Freakonomics Radio is a weekly podcast that is adapted for broadcast on public radio stations around the U.S. (check your local station’s schedule). If you heard our show on the radio and want to hear it again, or read a transcript of the original podcast episode, you can find your way to all of that in this archive. And if your public-radio station doesn’t carry Freakonomics Radio, give them a friendly nudge!
Three leading researchers from the Mount Sinai Health System discuss how ketamine, cannabis, and ecstasy are being used (or studied) to treat everything from severe depression to addiction to PTSD. We discuss the upsides, downsides, and regulatory puzzles. To find out more, check out the podcast from which this hour was drawn: “How Are Psychedelics and Other Party Drugs Changing . . .
Games are as old as civilization itself, and some people think they have huge social value regardless of whether you win or lose. Tom Whipple is not one of those people. That’s why he consulted an army of preposterously overqualified experts to find the secret to winning any game. To find out more, check out the podcast from which this . . .
The families of U.S. troops killed and wounded in Afghanistan are suing several companies that did reconstruction there. Why? These companies, they say, paid the Taliban protection money, which gave them the funding — and opportunity — to attack U.S. soldiers instead. A look at the messy, complicated, and heart-breaking tradeoffs of conflict-zone economies. To find out more, check out . . .
We all know our political system is “broken” — but what if that’s not true? Some say the Republicans and Democrats constitute a wildly successful industry that has colluded to kill off competition, stifle reform, and drive the country apart. So what are you going to do about it? To find out more, check out the podcast from which this . . .
Thanks to daily Covid testing and regimented protocols, the new football season is underway. Meanwhile, most teachers, students, and parents are essentially waiting for the storm to pass. And school isn’t even a contact sport (usually). To find out more, check out the podcast from which this hour was drawn: “Why Can’t Schools Get What the N.F.L. Has?”
In the U.S. alone, we hold 55 million meetings a day. Most of them are woefully unproductive, and tyrannize our offices. The revolution begins now — with better agendas, smaller invite lists, and an embrace of healthy conflict. To find out more, check out the podcasts from which this hour was drawn: “How to Make Meetings Less Terrible” and “How . . .
We explore the science, scalability, and (of course) economics surrounding the global vaccine race. Guests include the chief medical officer of the first U.S. firm to go to Phase 3 trials with a vaccine candidate; a former F.D.A. commissioner who’s been warning of a pandemic for years; and an economist who thinks Covid-19 may finally change how diseases are cured. . . .
The endless pursuit of G.D.P., argues the economist Kate Raworth, shortchanges too many people and also trashes the planet. Economic theory, she says, “needs to be rewritten” — and Raworth has tried, in a book called Doughnut Economics. It has found an audience among reformers, and now the city of Amsterdam is going whole doughnut. To find out more, check . . .
Humans, it has long been thought, are the only animal to engage in economic activity. But what if we’ve had it exactly backward? Plus: the accidental futurist Kevin Kelly on why enthusiasm beats intelligence and why the solution to bad technology is more technology. To find out more, check out the podcasts from which this hour was drawn: “The Invisible Paw” . . .
Everyone agrees that massive deforestation is an environmental disaster. But most of the standard solutions — scolding the Brazilians, invoking universal morality — ignore the one solution that might actually work. And: humans, it has long been thought, are the only animal to engage in economic activity. But what if we’ve had it exactly backward? To find out more, check out the podcasts . . .
Most Americans agree that racial discrimination has been, and remains, a big problem. But that is where the agreement ends. And: research shows that having a distinctively Black name doesn’t affect your economic future. But what is the day-to-day reality of living with such a name? To find out more, check out the podcasts from which this hour was drawn: . . .
The racial wealth gap in the U.S. is massive. We explore the causes, consequences, and potential solutions. Also: another story of discrimination and economic disparity, this one perpetrated by an international sporting authority. To find out more, check out the podcasts from which this hour was drawn: “Should America (and FIFA) Pay Reparations?” and “The Pros and Cons of Reparations.”
Before she decided to become a poker pro, Maria Konnikova didn’t know how many cards are in a deck. But she did have a Ph.D. in psychology, a brilliant coach, and a burning desire to know whether life is driven more by skill or chance. She found some answers in poker — and in her new book The Biggest Bluff, . . .
Christina Romer was a top White House economist during the Great Recession. As a researcher, she specializes in the Great Depression. She tells us what those disasters can (and can’t) teach us about the Covid crash. To find out more, check out the podcast from which this hour was drawn: “Remembrance of Economic Crises Past.”
Whether you’re building a business or a cathedral, execution is everything. We ask artists, scientists, and inventors how they turned ideas into reality. To find out more, check out the podcast from which this hour was drawn: “A Good Idea Is Not Good Enough.”
Thanks to the pandemic, the telehealth revolution we’ve been promised for decades has finally arrived. Will it stick? Will it cut costs — and improve outcomes? We ring up two doctors and, of course, an economist to find out. To find out more, check out the podcast from which this hour was drawn: “The Doctor Will Zoom You Now.”
Corporate Social Responsibility programs can attract better job applicants who’ll work for less money. But they also encourage employees to misbehave. And: how stupid is our obsession with lawns? Sure, lawns are beautiful and useful and they smell great. But are the costs — financial, environmental and otherwise — worth the benefits? To find out more, check out the podcasts from which . . .
Covid-19 is the biggest job killer in a century. As the lockdown eases, what does re-employment look like? Who will be first and who last? Which sectors will surge and which will disappear? We speak with three economists — and one former presidential candidate — about the best policy options and the lessons (good and bad) from the past. To . . .
There are a lot of barriers to changing your mind: ego, overconfidence, inertia — and cost. Politicians who flip-flop get mocked; family and friends who cross tribal borders are shunned. But shouldn’t we be encouraging people to change their minds? And how can we get better at it ourselves? Also: a psychology professor argues that the brain’s greatest attribute is knowing what other . . .
There are thousands of books on the subject, but what do we actually know about creativity? We talk to the researchers who study it as well as the artists and pathbreakers who live it every day: Elvis Costello, Jennifer Egan, Margaret Geller, and more. To find out more, check out the podcast from which this hour was drawn: “How to . . .
Is there really a “loneliness epidemic”? That’s what some health officials are saying, but the data aren’t so clear. We look into what’s known (and not known) about the prevalence and effects of loneliness — including the possible upsides. To find out more, check out the podcasts from which this hour was drawn: “Is There Really a ‘Loneliness Epidemic’?” and . . .
Three university presidents try to answer our listeners’ questions about college in the age of Covid-19. The result? Not much pomp and a whole lot of circumstance. To find out more, check out the podcast from which this hour was drawn: “What Will College Look Like in the Fall (and Beyond)?”
Humans have a built-in “negativity bias,” which means we give bad news much more power than good. Would the Covid-19 crisis be an opportune time to reverse this tendency? To find out more, check out the podcast from which this hour was drawn: “Reasons to Be Cheerful.”
We speak with a governor, a former C.D.C. director, a pandemic forecaster, a hard-charging pharmacist, and a pair of economists — who say it’s all about the incentives. (Pandemillions, anyone?) To find out more, check out the podcast from which this hour was drawn: “How Do You Reopen a Country?”
The U.S. spent the past few decades waiting for China to act like the global citizen it said it wanted to be. The waiting may be over. To find out more, check out the podcast from which this hour was drawn: “Will Covid-19 Spark a Cold War (or Worse) With China?”
Should a nurse or doctor who gets sick treating Covid-19 patients have priority access to a potentially life-saving healthcare device? Americans aren’t used to rationing in medicine, but it’s time to think about it. We consult a lung specialist, a bioethicist, and (of course) an economist. To find out more, check out the podcast from which this hour was drawn: . . .
Covid-19 has shocked our food-supply system like nothing in modern history. We examine the winners, the losers, the unintended consequences — and just how much toilet paper one household really needs. To find out more, check out the podcast from which this hour was drawn: “What Happens When Everyone Stays Home to Eat?”
Congress just passed the biggest aid package in modern history. We ask six former White House economic advisors and one U.S. Senator: Will it actually work? What are its best and worst features? Where does $2 trillion come from, and what are the long-term effects of all that government spending? To find out more, check out the podcast from which . . .
There are a lot of upsides to urban density — but viral contagion is not one of them. Also: past experiments with a universal basic income. And: a nationwide lockdown will show if familiarity really breeds contempt. To find out more, check out the podcast from which this hour was drawn: “The Side Effects of Social Distancing” and “Is the . . .
In just a few weeks, the novel coronavirus has undone a century’s worth of our economic and social habits. What consequences will this have on our future — and is there a silver lining in this very black pandemic cloud? To find out more, check out the podcast from which this hour was drawn: “The Side Effects of Social Distancing.”
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