach everyone to sleep better.

3/30/16
42:47
No. 211

The Economics of Sleep, Part 1 (Replay)

Could a lack of sleep help explain why some people get much sicker than others?

3/23/16
45:37
No. 240

Yes, the American Economy Is in a Funk — But Not for the Reasons You Think

As sexy as the digital revolution may be, it can’t compare to the Second Industrial Revolution (electricity! the gas engine! antibiotics!), which created the biggest standard-of-living boost in U.S. history. The only problem, argues the economist Robert Gordon, is that the Second Industrial Revolution was a one-time event. So what happens next?

3/16/16
34:32
No. 239

The No-Tipping Point

The restaurant business model is warped: kitchen wages are too low to hire cooks, while diners are put in charge of paying the waitstaff. So what happens if you eliminate tipping, raise menu prices, and redistribute the wealth? New York restaurant maverick Danny Meyer is about to find out.

3/9/16
43:14
No. 238

The United States of Cory Booker

The junior U.S. Senator from New Jersey thinks bipartisanship is right around the corner. Is he just an idealistic newbie or does he see a way forward that everyone else has missed?

3/3/16
39:18
No. 237

Ask Not What Your Podcast Can Do for You

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?

2/25/16
41:39
No. 236

How Can This Possibly Be True?

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?

2/18/16
40:48
No. 235

Who Needs Handwriting?

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?

2/10/16
39:33
No. 189

How to Fix a Broken High-Schooler, in Four Easy Steps (Replay)

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.

2/4/16
29:58
No. 188

Is America’s Education Problem Really Just a Teacher Problem? (Replay)

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?

1/28/16
40:41
No. 234

Do Boycotts Work?

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?

1/21/16
37:23
No. 233

How to Be Less Terrible at Predicting the Future

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.

1/14/16
46:52
No. 232

The True Story of the Gender Pay Gap

Discrimination can’t explain why women earn so much less than men. If only it were that easy.

1/7/16
43:23
No. 200

When Willpower Isn’t Enough (Replay)

Sure, we all want to make good personal decisions, but it doesn’t always work out. That’s where “temptation bundling” comes in.

12/31/15
41:56
No. 181

Fixing the World, Bang-for-the-Buck Edition (Replay)

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.

12/24/15
45:58
No. 231

Is Migration a Basic Human Right?

The argument for open borders is compelling — and deeply problematic.

12/17/15
60:53
No. 230

The Cheeseburger Diet

One woman’s quest to find the best burger in town can teach all of us to eat smarter.

12/10/15
32:04
No. 229

Ben Bernanke Gives Himself a Grade

He was handed the keys to the global economy just as it started heading off a cliff. Fortunately, he’d seen this movie before.

12/3/15
49:58
No. 186

Why Do People Keep Having Children? (Replay)

Even a brutal natural disaster doesn’t diminish our appetite for procreating. This surely means we’re heading toward massive overpopulation, right? Probably not.

11/26/15
40:00
No. 228

Does “Early Education” Come Way Too Late?

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.

11/19/15
45:33
No. 227

Should Everyone Be in a Rock Band?

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.

11/12/15
45:28
No. 226

Food + Science = Victory!

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.

11/5/15
38:20
No. 225

Am I Boring You?

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?

10/29/15
39:29
No. 178

How to Save $1 Billion Without Even Trying (Replay)

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?

10/22/15
40:17
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