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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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.
The psychologist Samuel West was sick of stories about success, so he founded a museum dedicated to failure. We discuss how he did it, what he hopes visitors will learn, and his favorite pieces from the collection.
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Everyone makes mistakes. How do you learn from them? Lessons from the classroom, the Air Force, and the world’s deadliest infectious disease. Part of the series “How to Succeed at Failing.”
Travis Thul invented a so-called Keurig for ramen, but he failed to bring it to store shelves. We talk to him about innovation, risk, the thrill of starting a business, and the heartbreak of pulling the plug.
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Giving up can be painful. That’s why we need to talk about it. Today: stories about glitchy apps, leaky paint cans, broken sculptures — and a quest for the perfect bowl of ramen. Part of the series “How to Succeed at Failing.”
Bob Langer is one of the world’s most prominent biotech researchers. He helped make mRNA vaccines a reality. How much failure did he have to go through first?
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In medicine, failure can be catastrophic. It can also produce discoveries that save millions of lives. Tales from the front line, the lab, and the I.T. department. Part of the series “How to Succeed at Failing.”
Researcher David Riedman argues that every school shooting is the culmination of a long chain of failures. Could his database be the key to stopping them?
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We tend to think of tragedies as a single terrible moment, rather than the result of multiple bad decisions. Can this pattern be reversed? We try — with stories about wildfires, school shootings, and love.
Claudia Goldin is the newest winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics. We spoke with her in 2016 about why women earn so much less than men — and how it’s not all explained by discrimination.
After we published our series on art repatriation, a Freakonomics Radio listener made what seemed like an incredible find in Scottsboro’s Unclaimed Baggage store. We put an art historian on the case.
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John Ray is an emergency C.E.O., a bankruptcy expert who takes over companies that have succumbed to failure or fraud. He’s currently cleaning up the mess left by alleged crypto scammer Sam Bankman-Fried. And he loves it.
Dave and Sophie Smallwood cofounded Roleshare to spread the gospel of job-sharing. In this special episode for Freakonomics Radio Plus members, they talk to Stephen Dubner about being a couple both in and out of the workplace.
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If two parents can run a family, why shouldn’t two executives run a company? We dig into the research and hear firsthand stories of both triumph and disaster. Also: lessons from computer programmers, Simon and Garfunkel, and bears versus alligators.
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