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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Levitt and Dubner answer your FREAK-quently Asked Questions about junk food, insurance, and how to make an economist happy.
Once a week, the British Prime Minister goes before the House of Commons for a lightning round of hard questions. Should the U.S. give it a try?
How using peer pressure — and good, old-fashioned shame — can push people to do the right thing.
Paying workers as little as possible seems smart — unless you can make more money by paying them more.
To feed 7 billion people while protecting the environment, it would seem that going local is a no-brainer — until you start looking at the numbers.
The N.B.A.’s superstars are suddenly sporting Urkel glasses — but is it more than a fashion statement?
How American food so got bad — and why it’s getting so much better.
Sure, we all dream of leaving the office forever. But what if it’s bad for your health?
In a world where nearly everything is for sale, is it always okay to buy what isn’t yours?
At a time when people worry about every mile their food must travel, why is it okay to import most of our cut flowers from thousands of miles away?
What do you do when smart people keep making stupid mistakes? And: are we a nation of financial illiterates? This is a “mashupdate” of “Is America Ready for a “No-Lose Lottery”?,” “The “No-Lose Lottery,” Part 2,” and “What Do Hand-Washing and Financial Illiteracy Have in Common?“
A new study says that yes, it is — but try telling that to the United Nations officials who are preaching sustainability practices.
Does the future of food lie in its past – or inside a tank of liquid nitrogen? Also: how anti-social can you be on a social network? This is a “mashupdate” of “Waiter, There’s a Physicist in My Soup, Part 1,” “Waiter, There’s a Physicist in My Soup, Part 2,” and “Is Twitter a Two-Way Street?”
If any other product failed 94 percent of the time, you’d probably stop using it. So why do we put up with burglar alarms?
How much does the President of the United States really matter? And: where did all the hitchhikers go? A pair of “attribution errors.” This is a “mashupdate” of “How Much Does the President Really Matter?” and “Where Have All the Hitchhikers Gone?”
Women hold fewer than one in 10 patents. Why? And what are we missing out on?
Is booing an act of verbal vandalism or the last true expression of democracy? And: when you drive a Prius, are you guilty of “conspicuous conservation”? This is a “mashupdate” of “Hey, Baby, Is That a Prius You’re Driving?” and “Boo … Who?”
Isn’t it time to admit that the U.S. economy doesn’t have a commander in chief?
Do more expensive wines taste better? And: what does one little rodent in a salad say about a restaurant’s future? This is a “mashupdate” of “Do More Expensive Wines Taste Better?” and “A Mouse in the Salad.”
Measuring workplace morale — and how to game the sick-day system.
The left and the right blame each other for pretty much everything, including slanted media coverage. Can they both be right?
A look at some non-obvious ways to lose weight.
A commitment device forces you to be the person you really want to be. What could possibly go wrong?
A football cheat sheet to help you sound like the smartest person at the party.
Education is the surest solution to a lot of problems. Except when it’s not.
We all know the answer is yes. But the data — and Rudy Giuliani — say no.
Levitt and Dubner answer your FREAK-quently Asked Questions about certifying politicians, irrational fears, and the toughest three words in the English language.
We know it’s terribly dangerous to drive drunk. But heading home on foot isn’t the solution.
The thrill of customization, via Pandora and a radical new teaching method.
Tyler Cowen points fingers. There’s plenty of blame to go around.
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