Freakonomics Radio

That’s the worry. Even the humble eyeglass industry is dominated by a single firm. 

We look into the global spike in myopia, how the Lemtosh got its name, and what your eye doctor knows that you don’t. (Part two of a two-part series.)

• SOURCES:
  • Maria Liu, professor of clinical optometry at the University of California, Berkeley.
  • Harvey Moscot, C.E.O. of MOSCOT Eyewear and Eyecare.
  • Zachary Moscot, chief design officer of MOSCOT Eyewear and Eyecare.
  • Cédric Rossi, equity research analyst at Bryan Garnier.
  • Tim Wu, professor of law, science and technology at Columbia Law School.

• RESOURCES:
  • "Meta in Talks to Buy Stake in Eyewear Giant EssilorLuxottica," by Salvador Rodriguez and Lauren Thomas (The Wall Street Journal, 2024).
  • "The Story Behind Soaring Myopia Among Kids," by Manoush Zomorodi, Katie Monteleone, Sanaz Meshkinpour, and Rachel Faulkner White (Body Electric, 2024).
  • "Why So Many People Need Glasses Now," by Christophe Haubursin (Vox, 2023).
  • "Eyes on World Sight: Taking Action to Advance Eye Health in China," by EssilorLuxottica (2022).
  • "Global Prevalence of Myopia and High Myopia and Temporal Trends from 2000 through 2050," by Brien A. Holden, Timothy R. Fricke, Serge Resnikoff, et al. (Ophthalmology, 2016).
  • "Increased Prevalence of Myopia in the United States Between 1971-1972 and 1999-2004," by Susan Vitale, Robert D. Sperduto, and Frederick L. Ferris (Archives of Ophthalmology, 2009).

• EXTRAS:
  • "The Economics of Eyeglasses," series by Freakonomics Radio (2024).

A single company, EssilorLuxottica, owns so much of the eyewear industry that it’s hard to escape their gravitational pull — or their “obscene” markups. Should regulators do something? Can Warby Parker steal market share? And how did Ray-Bans become a luxury brand? (Part one of a two-part series.)

• SOURCES:
  • Neil Blumenthal, co-founder and co-CEO of Warby Parker.
  • Dave Gilboa, co-founder and co-CEO of Warby Parker.
  • Jessica Glasscock, fashion historian and lecturer at the Parsons School of Design.
  • Neil Handley, curator of the British Optical Association Museum at the College of Optometrists.
  • Ryan McDevitt, professor of economics at Duke University.
  • Cédric Rossi, equity research analyst at Bryan Garnier.
  • Tim Wu, professor of law, science and technology at Columbia Law School.

• RESOURCES:
  • "Leonardo Del Vecchio Dies at 87; Transformed Eyeglass Industry," by Jonathan Kandell (The New York Times, 2022).
  • Making a Spectacle: A Fashionable History of Glasses, by Jessica Glasscock (2021).
  • "Dave Gilboa and Neil Blumenthal: ‍A Vision for Business," by Lucy Handley (CNBC, 2020).
  • "The Roots of Big Tech Run Disturbingly Deep," by Tim Wu and Stuart A. Thompson (The New York Times, 2019).
  • "The Spectacular Power of Big Lens," by Sam Knight (The Guardian, 2018).
  • The Curse of Bigness: Antitrust in the New Gilded Age, by Tim Wu (2018).
  • "Statement of the Federal Trade Commission Concerning the Proposed Acquisition of Luxottica Group S.p.A. by Essilor International (Compagnie Generale d’Optique) S.A.," FTC File No. 171-0060 (2018).
  • Cult Eyewear: The World's Enduring Classics, by Neil Handley (2011).
  • A Far-Sighted Man, by Luca Goldoni (1991).

• EXTRAS:
  • "Direct-to-Consumer Mattresses," by The Economics of Everyday Things (2024).
  • "Are Two C.E.O.s Better Than One?" by Freakonomics Radio (2023).
  • “Are We in a Mattress-Store Bubble?” by Freakonomics Radio (2016).

You wouldn’t think you could win a Nobel Prize for showing that humans tend to make irrational decisions. But that’s what Richard Thaler has done. In an interview from 2018, the founder of behavioral economics describes his unlikely route to success; his reputation for being lazy; and his efforts to fix the world — one nudge at a time.

• SOURCES:
  • Richard Thaler, professor of behavioral science and economics at the University of Chicago.

• RESOURCES:
  • “Behavioral Economics,” by Richard Thaler (The Past, Present, and Future of Economics: A Celebration of the 125-Year Anniversary of the JPE and of Chicago Economics, December 2017).
  • Misbehaving: The Making of Behavioral Economics, by Richard Thaler (2015).
  • Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness, by Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein (2008).

• EXTRAS:
  • "Farewell to a Generational Talent," by Freakonomics Radio (2024).
  • "Why Is Richard Thaler Such a ****ing Optimist?" by People I (Mostly) Admire (2021).
  • "All You Need Is Nudge," by Freakonomics Radio (2021).
  • "How to Launch a Behavior-Change Revolution," by Freakonomics Radio (2017).
  • “How To Win A Nobel Prize," by Freakonomics Radio (2015).
  • The Big Short, film by Adam McKay (2015).

Daniel Kahneman left his mark on academia (and the real world) in countless ways. A group of his friends and colleagues recently gathered in Chicago to reflect on this legacy — and we were there, with microphones.

• SOURCES:
  • Maya Bar-Hillel, professor emeritus of psychology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
  • Shane Frederick, professor of marketing at the Yale School of Management.
  • Thomas Gilovich, professor of psychology at Cornell University.
  • Matt Killingsworth, senior fellow at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
  • Barbara Mellers, professor of psychology at the University of Pennsylvania.
  • Eldar Shafir, director of the Kahneman-Treisman Center for Behavioral Science & Public Policy at Princeton University.
  • Richard Thaler, professor of behavioral science and economics at the University of Chicago.

• RESOURCES:
  • "Experienced Well-Being Rises With Income, Even Above $75,000 Per Year," by Matthew A. Killingsworth (PNAS, 2021).
  • "The False Allure of Fast Lures," by Yigal Attali and Maya Bar-Hillel (Judgment and Decision Making, 2020).
  • "Learning Psychology From Riddles: The Case of Stumpers," by Maya Bar-Hillel and Tom Noah (Judgment and Decision Making, 2018).
  • Thinking, Fast and Slow, by Daniel Kahneman (2011).
  • "High Income Improves Evaluation of Life but Not Emotional Well-Being," by Daniel Kahneman and Angus Deaton (PNAS, 2010).
  • "Varieties of Regret: A Debate and Partial Resolution," by Thomas Gilovich, Victoria Husted Medvec, and Daniel Kahneman (Psychological Review, 1998).
  • "Some Counterfactual Determinants of Satisfaction and Regret," by Thomas Gilovich and Victoria Husted Medvec (What Might Have Been: The Social Psychology of Counterfactual Thinking, 1995).

• EXTRAS:
  • "Remembering Daniel Kahneman," by People I (Mostly) Admire (2024).
  • "Academic Fraud," series by Freakonomics Radio (2021).
  • "Here’s Why All Your Projects Are Always Late — and What to Do About It," by Freakonomics Radio (2018).
  • "The Men Who Started a Thinking Revolution," by Freakonomics Radio (2017).

American politics is trapped in a duopoly, with two all-powerful parties colluding to stifle competition. We revisit a 2018 episode to explain how the political industry works, and talk to a reformer (and former presidential candidate) who is pushing for change.

• SOURCES:
  • Katherine Gehl, former president and C.E.O. of Gehl Foods.
  • Michael Porter, professor at Harvard Business School.
  • Andrew Yang, co-chair of the Forward Party and former U.S. presidential candidate.

• RESOURCES:
  • "Why U.S. Politics Is Broken — and How to Fix It," by Andrew Yang (TED, 2024).
  • The Politics Industry: How Political Innovation Can Break Partisan Gridlock and Save Our Democracy, by Michael Porter and Katherine Gehl (2020).
  • “Why Competition in the Politics Industry is Failing America,” Katherine Gehl and Michael Porter (Harvard Business School, 2017).
  • “Stronger Parties, Stronger Democracy: Rethinking Reform,” by Ian Vandewalker and  Daniel I. Weiner (Brennan Center for Justice, 2015).
  • On Competition, by Michael Porter (2008).
  • Competitive Strategy: Techniques for Analyzing Industries and Competitors, by Michael Porter (1980).

• EXTRAS:
  • "Andrew Yang Is Not Giving Up on Politics — or the U.S. — Yet," by People I (Mostly) Admire (2021).
  • "The Future of New York City Is in Question. Could Andrew Yang Be the Answer?" by Freakonomics Radio (2021).
  • "Why Is This Man Running for President? (Update)," by Freakonomics Radio (2019).
  • “Ten Ideas to Make Politics Less Rotten,” Freakonomics Radio (2016).

It’s hard to know whether the benefits of hiring a celebrity are worth the risk. We dig into one gruesome story of an endorsement gone wrong, and find a surprising result.

• SOURCES:
  • John Cawley, professor of economics at Cornell University.
  • Elizabeth (Zab) Johnson, executive director and senior fellow with the Wharton Neuroscience Initiative at the University of Pennsylvania.
  • Alvin Roth, professor of economics at Stanford University.

• RESOURCES:
  • "Kanye and Adidas: Money, Misconduct and the Price of Appeasement," by Megan Twohey (The New York Times, 2023).
  • "The Role of Repugnance in Markets: How the Jared Fogle Scandal Affected Patronage of Subway," by John Cawley, Julia Eddelbuettel, Scott Cunningham, Matthew D. Eisenberg, Alan D. Mathios, and Rosemary J. Avery (NBER Working Paper, 2023).
  • "How Celebrity Status and Gaze Direction in Ads Drive Visual Attention to Shape Consumer Decisions," by Simone D'Ambrogio, Noah Werksman, Michael L. Platt, and Elizabeth Johnson (Psychology & Marketing, 2022).
  • "Consumer Responses to Firms’ Voluntary Disclosure of Information: Evidence from Calorie Labeling by Starbucks," by Rosemary Avery, John Cawley, Julia Eddelbuettel, Matthew D. Eisenberg, Charlie Mann, and Alan D. Mathios (NBER Working Paper, 2021).
  • "Consumer Heterogeneity and Paid Search Effectiveness: A Large Scale Field Experiment," by Thomas Blake, Chris Nosko, and Steven Tadelis (NBER Working Paper, 2014).
  • "The Economics of Obesity," by John Cawley (The Reporter, 2013).
  • "Repugnance as a Constraint on Markets," by Alvin Roth (Journal of Economic Perspectives, 2007).

• EXTRAS:
  • "Does Advertising Actually Work? (Part 2: Digital)," by Freakonomics Radio (2020).
  • "Does Advertising Actually Work? (Part 1: TV)," by Freakonomics Radio (2020).

Broadway operates on a winner-take-most business model. A runaway hit like Stereophonic — which just won five Tony Awards — will create a few big winners. But even the stars of the show will have to go elsewhere to make real money. (Part two of a two-part series.)

• SOURCES:
  • David Adjmi, author and playwright.
  • Sonia Friedman, theater producer and founder of Sonia Friedman Productions.
  • John Johnson, theater producer and co-founder of Wagner Johnson Productions.
  • Tom Pecinka, actor.
  • Sarah Pidgeon, actor.

• RESOURCES:
  • "Tony Award Winners 2024: The Full List," by Rachel Sherman (The New York Times, 2024).
  • "Everything to Know About the Stranger Things: The First Shadow Play in London," by Tara Bitran (Tudum, 2024).
  • Stereophonic, by David Adjmi, Will Butler, and Daniel Aukin (2023).

• EXTRAS:
  • "How to Make the Coolest Show on Broadway," by Freakonomics Radio (2024).

The Berlin dance mecca Berghain is known for its eight-hour line and inscrutable door policy. PJ Vogt, host of the podcast Search Engine, joins us to crack the code. It has to do with Cold War rivalries, German tax law, and one very talented bouncer.

• SOURCES:
  • Lutz Leichsenring, executive board member of Clubcommission Berlin and co-founder of VibeLab.
  • PJ Vogt, reporter, writer, and host of the podcast Search Engine.

• RESOURCES:
  • "Berghain: 36 Hours Inside the World's Most Exclusive Nightclub," by Linux (Paper Magazine, 2022).
  • Berlin Bouncer, documentary by David Dietl (2019).
  • "High Culture Club: Berghain Secures Same Tax Status as Berlin Concert Venues," by Philip Oltermann (The Guardian, 2016).
  • "One Eye on the Door, the Other on His Photography," by Nicholas Kulish (The New York Times, 2011).
  • Lost and Sound: Berlin, Techno and the Easyjet Set, by Tobias Rapp (2009).

• EXTRA:
  • Search Engine, podcast by PJ Vogt.

Hit by Covid, runaway costs, and a zillion streams of competition, serious theater is in serious trouble. A new hit play called Stereophonic — the most Tony-nominated play in history — has something to say about that. We speak with the people who make it happen every night. (Part one of a two-part series.)

• SOURCES:
  • David Adjmi, author and playwright.
  • Sonia Friedman, theater producer and founder of Sonia Friedman Productions.
  • John Johnson, theater producer and co-founder of Wagner Johnson Productions.
  • Tom Pecinka, actor.
  • Sarah Pidgeon, actor.

• RESOURCES:
  • Stereophonic, by David Adjmi, Will Butler, and Daniel Aukin (2023).
  • Lot Six: A Memoir, by David Adjmi (2020).
  • "On the Performing Arts: The Anatomy of Their Economic Problems," by W. J. Baumol and W. G. Bowen (The American Economic Review, 1965).

Every December, a British man named Tom Whitwell publishes a list of 52 things he’s learned that year. These fascinating facts reveal the spectrum of human behavior, from fraud and hypocrisy to Whitwell’s steadfast belief in progress. Should we also believe?

• SOURCES:
  • Tom Whitwell, managing consultant at Magnetic.

• RESOURCES:
  • "Supercentenarian and Remarkable Age Records Exhibit Patterns Indicative of Clerical Errors and Pension Fraud," by Saul Justin Newman (Working Paper, 2024).
  • "52 things I learned in 2023," by Tom Whitwell (Magnetic Notes, 2023).
  • "Job Satisfaction 2023," by The Conference Board (2023).
  • "What Fax Machines and Floppy Disks Reveal About Britain’s Productivity Problem," (The Economist, 2017).
  • Fighting Traffic: The Dawn of the Motor Age in the American City, by Peter D. Norton (2008).
  • "Beyond Propaganda," by John Kenney (The New York Times, 2006).

An update of our 2020 series, in which we spoke with physicians, researchers, and addicts about the root causes of the crisis — and the tension between abstinence and harm reduction.

• SOURCES:
  • Gail D’Onofrio, professor and chair of emergency medicine at the Yale School of Medicine and chief of emergency services at Yale-New Haven Health.
  • Keith Humphreys, professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Stanford University.
  • Stephen Loyd, chief medical officer of Cedar Recovery and chair of the Tennessee Opioid Abatement Council.
  • Nicole O’Donnell, certified recovery specialist at the University of Pennsylvania's Center for Addiction Medicine and Policy.
  • Jeanmarie Perrone, professor of emergency medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.
  • Eileen Richardson, restaurant manager.

• RESOURCES:
  • “Toward Healthy Drug Policy in the United States — The Case of Safehouse,” by Evan D. Anderson, Leo Beletsky, Scott Burris, and Corey S. Davis (The New England Journal of Medicine, 2020).
  • “Buprenorphine Deregulation and Mainstreaming Treatment for Opioid Use Disorder,” by Leo Beletsky, Kevin Fiscella, and Sarah E. Wakeman (JAMA Psychiatry, 2018).
  • “Emergency Department–Initiated Buprenorphine/Naloxone Treatment for Opioid Dependence,” by Gail D’Onofrio, Patrick G. O’Connor, Michael V. Pantalon, Marek C. Chawarski, Susan H. Busch, Patricia H. Owens, Steven L. Bernstein, and David A. Fiellin (JAMA, 2015).
  • “Buprenorphine-Naloxone Therapy In Pain Management,” by Lucy Chen, Kelly Yan Chen, and Jianren Mao (National Institutes of Health, 2014).
  • “Prevalence and Correlates of Street-Obtained Buprenorphine Use Among Current and Former Injectors In Baltimore, Maryland,” by Jacquie Astemborski, Becky L. Genberg, Mirinda Gillespie, Chris-Ellyn Johanson, Gregory D. Kirk, Shruti H. Mehta, Charles R. Schuster, and David Vlahov (U.S. National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health, 2014).
  • “The Promotion and Marketing of OxyContin: Commercial Triumph, Public Health Tragedy,” by Art Van Zee (U.S. National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health, 2009).

• EXTRAS:
  • "Why Is the Opioid Epidemic Still Raging?" series by Freakonomics Radio (2024).
  • "The Opioid Tragedy, Part 1: 'We’ve Addicted an Entire Generation,'" by Freakonomics Radio (2020).
  • “The Truth About the Vaping Crisis,” by Freakonomics Radio (2019).

Thanks to legal settlements with drug makers and distributors, states have plenty of money to boost prevention and treatment. Will it work? (Part two of a two-part series.)

• SOURCES:
  • Keith Humphreys, professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Stanford University.
  • Stephen Loyd, chief medical officer of Cedar Recovery and chair of the Tennessee Opioid Abatement Council.
  • Christine Minhee, founder of OpioidSettlementTracker.com.

• RESOURCES:
  • "Court Conflicted Over Purdue Pharma Bankruptcy Plan That Shields Sacklers From Liability," by Amy Howe (SCOTUSblog, 2023).
  • NationalOpioidSettlement.com.
  • OpioidSettlementTracker.com.
  • The Helios Alliance.

• EXTRAS:
  • "The Opioid Tragedy, Part 2: 'It’s Not a Death Sentence,'" by Freakonomics Radio (2020).

Most epidemics flare up, do their damage, and fade away. This one has been raging for almost 30 years. To find out why, it’s time to ask some uncomfortable questions. (Part one of a two-part series.)

• SOURCES:
  • David Cutler, professor of economics at Harvard University.
  • Travis Donahoe, professor of health policy and management at the University of Pittsburgh.
  • Keith Humphreys, professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Stanford University.
  • Stephen Loyd, chief medical officer of Cedar Recovery and chair of the Tennessee Opioid Abatement Council.

• RESOURCES:
  • "Thick Market Externalities and the Persistence of the Opioid Epidemic," by David Cutler and J. Travis Donahoe (NBER Working Paper, 2024).
  • "Responding to the Opioid Crisis in North America and Beyond: Recommendations of the Stanford-Lancet Commission," by Keith Humphreys, Chelsea L. Shover, Christine Timko, et al. (The Lancet, 2022).
  • "When Innovation Goes Wrong: Technological Regress and the Opioid Epidemic," by David Cutler and Edward Glaeser (Journal of Economic Perspectives, 2021).

• EXTRAS:
  • "Nuclear Power Isn’t Perfect. Is It Good Enough?" by Freakonomics Radio (2022).
  • "The Opioid Tragedy, Part 2: 'It’s Not a Death Sentence,'" by Freakonomics Radio (2020).
  • "The Opioid Tragedy, Part 1: 'We’ve Addicted an Entire Generation,'" by Freakonomics Radio (2020).

Presenting two stories from The Economics of Everyday Things: Why does it seem like every car is black, white, or gray these days? And: How self-storage took over America.

• SOURCES:
  • Tom Crockett, classic car enthusiast.
  • Zachary Dickens, executive vice president and chief investment officer of Extra Space Storage.
  • Mark Gutjahr, global head of design at BASF.
  • Kara Kolodziej, self-storage unit tenant.
  • Anne Mari DeCoster, self-storage consultant.
  • Nikkie Riedel, carline planning manager at Subaru of America.

• RESOURCES:
  • “A Fifth Of Americans Rent Self Storage, With Millennials Overtaking Gen Xers In Generational Storage Wars,” by Francis Chantree (Storage Cafe, 2024).
  • “Lessors of Mini Warehouses and Self-Storage Units Show Significant Financial Gains During COVID-19 Pandemic,” by Ben Chandler and Robin Enlow (United States Census Bureau, 2024).
  • BASF Color Report 2023 for Automotive OEM Coatings, (2023).
  • “The Fate of Oversupplied Self-Storage Markets and How to Pull Back From the Brink,” by Frank DeSalvo and David Perlleshi (Inside Self Storage, 2023).
  • “A Pandemic Space Race: Self-Storage Roars Back,” by Ellen Rosen (The New York Times, 2021).
  • “Beige on an S.U.V. Will Cost You, but for Pickups It’s Golden,” by Roy Furchgott (The New York Times, 2021).
  • “A Brief History Of Car Colors — And Why Are We So Boring Now?” (Consumer Reports, 2018).
  • “The Link Between the Colour of Cars and the Economy,” (The Economist, 2018).
  • “Need to Store That? Booming Self-Storage Industry Says No Problem,” by Liam Pleven (The Wall Street Journal, 2015).

• EXTRAS:
  • “Car Washes,” by The Economics of Everyday Things (2023).
  • Storage Wars, TV series (2010-present).
  • Auction Hunters, TV series (2010-2015).

The economist and social critic Glenn Loury has led a remarkably turbulent life, both professionally and personally. In a new memoir, he has chosen to reveal just about everything. Why?

• SOURCE:
  • Glenn Loury, professor of economics at Brown University and host of The Glenn Show.

• RESOURCES:
  • Late Admissions: Confessions of a Black Conservative, by Glenn Loury (2024).
  • "Amy Wax – The DEI Witch Hunt at Penn Law," by Glenn Loury (The Glenn Show, 2024).
  • "The Conservative Line on Race," by Glenn Loury (The Atlantic, 1997).
  • "Will Affirmative-Action Policies Eliminate Negative Stereotypes?" by Stephen Coate and Glenn Loury (The American Economic Review, 1993).

• EXTRAS:
  • "Roland Fryer Refuses to Lie to Black America," by Freakonomics Radio (2022).
  • "How Much Does Discrimination Hurt the Economy?" by Freakonomics Radio (2021).
  • "The Pros and Cons of Reparations," by Freakonomics Radio (2020).

The employee ownership movement is growing, and one of its biggest champions is also a private equity heavyweight. Is this meaningful change, or just window dressing?

• SOURCES:
  • Marjorie Kelly, distinguished senior fellow at The Democracy Collaborative.
  • Corey Rosen, founder and senior staff member of the National Center for Employee Ownership.
  • Pete Stavros, co-head of Global Private Equity at KKR.

• RESOURCES:
  • "Private Equity Is Starting to Share With Workers, Without Taking a Financial Hit," by Lydia DePillis (The New York Times, 2024).
  • "Private Equity Heavyweight Pushing Employee Ownership," (60 Minutes, 2024).
  • "Ownership Works: Scaling a Profitable Social Mission," by Ethan Rouen, Dennis Campbell, and Andrew Robinson (HBS Case Collection, 2023).
  • "Research on Employee Ownership," by the National Center for Employee Ownership (2023).
  • Wealth Supremacy: How the Extractive Economy and the Biased Rules of Capitalism Drive Today’s Crises, by Marjorie Kelly (2023).
  • "Is Private Equity Joining — or Co-Opting—the Employee Ownership Movement?" by Marjorie Kelly and Karen Kahn (Fast Company, 2022).
  • "How Well Is Employee Ownership Working?" by Corey Rosen and Michael Quarrey (Harvard Business Review, 1987).

• EXTRAS:
  • "Are Private Equity Firms Plundering the U.S. Economy?" by Freakonomics Radio (2023).
  • "Do You Know Who Owns Your Vet?" by Freakonomics Radio (2023).
  • "Should You Trust Private Equity to Take Care of Your Dog?" by Freakonomics Radio (2023).

From politics and economics to psychology and the arts, many of the modern ideas we take for granted emerged a century ago from a single European capital. In this episode of the Freakonomics Radio Book Club, the historian Richard Cockett explores all those ideas — and how the arrival of fascism can ruin in a few years what took generations to build.

• SOURCE:
  • Richard Cockett, author and senior editor at The Economist.

• RESOURCES:
  • Vienna: How the City of Ideas Created the Modern World, by Richard Cockett (2023).
  • "Birth, Death and Shopping," (The Economist, 2007).
  • The Hidden Persuaders, by Vance Packard (1957).
  • "An Economist's View of 'Planning,'" by Henry Hazlitt (The New York Times, 1944).
  • The World of Yesterday: Memoires of a European, by Stefan Zweig (1942).

• EXTRA:
  • "Arnold Schwarzenegger Has Some Advice for You," by People I (Mostly) Admire (2024).

Five years ago, we published an episode about the boom in home DNA testing kits, focusing on the high-flying firm 23andMe and its C.E.O. Anne Wojcicki. Their flight has been extremely bumpy since then. This update includes an additional interview with the Wall Street Journal reporter who has been investigating the firm’s collapse.

• SOURCES:
  • Rolfe Winkler, reporter at The Wall Street Journal.
  • Anne Wojcicki, co-founder and C.E.O. of 23andMe.

• RESOURCES:
  • "23andMe’s Fall From $6 Billion to Nearly $0," by Rolfe Winkler (The Wall Street Journal, 2024).
  • "23andMe User Data Stolen in Targeted Attack on Ashkenazi Jews," by Lily Hay Newman (Wired, 2023).
  • Inheritance: A Memoir of Genealogy, Paternity, and Love, by Dani Shapiro (2019).
  • How To Raise Successful People: Simple Lessons for Radical Results, by Esther Wojcicki (2019).
  • “Diet and exercise changes following direct-to-consumer personal genomic testing,” by Daiva Elena Nielsen, Deanna Alexis Carere, Catharine Wang, J. Scott Roberts, and Robert C. Green (BMC Medical Genomics, 2016).
  • “The impact of communicating genetic risks of disease on risk-reducing health behaviour: systematic review with meta-analysis,” Gareth J Hollands, David P. French, Simon J. Griffin, A. Toby Prevost, Stephen Sutton, Sarah King, Theresa M. Marteau (The British Medical Journal, 2016).

• EXTRAS:
  • "Does Your DNA Determine Your Weight?" by No Stupid Questions (2023).
  • "What’s Stopping Us From Curing Rare Diseases?" by Freakonomics, M.D. (2023).
  • "We Can Play God Now," by People I (Mostly) Admire (2022).
  • "Susan Wojcicki: 'Hey, Let’s Go Buy YouTube!'" by People I (Mostly) Admire (2020).

Justin Trudeau, facing record-low approval numbers, is doubling down on his progressive agenda. But he is so upbeat (and Canada-polite) that it’s easy to miss just how radical his vision is. Can he make it work?

• SOURCE:
  • Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada.

• RESOURCES:
  • 2024 Canadian Federal Budget.
  • "Canada to Set First-Ever Cap on Temporary Residents," by Nadine Yousif (BBC News, 2023).
  • Common Ground, by Justin Trudeau (2014).

• EXTRAS:
  • "Why Is Everyone Moving to Canada?" by Freakonomics Radio (2024).

So you want to help people? That’s great — but beware the law of unintended consequences. Three stories from the modern workplace. 

• SOURCES:
  • Joshua Angrist, professor of economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
  • Zoe Cullen, professor of business administration at Harvard Business School.
  • Marina Gertsberg, senior lecturer in finance at the University of Melbourne.

• RESOURCES:
  • "Is Pay Transparency Good?" by Zoë Cullen (Journal of Economic Perspectives, 2024).
  • "DP18969 Economics Coauthorships in the Aftermath of MeToo," by Noriko Amano-Patino, Elisa Faraglia, and Chryssi Giannitsarou (CEPR Discussion Paper, 2024).
  • "The Underground Economy of Company Reviews," by Shikhar Sachdev (Career Fair, 2023).
  • "Why Did Gender Wage Convergence in the United States Stall?" by Peter Q. Blair and Benjamin Posmanick (NBER Working Paper, 2023).
  • "The Unintended Consequences of #MeToo: Evidence from Research Collaborations," by Marina Gertsberg (SSRN, 2022).
  • "Outsourcing Tasks Online: Matching Supply and Demand on Peer-to-Peer Internet Platforms," by Zoë Cullen and Chiara Farronato (Management Science, 2021).
  • "Equilibrium Effects of Pay Transparency," by Zoe B. Cullen and Bobak Pakzad-Hurson (NBER Working Paper, 2021).
  • "How Much Does Your Boss Make? The Effects of Salary Comparisons," by Zoë Cullen and Ricardo Perez-Truglia (NBER Working Paper, 2018).
  • "Wall Street Rule for the #MeToo Era: Avoid Women at All Cost," by Gillian Tan and Katia Porzecanski (Bloomberg, 2018).
  • "A Comprehensive Analysis of the Effects of US Disability Discrimination Laws on the Employment of the Disabled Population," by Patrick Button, Philip Armour, and Simon Hollands (NBER Working Paper, 2016).
  • "Consequences of Employment Protection? The Case of the Americans with Disabilities Act," by Daron Acemoglu and Joshua Angrist (Journal of Political Economy, 2001).

The psychologist Daniel Kahneman — a Nobel laureate and the author of Thinking, Fast and Slow — recently died at age 90. Along with his collaborator Amos Tversky, he changed how we all think about decision-making. The journalist Michael Lewis told the Kahneman-Tversky story in a 2016 book called The Undoing Project. In this episode, Lewis explains why they had such a profound influence.

• SOURCE:
  • Michael Lewis, writer.

• RESOURCES:
  • The Undoing Project, by Michael Lewis (2016).
  • Thinking, Fast and Slow, by Daniel Kahneman (2011).
  • The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine, by Michael Lewis (2010).
  • Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness, by Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein (2009).
  • Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, by Michael Lewis (2004).
  • “Who’s On First,” by Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein (New Republic, 2003).
  • “The Framing of Decisions and the Psychology of Choice,” by Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky (Science, 1981).
  • “Prospect Theory: An Analysis of Decision Under Risk,” by Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky (Econometrica, 1979).
  • “Judgment under Uncertainty: Heuristics and Biases,” by Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky (Science, 1974).
  • “Subjective Probability: A Judgment of Representativeness,” by Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky (Cognitive Psychology, 1972).

• EXTRAS:
  • "Remembering Daniel Kahneman," by People I (Mostly) Admire (2024).
  • "Why Are People So Mad at Michael Lewis?" by Freakonomics Radio (2023).
  • "Did Michael Lewis Just Get Lucky with 'Moneyball'?" by Freakonomics Radio (2022).

People who are good at their jobs routinely get promoted into bigger jobs they’re bad at. We explain why firms keep producing incompetent managers — and why that’s unlikely to change.

• SOURCES:
  • Nick Bloom, professor of economics at Stanford University.
  • Katie Johnson, freelance data and analytics coach.
  • Kelly Shue, professor of finance at the Yale University School of Management.
  • Steve Tadelis, professor of economics at the University of California, Berkeley Haas School of Business.

• RESOURCES:
  • “People Management Skills, Employee Attrition, and Manager Rewards: An Empirical Analysis,” by Mitchell Hoffman and Steven Tadelis (Journal of Political Economy, 2021).
  • “Promotions and the Peter Principle,” by Alan Benson, Danielle Li, and Kelly Shue (The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 2019).
  • “Bosses Matter: The Effects of Managers on Workers’ Performance,” by Kathryn L. Shaw (IZA World of Labor, 2019).
  • “The Value of Bosses,” by Edward P. Lazear, Kathryn L. Shaw, and Christopher T. Stanton (Journal of Labor Economics, 2015).
  • The Peter Principle: Why Things Always Go Wrong, by Laurence J. Peter and Raymond Hull (1969).

• EXTRAS:
  • “The Secret Life of C.E.O.s” series by Freakonomics Radio.
  • “What Does a C.E.O. Actually Do?” by Freakonomics Radio (2018).

Fareed Zakaria says yes. But it’s not just political revolution — it’s economic, technological, even emotional. He doesn’t offer easy solutions but he does offer some hope.

• SOURCES:
  • Fareed Zakaria, journalist and author.

• RESOURCES:
  • Age of Revolutions: Progress and Backlash from 1600 to the Present, by Fareed Zakaria (2024).
  • "The Ultimate Election Year: All the Elections Around the World in 2024," by Koh Ewe (TIME, 2023).
  • "The Tea Party and the Remaking of Republican Conservatism," by Vanessa Williamson, Theda Skocpol, and John Coggin (Perspectives on Politics, 2011).
  • The Post-American World, by Fareed Zakaria (2008).
  • The Future of Freedom: Illiberal Democracy at Home and Abroad, by Fareed Zakaria (2003).

• EXTRAS:
  • "Is the U.S. Really Less Corrupt Than China?" by Freakonomics Radio (2021).

The political debates over immigration can generate a lot of fuzzy facts. We wanted to test Americans’ knowledge — so, to wrap up our special series on immigration, we called some Freakonomics Radio listeners and quizzed them.

• SOURCES:
  • Zeke Hernandez, professor at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

• RESOURCES:
  • The Truth About Immigration: Why Successful Societies Welcome Newcomers, by Zeke Hernandez (2024, available for pre-order).

• EXTRA:
  • “The True Story of America’s Supremely Messed-Up Immigration System,” series by Freakonomics Radio (2024).

As the U.S. tries to fix its messy immigration system, our neighbor to the north is scooping up more talented newcomers every year. Are the Canadians stealing America’s bacon? (Part three of a three-part series.)

• SOURCES:
  • Zeke Hernandez, professor at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.
  • William Kerr, professor of business administration at Harvard Business School.
  • David Leonhardt, senior writer at the New York Times.
  • Sindhu Mahadevan, creator of This Immigrant Life newsletter.
  • Marc Miller, Member of Parliament and Minister of Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship of Canada.
  • Mike Savage, Mayor of Halifax, Nova Scotia.

• RESOURCES:
  • The Truth About Immigration: Why Successful Societies Welcome Newcomers, by Zeke Hernandez (2024, available for pre-order).
  • "The Border Where Different Rules Apply," by Seth Freed Wessler (The New York Times Magazine, 2023).
  • "Last Year, Canada Became My Home. Feeling Like a Canadian Will Take a Bit Longer," by Sindhu Mahadevan (CBC News, 2023).
  • "Canadians Are Starting to Sour on Migration," (The Economist, 2023).
  • The Gift of Global Talent: How Migration Shapes Business, Economy & Society, by William Kerr (2018).

• EXTRAS:
  • “The True Story of America’s Supremely Messed-Up Immigration System,” series by Freakonomics Radio (2024).
  • "Is the American Dream Really Dead?" by Freakonomics Radio (2017).

The U.S. immigration system is a massively complicated machine, with a lot of worn-out parts. How to fix it? Step one: Get hold of some actual facts and evidence. (We did this step for you.) (Part two of a three-part series.)

• SOURCES:
  • Zeke Hernandez, professor at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.
  • David Leonhardt, senior writer at the New York Times.
  • Sindhu Mahadevan, creator of This Immigrant Life newsletter.

• RESOURCES:
  • The Truth About Immigration: Why Successful Societies Welcome Newcomers, by Zeke Hernandez (2024, available for pre-order).
  • "Illegal Immigration Is a Bigger Problem Than Ever. These Five Charts Explain Why," by Andrew Mollica, Alicia A. Caldwell, Michelle Hackman, and Santiago Pérez (The Wall Street Journal, 2023).
  • Ours Was the Shining Future: The Story of the American Dream, by David Leonhardt (2023).
  • The Economic and Fiscal Consequences of Immigration, by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (2017).

• EXTRAS:
  • “The True Story of America’s Supremely Messed-Up Immigration System,” series by Freakonomics Radio (2024).
  • "And the New Six-Word Motto for the U.S. Is …," by Stephen Dubner (Freakonomics blog, 2008).

She arrived in the U.S. as an 11-year-old refugee, then rose to become Secretary of State. Her views on immigration, nationalism, and borders, from this 2015 interview, are almost strangely appropriate to the present moment. 

• SOURCE:
  • Madeleine Albright, U.S. Secretary of State under President Bill Clinton and former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations.

• RESOURCES:
  • "Madeleine Albright, First Woman to Serve as Secretary of State, Dies at 84," by Robert D. McFadden (The New York Times, 2022).
  • "The Case for Getting Rid of Borders — Completely," by Alex Tabarrok (The Atlantic, 2015).

• EXTRAS:
  • "The True Story of America's Supremely Messed-Up Immigration System," series by Freakonomics Radio (2024).
  • "Is Migration a Basic Human Right?" by Freakonomics Radio (2015).

How did a nation of immigrants come to hate immigration? We start at the beginning, sort through the evidence, and explain why your grandfather was lying about Ellis Island. (Part one of a three-part series.)

• SOURCES:
  • Leah Boustan, professor of economics at Princeton University.
  • Zeke Hernandez, professor at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.
  • Roger Nam, professor of Hebrew Bible at Emory University.

• RESOURCES:
  • The Truth About Immigration: Why Successful Societies Welcome Newcomers, by Zeke Hernandez (2024, available for pre-order).
  • "The Refugee Advantage: English-Language Attainment in the Early Twentieth Century," by Ran Abramitzky, Leah Platt Boustan, Peter Catron, Dylan Connor, and Rob Voigt (NBER Working Paper, 2023).
  • Streets of Gold: America's Untold Story of Immigrant Success, by Leah Boustan and Ran Abramitzky (2022).
  • "If Liberals Won't Enforce Borders, Fascists Will," by David Frum (The Atlantic, 2019).

• EXTRAS:
  • "Is Migration a Basic Human Right?" by Freakonomics Radio (2015).
  • "Who Are the Most Successful Immigrants in the World?" by Freakonomics Radio (2013).

Economists have discovered an odd phenomenon: many people who use social media (even you, maybe?) wish it didn’t exist. But that doesn’t mean they can escape.

• SOURCES:
  • Leonardo Bursztyn, professor of economics at the University of Chicago.
  • Benjamin Handel, professor of economics at the University of California, Berkeley.

• RESOURCES:
  • "When Product Markets Become Collective Traps: The Case of Social Media," by Leonardo Bursztyn, Benjamin Handel, Rafael Jimenez, and Christopher Roth (NBER Working Paper, 2023).
  • "Social Media and Xenophobia: Evidence from Russia," by Leonardo Bursztyn, Georgy Egorov, Ruben Enikolopov, and Maria Petrova (NBER Working Paper, 2019).
  • "Status Goods: Experimental Evidence from Platinum Credit Cards," by Leonardo Bursztyn, Bruno Ferman, Stefano Fiorin, Martin Kanz, and Gautam Rao (NBER Working Paper, 2017).
  • "'Acting Wife': Marriage Market Incentives and Labor Market Investments," by Leonardo Bursztyn, Thomas Fujiwara, and Amanda Pallais (American Economic Review, 2017).
  • "Measuring Crack Cocaine and Its Impact," by Roland G. Fryer Jr., Paul S. Heaton, Steven D. Levitt, and Kevin M. Murphy (Economic Inquiry, 2013).

• EXTRAS:
  • "Is Facebook Bad for Your Mental Health?" by Freakonomics, M.D. (2022).
  • "Why Is U.S. Media So Negative?" by Freakonomics Radio (2021).

In ancient Rome, it was bread and circuses. Today, it’s a World Cup, an Olympics, and a new Saudi-backed golf league that’s challenging the PGA Tour. Can a sporting event really repair a country’s reputation — or will it trigger the dreaded Streisand Effect? Also: why the major U.S. sports leagues are warming up to the idea of foreign investment.

• SOURCES:
  • Jodi Balsam, professor of clinical law at Brooklyn Law School.
  • Brandel Chamblee, Golf Channel analyst.
  • Karen Crouse, sports journalist.
  • Bomani Jones, sports journalist.
  • Victor Matheson, professor of economics at the College of the Holy Cross.
  • Alan Shipnuck, sports journalist.

• RESOURCES:
  • "The New N.F.L. Owners?" by Lauren Hirsch, Kevin Draper, Michael J. de la Merced and Sarah Kessler (The New York Times, 2024).
  • "PGA Tour Raises $1.5 Billion From Group of U.S. Investors," by Lauren Hirsch (The New York Times, 2024).
  • "PGA Tour, LIV Golf Agree to Merge," by Andrew Beaton and Louise Radnofsky (The Wall Street Journal, 2023).
  • Phil: The Rip-Roaring (and Unauthorized!) Biography of Golf's Most Colorful Superstar, by Alan Shipnuck (2022).
  • "Dustin Johnson Paid £100m to Perform Late U-Turn and Join Saudi-Backed Rebel Series," by By James Corrigan and Tom Morgan (The Telegraph, 2022).
  • "Russia Was the Hottest Place in Sports. Now It’s Frozen Out," by Joshua Robinson, Ben Cohen, and Louise Radnofsky (The Wall Street Journal, 2022).
  • "Could This Be the Year ‘Sportwashing’ Backfires?" by Andrés Martinez (The Los Angeles Times, 2022).
  • "The Truth About Phil and Saudi Arabia," by Alan Shipnuck (The Fire Pit Collective, 2022).
  • The New Yale Book of Quotations, by Fred Shapiro (2021).
  • "The Surprising Reason That There Are So Many Thai Restaurants in America," by Myles Karp (Vice, 2018).

• EXTRAS:
  • "Greg Norman Takes On the P.G.A. Tour," by People I (Mostly) Admire (2023).

What surprises lurk in our sewage? How did racist city planners end up saving Black lives? Why does Arizona grow hay for cows in Saudi Arabia? Three strange stories about the most fundamental substance we all take for granted.

• SOURCES:
  • Brian Beach, professor of economics at Vanderbilt University.
  • Marc Johnson, professor of molecular microbiology and immunology at the University of Missouri School of Medicine.
  • Amy Kirby, program lead for the National Wastewater Surveillance System at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
  • Natalie Koch, professor of geography at Syracuse University.

• RESOURCES:
  • Arid Empire: The Entangled Fates of Arizona and Arabia, by Natalie Koch (2023).
  • "How a Saudi Firm Tapped a Gusher of Water in Drought-Stricken Arizona," by Isaac Stanley-Becker, Joshua Partlow, and Yvonne Wingett Sanchez (The Washington Post, 2023).
  • "Arizona Is in a Race to the Bottom of Its Water Wells, With Saudi Arabia’s Help," by Natalie Koch (The New York Times, 2022).
  • "Tracing the Origin of SARS-CoV-2 Omicron-Like Spike Sequences Detected in Wastewater," by Martin Shafer, Devon Gregory, Marc Johnson, et al. (medRxiv, 2022).
  • "Water and Waste: A History of Reluctant Policymaking in U.S. Cities," by Brian Beach (Working Paper, 2022).
  • Water, Race, and Disease, by Werner Troesken (2004).
  • COVID Data Tracker: Wastewater Surveillance, by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

• EXTRAS:
  • "What Is Sportswashing (and Does It Work)?" by Freakonomics Radio (2022).
  • "Covid-19," series by Freakonomics Radio (2020-2021).

It used to feel like magic. Now it can feel like a set of cheap tricks. Is the problem with Google — or with us? And is Google Search finally facing a real rival, in the form of A.I.-powered “answer engines”? 

• SOURCES:
  • Marissa Mayer, co-founder of Sunshine; former C.E.O. of Yahoo! and vice president at Google.
  • Ryan McDevitt; professor of economics at Duke University.
  • Tim Hwang, media researcher and author; former Google employee.
  • Elizabeth Reid, vice president of Search at Google.
  • Aravind Srinivas, C.E.O. and co-founder of Perplexity.
  • Jeremy Stoppelman, C.E.O. and co-founder of Yelp.

• RESOURCES:
  • “A Fraudster Who Just Can’t Seem to Stop … Selling Eyeglasses,” by David Segal (The New York Times, 2022).
  • Subprime Attention Crisis: Advertising and the Time Bomb at the Heart of the Internet, by Tim Hwang (2020).
  • “Complaint: U.S. and Plaintiff States v. Google LLC,” by the U.S. Department of Justice (2020).
  • “Fake Online Locksmiths May Be Out to Pick Your Pocket, Too,” by David Segal (The New York Times, 2016).
  • “‘A’ Business by Any Other Name: Firm Name Choice as a Signal of Firm Quality,” by Ryan C. McDevitt (Journal of Political Economy, 2014).
  • In the Plex: How Google Thinks, Works, and Shapes Our Lives, by Steven Levy (2011).
  • “The Anatomy of a Large-Scale Hypertextual Web Search Engine,” by Sergey Brin and Lawrence Page (Computer Networks and ISDN Systems, 1998).

• EXTRAS:
  • “Is Dialysis a Test Case of Medicare for All?” by Freakonomics Radio (2021).
  • “How Big is My Penis? (And Other Things We Ask Google),” by Freakonomics Radio (2017).

A wide-open conversation with three women who guided Richard Feynman through some big adventures at the Esalen Institute. (Part of our Feynman series.)

• SOURCES: 
  • Barbara Berg, friend of Richard Feynman.
  • Cheryl Haley, friend of Richard Feynman.
  • Debby Harlow, friend of Richard Feynma
  • Sam Stern, content creator at the Esalen Institute.

• EXTRAS: 
  • Richard Feynman Series, by Freakonomics Radio (2024).
  • "The Future of Therapy Is Psychedelic," by People I (Mostly) Admire (2023).

In his final years, Richard Feynman's curiosity took him to some surprising places. We hear from his companions on the trips he took — and one he wasn’t able to. (Part three of a three-part series.)

• SOURCES: 
  • Alan Alda, actor and screenwriter.
  • Barbara Berg, friend of Richard Feynman.
  • Helen Czerski, physicist and oceanographer at University College London.
  • Michelle Feynman, photographer and daughter of Richard Feynman.
  • Cheryl Haley, friend of Richard Feynman.
  • Debby Harlow, friend of Richard Feynman.
  • Ralph Leighton, biographer and film producer.
  • Charles Mann, science journalist and author.
  • John Preskill, professor of theoretical physics at the California Institute of Technology.
  • Lisa Randall, professor of theoretical particle physics and cosmology at Harvard University.
  • Christopher Sykes, documentary filmmaker.
  • Stephen Wolfram, founder and C.E.O. of Wolfram Research; creator of Mathematica, Wolfram|Alpha, and the Wolfram Language.

• RESOURCES: 
  • I Love My Wife..., directed by Ian Tierney (2020).
  • Quantum Man: Richard Feynman's Life in Science, by Lawrence M. Krauss (2011).
  • Perfectly Reasonable Deviations From the Beaten Track: Selected Letters of Richard P. Feynman, edited by Michelle Feynman (2005).
  • The Pleasure of Finding Things Out, by Richard Feynman (1999).
  • The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark, by Carl Sagan and Ann Druyan (1995).
  • Genius: The Life and Science of Richard Feynman, by James Gleick (1992).
  • The Quest for Tannu Tuva, by Christopher Sykes (1988)
  • “What Do You Care What Other People Think?” by Richard Feynman and Ralph Leighton (1988).
  • The Second Creation: Makers of the Revolution in Twentieth-century Physics, by Robert Crease and Charles Mann (1986).
  • Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!, by Richard Feynman and Ralph Leighton (1985).
  • Fun to Imagine, BBC docuseries (1983).

• EXTRAS: 
  • “The Curious, Brilliant, Vanishing Mr. Feynman,” series by Freakonomics Radio (2024).

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.)

• SOURCES:
  • Seamus Blackley, video game designer and creator of the Xbox.
  • Carl Feynman, computer scientist and son of Richard Feynman.
  • Michelle Feynman, photographer and daughter of Richard Feynman.
  • Ralph Leighton, biographer and film producer.
  • Charles Mann, science journalist and author.
  • John Preskill, professor of theoretical physics at the California Institute of Technology.
  • Lisa Randall, professor of theoretical particle physics and cosmology at Harvard University.
  • Christopher Sykes, documentary filmmaker.
  • Stephen Wolfram, founder and C.E.O. of Wolfram Research; creator of Mathematica, Wolfram|Alpha, and the Wolfram Language.
  • Alan Zorthian, architect.

• RESOURCES:
  • "Love After Life: Nobel-Winning Physicist Richard Feynman’s Extraordinary Letter to His Departed Wife," by Maria Popova (The Marginalian, 2017).
  • Quantum Man: Richard Feynman's Life in Science, by Lawrence M. Krauss (2011).
  • The Pleasure of Finding Things Out, by Richard Feynman (1999).
  • Genius: The Life and Science of Richard Feynman, by James Gleick (1992).
  • "G. Feynman; Landscape Expert, Physicist’s Widow," (Los Angeles Times, 1990).
  • "Nobel Physicist R. P. Feynman of Caltech Dies," by Lee Dye (Los Angeles Times, 1988).
  • The Second Creation: Makers of the Revolution in Twentieth-century Physics, by Robert Crease and Charles Mann (1986).
  • Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!, by Richard Feynman and Ralph Leighton (1985).
  • Fun to Imagine, BBC docuseries (1983).
  • "Richard P. Feynman: Nobel Prize Winner," by Tim Hendrickson, Stuart Galley, and Fred Lamb (Engineering and Science, 1965).
  • F.B.I. files on Richard Feynman.

• EXTRAS:
  • "The Curious Mr. Feynman," by Freakonomics Radio (2024).

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. 

• SOURCES:
  • Jimmy Garoppolo, quarterback for the Las Vegas Raiders; former quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers.
  • Al Guido, president of the San Francisco 49ers.
  • Kyle Juszczyk, fullback for the San Francisco 49ers.
  • Bob Lange, senior vice president of communications for the Philadelphia Eagles; former vice-president of communications for the San Francisco 49ers.
  • John Lynch, general manager of the San Francisco 49ers.
  • Paraag Marathe, president of 49ers Enterprises and executive vice-president of football operations for the San Francisco 49ers.
  • Victor Matheson, economist at College of the Holy Cross.
  • Kyle Shanahan, head coach of the San Francisco 49ers.
  • Malcolm Smith, former linebacker for the San Francisco 49ers.
  • Joe Staley, former offensive tackle for the San Francisco 49ers.
  • Solomon Thomas, defensive tackle for the New York Jets; former defensive end for the San Francisco 49ers.
  • Jed York, C.E.O. of the San Francisco 49ers.

• RESOURCES:
  • "49ers Overreactions: Have Shanahan, Lynch Built Team That Can Last?" by Matt Maiocco (NBC Sports, 2023).
  • “Jimmy Garoppolo Leads a 49ers Resurgence,” Victor Mather, The New York Times (December 29, 2017).
  • “Why American Sports Are Organized As Cartels,” Tim Worstall, Forbes (January 14, 2013).
  • NFL History - Super Bowl Winners (ESPN).

• EXTRAS:
  • "When Is a Superstar Just Another Employee?" by Freakonomics Radio (2023).
  • "How Does Playing Football Affect Your Health?" by Freakonomics, M.D. (2023).
  • "Why Does the Most Monotonous Job in the World Pay $1 Million?" by Freakonomics Radio (2022).
  • "The Hidden Side of Sports," series by Freakonomics Radio (2018-2019).
  • "An Egghead’s Guide to the Super Bowl," by Freakonomics Radio (2017).

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.)

• SOURCES:
  • Helen Czerski, physicist and oceanographer at University College London.
  • Michelle Feynman, photographer and daughter of Richard Feynman.
  • Ralph Leighton, biographer and film producer.
  • Charles Mann, science journalist and author.
  • John Preskill, professor of theoretical physics at the California Institute of Technology.
  • Stephen Wolfram, founder and C.E.O. of Wolfram Research; creator of Mathematica, Wolfram|Alpha, and the Wolfram Language.

• RESOURCES:
  • "How Legendary Physicist Richard Feynman Helped Crack the Case on the Challenger Disaster," by Kevin Cook (Literary Hub, 2021).
  • Challenger: The Final Flight, docuseries (2020).
  • Perfectly Reasonable Deviations From the Beaten Track: Selected Letters of Richard P. Feynman, edited by Michelle Feynman (2005).
  • The Pleasure of Finding Things Out, by Richard Feynman (1999).
  • Genius: The Life and Science of Richard Feynman, by James Gleick (1992).
  • “What Do You Care What Other People Think?” by Richard Feynman and Ralph Leighton (1988).
  • "Mr. Feynman Goes to Washington," by Richard Feynman and Ralph Leighton (Engineering & Science, 1987).
  • The Second Creation: Makers of the Revolution in Twentieth-century Physics, by Robert Crease and Charles Mann (1986).
  • Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!, by Richard Feynman and Ralph Leighton (1985).
  • "The Pleasure of Finding Things Out," (Horizon S18.E9, 1981).
  • "Los Alamos From Below," by Richard Feynman (UC Santa Barbara lecture, 1975).
  • "The World from Another Point of View," (PBS Nova, 1973).

• EXTRAS:
  • "Exploring Physics, from Eggshells to Oceans," by People I (Mostly) Admire (2023).

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.  

• SOURCE:
  • Michael S. Roth, president of Wesleyan University.

• RESOURCES:
  • "Opinion: College Presidents Are Supposed to Be Moral Leaders, Not Evasive Bureaucrats," by Michael S. Roth (Los Angeles Times, 2023).
  • "Transcript: What Harvard, MIT and Penn Presidents Said at Antisemitism Hearing," by CQ Roll Call Staff (Roll Call, 2023).
  • "To Testify or Not to Testify in Congress? Your Job Could Hang in the Balance," by Annie Karni (The New York Times, 2023).
  • "You Could Not Pay Me Enough to Be a College President," by Daniel W. Drezner (The Chronicle of Higher Education, 2023).
  • "The Case for College: Promising Solutions to Reverse College Enrollment Declines," by Katharine Meyer (Brookings, 2023).
  • "Arab Funding of American Universities: Donors, Recipients, and Impact," by Mitchell G. Bard (American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise, 2023).
  • "Racist Attack Spotlights Stefanik’s Echo of Replacement Theory," by Annie Karni (The New York Times, 2022).
  • "Why Is There So Much Saudi Money in American Universities?" by Michael Sokolove (The New York Times Magazine, 2019).
  • Safe Enough Spaces: A Pragmatist’s Approach to Inclusion, Free Speech, and Political Correctness on College Campuses, by Michael S. Roth (2019).
  • "The Opening of the Liberal Mind," by Michael S. Roth (The Wall Street Journal, 2017).

• EXTRAS:
  • "Academic Fraud," series by Freakonomics Radio (2024).
  • "Freakonomics Radio Goes Back to School," series by Freakonomics Radio (2022).

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.

• SOURCES:
  • Sharon Begley, senior science writer for Stat at The Boston Globe.
  • Jerome Kagan, emeritus professor of psychology at Harvard University.
  • Bibb Latané, social psychologist and senior fellow at the Center for Human Science.
  • Scott Lilienfeld, professor of psychology at Emory University.
  • James Solomon, director and producer of The Witness.

• RESOURCES:
  • “Tech Metaphors Are Holding Back Brain Research,” by Anna Vlasits (Wired, 2017).
  • Can’t Just Stop: An Investigation of Compulsions, by Sharon Begley (2017).
  • The Witness, film by James Solomon (2016).
  • “Fifty Psychological and Psychiatric Terms to Avoid: a List of Inaccurate, Misleading, Misused, Ambiguous, and Logically Confused Words and Phrases,” by Scott Lilienfeld, Katheryn Sauvigne, Steven Jay Lynn, Robin Cautin, Robert Latzman, and Irwin Waldman (Frontiers in Psychology, 2015).
  • SuperFreakonomics, by Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner (2011).
  • Fifty Great Myths of Popular Psychology, by Scott Lilienfeld, Steven Jay Lynn, John Ruscio, and Barry Beyerstein (2009).
  • Train Your Mind, Change Your Brain, by Sharon Begley (2007).
  • “Kitty, 40 Years Later,” by Jim Rasenberger (The New York Times, 2004).
  • “37 Who Saw Murder Didn’t Call the Police,” by Martin Gansberg (The New York Times, 1964).

• EXTRAS:
  • "Academic Fraud," series by Freakonomics Radio (2024).
  • “This Idea Must Die,”Freakonomics Radio (2015).

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 2 of 2)

• SOURCES:
  • Max Bazerman, professor of business administration at Harvard Business School.
  • Leif Nelson, professor of business administration at the University of California, Berkeley Haas School of Business.
  • Brian Nosek, professor of psychology at the University of Virginia and executive director at the Center for Open Science.
  • Ivan Oransky, distinguished journalist-in-residence at New York University, editor-in-chief of The Transmitter, and co-founder of Retraction Watch.
  • Joseph Simmons, professor of applied statistics and operations, information, and decisions at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.
  • Uri Simonsohn, professor of behavioral science at Esade Business School.
  • Simine Vazire, professor of psychology at the University of Melbourne and editor-in-chief of Psychological Science.

• RESOURCES:
  • "The Harvard Professor and the Bloggers," by Noam Scheiber (The New York Times, 2023).
  • "They Studied Dishonesty. Was Their Work a Lie?" by Gideon Lewis-Kraus (The New Yorker, 2023).
  • "Evolving Patterns of Extremely Productive Publishing Behavior Across Science," by John P.A. Ioannidis, Thomas A. Collins, and Jeroen Baas (bioRxiv, 2023).
  • "Hindawi Reveals Process for Retracting More Than 8,000 Paper Mill Articles," (Retraction Watch, 2023).
  • "Exclusive: Russian Site Says It Has Brokered Authorships for More Than 10,000 Researchers," (Retraction Watch, 2019).
  • "How Many Scientists Fabricate and Falsify Research? A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Survey Data," by Daniele Fanelli (PLOS One, 2009).

• EXTRAS:
  • "Why Is There So Much Fraud in Academia?" by Freakonomics Radio (2024).
  • "Freakonomics Goes to College, Part 1," by Freakonomics Radio (2012).

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 1 of 2)

• SOURCES:
  • Max Bazerman, professor of business administration at Harvard Business School.
  • Leif Nelson, professor of business administration at the University of California, Berkeley Haas School of Business.
  • Brian Nosek, professor of psychology at the University of Virginia and executive director at the Center for Open Science.
  • Joseph Simmons, professor of applied statistics and operations, information, and decisions at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.
  • Uri Simonsohn, professor of behavioral science at Esade Business School.
  • Simine Vazire, professor of psychology at the University of Melbourne and editor-in-chief of Psychological Science.

• RESOURCES:
  • "More Than 10,000 Research Papers Were Retracted in 2023 — a New Record," by Richard Van Noorden (Nature, 2023).
  • "Data Falsificada (Part 1): 'Clusterfake,'" by Joseph Simmons, Leif Nelson, and Uri Simonsohn (Data Colada, 2023).
  • "Fabricated Data in Research About Honesty. You Can't Make This Stuff Up. Or, Can You?" by Nick Fountain, Jeff Guo, Keith Romer, and Emma Peaslee (Planet Money, 2023).
  • Complicit: How We Enable the Unethical and How to Stop, by Max Bazerman (2022).
  • "Evidence of Fraud in an Influential Field Experiment About Dishonesty," by Joseph Simmons, Leif Nelson, and Uri Simonsohn (Data Colada, 2021).
  • "False-Positive Psychology: Undisclosed Flexibility in Data Collection and Analysis Allows Presenting Anything as Significant," by Joseph Simmons, Leif Nelson, and Uri Simonsohn (Psychological Science, 2011).

• EXTRAS:
  • "Why Do We Cheat, and Why Shouldn’t We?" by No Stupid Questions (2023).
  • "Is Everybody Cheating These Days?" by No Stupid Questions (2021).

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.”

• SOURCES:
  • Jason Abraham, managing partner of Hupy & Abraham.
  • Nora Engstrom, professor at Stanford Law School.
  • Kyle Hebenstreit, C.E.O. of Practice Made Perfect.
  • Patrick Kivits, president of corrugated packaging at WestRock.
  • Mia Mercado, writer and former editor at Hallmark.
  • Eric Nelson, green business program manager for Johnson County, Kansas.
  • Scott Wiener, founder of Scott's Pizza Tours.
  • George White, president of Up With Paper and former president of the American Greeting Card Association.

• RESOURCES:
  • 34th Louie Awards - Finalists & Winners, (2022-2023).
  • "Personal Injury Settlement Amounts Examples (2024 Guide)," by Jeffrey Johnson (Forbes Advisor, 2022).
  • "Who Is the Fastest Pizza Box Folder?! World Pizza Games 2021," video by The Laughing Lion (2021).
  • "Season’s (and Other...) Greetings," by Maria Ricapito (Marie Claire, 2020).
  • "Scott's Pizza Chronicles: A Brief History of the Pizza Box," by Scott Wiener (Serious Eats, 2018).
  • "Apple Patented a Pizza Box, for Pizzas," by Jacob Kastrenakes (The Verge, 2017).
  • "Hallmark Greeting Cards Have Adjusted to the Digital Revolution," by Trent Gillies (CNBC, 2017).
  • "We Eat 100 Acres of Pizza a Day in the U.S.," by Lenny Bernstein (The Washington Post, 2015).
  • "Low Ball: An Insider’s Look at How Some Insurers Can Manipulate Computerized Systems to Broadly Underpay Injury Claims," by Mark Romano and J. Robert Hunter (Consumer Federation of America, 2012).
  • "A Century of Change in Personal Injury Law," by Stephen D. Sugarman (UC Berkeley Public Law Research Paper, 2000).
  • Pizza Tiger, by Thomas Monaghan (1986).
  • Bates v. State Bar of Arizona, in the Supreme Court of Arizona (1977).

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.

• SOURCE:
  • Cat Bohannon, researcher and author.

• RESOURCES:
  • Eve: How the Female Body Drove 200 Million Years of Human Evolution, by Cat Bohannon (2023).
  • "Genomic Inference of a Severe Human Bottleneck During the Early to Middle Pleistocene Transition," by Wangjie Hu, Ziqian Hao, Pengyuan Du, Fabio Di Vincenzo, Giorgio Manzi, Jialong Cui, Yun-Xin Fu, Yi-Hsuan, and Haipeng Li (Science, 2023).
  • "The Greatest Invention in the History of Humanity," by Cat Bohannon (The Atlantic, 2023).
  • "A Newborn Infant Chimpanzee Snatched and Cannibalized Immediately After Birth: Implications for 'Maternity Leave' in Wild Chimpanzee," by Hitonaru Nishie and Michio Nakamura (American Journal of Biological Anthropology, 2018).
  • "War in the Womb," by Suzanne Sadedin (Aeon, 2014).
  • "Timing of Childbirth Evolved to Match Women’s Energy Limits," by Erin Wayman (Smithsonian Magazine, 2012).
  • "Bonobo Sex and Society," by Frans B. M. de Waal (Scientific American, 2006).

• EXTRAS:
  • "Yuval Noah Harari Thinks Life Is Meaningless and Amazing," by People I (Mostly) Admire (2022).
  • "Jared Diamond on the Downfall of Civilizations — and His Optimism for Ours," by People I (Mostly) Admire (2021).

In a special episode of No Stupid Questions, Angela Duckworth and Mike Maughan talk about unfinished tasks, recurring arguments, and Irish goodbyes.

• SOURCES:
  • Roy Baumeister, social psychologist and visiting scholar at Harvard University.
  • Daniel Gilbert, professor of psychology at Harvard University.
  • John Gottman, professor emeritus of psychology at the University of Washington.
  • Kurt Lewin, 20th-century German-American psychologist.
  • E. J. Masicampo, professor of psychology at Wake Forest University.
  • Timothy Wilson, professor of psychology at the University of Virginia.
  • Bluma Zeigarnik, 20th-century Soviet psychologist.

• RESOURCES:
  • "Life and Work of the Psychologist Bluma Zeigarnik," by M. Marco (Neurosciences and History, 2018).
  • "Why We Need Answers," by Maria Konnikova (The New Yorker, 2013).
  • "Consider It Done! Plan Making Can Eliminate the Cognitive Effects of Unfulfilled Goals," by E. J. Masicampo and Roy Baumeister (Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 2011).
  • The Science of Trust: Emotional Attunement for Couples, by John Gottman (2011).
  • "'Let Me Dream On!' Anticipatory Emotions and Preference for Timing in Lotteries," by Martin Kocher, Michal Krawczyk, and Frans van Winden (Tinbergen Institute Discussion Paper, 2009).
  • "Explaining Away: A Model of Affective Adaptation," by Timothy Wilson and Daniel Gilbert (Perspectives on Psychological Science, 2008).
  • "On Finished and Unfinished Tasks," by Bluma Zeigarnik (A Source Book of Gestalt Psychology, 1938).

• EXTRAS:
  • "Can We Disagree Better?" by No Stupid Questions (2023).
  • "Would You Be Happier if You Were More Creative?" by No Stupid Questions (2023).
  • "How Can You Be Kinder to Yourself?" by No Stupid Questions (2023).
  • "What’s Wrong With Holding a Grudge?" by No Stupid Questions (2022).
  • Somebody Loves You, Mr. Hatch,  by Eileen Spinelli (1991).

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.

• SOURCES:
  • Michael Lewis, author.

• RESOURCES:
  • Going Infinite: The Rise and Fall of a New Tycoon, by Michael Lewis (2023).
  • "Column: In Michael Lewis, Sam Bankman-Fried Found His Last and Most Willing Victim," by Michael Hiltzik (Los Angeles Times, 2023).
  • "Even Michael Lewis Can’t Make a Hero Out of Sam Bankman-Fried," by Jennifer Szalai (The New York Times, 2023).
  • "Michael Lewis Goes Close on Sam Bankman-Fried — Maybe Too Close," by James Ledbetter (The Washington Post, 2023).
  • "What You Won’t Learn From Michael Lewis’ Book on FTX Could Fill Another Book," by Julia M. Klein (Los Angeles Times, 2023).
  • "Michael Lewis’s Big Contrarian Bet," by Gideon Lewis-Kraus (The New Yorker, 2023).
  • "He-Said, They-Said," by John Lanchester (London Review of Books, 2023).
  • "Downfall of the Crypto King," by Jesse Armstrong (The Times Literary Supplement, 2023).
  • "FTX Debtors vs. Joseph Bankman and Barbara Fried," in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware (2023).
  • Federal Prosecution of Election Offenses: Eighth Edition, by Richard C. Pilger (2017).
  • "Pay Candidates to Drop Out? That Should Be Legal," by Stephen L. Carter (Bloomberg, 2016).
  • "The History of the Term 'Effective Altruism,'" by William MacAskill (Effective Altruism Forum, 2014).

• EXTRAS:
  • "Is This 'The Worst Job in Corporate America' — or Maybe the Best?" by Freakonomics Radio (2023).
  • "A Million-Year View on Morality," by People I (Mostly) Admire (2022).
  • “Did Michael Lewis Just Get Lucky with 'Moneyball'?” by Freakonomics Radio (2022).

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.

• SOURCES
  • Kenneth Corey, director of outreach and engagement for the Policing Leadership Academy at the University of Chicago and retired chief of department for the New York Police Department.
  • Stephanie Drescher, operations captain in the City of Madison Police Department.
  • Max Kapustin, assistant professor of economics and public policy at Cornell University.
  • Jens Ludwig, economist and director of the Crime Lab at the University of Chicago.
  • Sandy Jo MacArthur, curriculum design director for the Policing Leadership Academy at the University of Chicago.
  • Sean Malinowski, D.O.J. strategic site liaison for the Philadelphia Police Department and retired chief of detectives from the Los Angeles Police Department.
  • Sindyanna Paul-Noel, lieutenant with the City of Miami Police Department.
  • Michael Wolley, deputy chief of operations with the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department.

• RESOURCES:
  • "Policing Leadership Academy (PLA) Graduation of Inaugural Cohort," by the University of Chicago Crime Lab (2023).
  • "Policing and Management," by Max Kapustin, Terrence Neumann, and Jens Ludwig (NBER Working Paper, 2022).
  • "Getting More Out of Policing in the U.S.," by Jens Ludwig, Terrence Neumann, and Max Kapustin (VoxEU, 2022).
  • "University of Chicago Crime Lab Launches National Policing and Community Violence Intervention Leadership Academies," by the University of Chicago Crime Lab (2022).
  • "What Drives Differences in Management?" by Nicholas Bloom, Erik Brynjolfsson, Lucia Foster, Ron S. Jarmin, Megha Patnaik, Itay Saporta-Eksten, and John Van Reenen (NBER Working Paper, 2017).
  • "Management as a Technology?" by Nicholas Bloom, Raffaella Sadun, and John Van Reenen (NBER Working Paper, 2017).
  • "Measuring and Explaining Management Practices Across Firms and Countries," by Nick Bloom and John Van Reenen (NBER Working Paper, 2006).
  • "Crime, Urban Flight, and the Consequences for Cities," by Julie Berry Cullen and Steven D. Levitt (SSRN, 1997).

• EXTRAS:
  • "Why Are There So Many Bad Bosses?" by Freakonomics Radio (2022).
  • "What Are the Police for, Anyway?" by Freakonomics Radio (2021).

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). 

SOURCES:

• Marcus Finbom, traffic planner in Stockholm, Sweden.
• Robbie Makinen, former president and C.E.O. of the Kansas City Area Transportation Authority.
• Janno Lieber, chair and C.E.O. of the M.T.A. in New York City.
• Brian Taylor, professor of urban planning and public policy and director of the Institute of Transportation Studies at U.C.L.A.
• Shashi Verma, director of strategy and C.T.O. at Transport for London.
• Michelle Wu, mayor of Boston.

RESOURCES:

• "Free Bus Service Starts Sunday on 5 Routes in New York City," by Ana Ley (The New York Times, 2023).
• “Vehicle Access and Falling Transit Ridership: Evidence From Southern California,” by Michael Manville, Brian D. Taylor, Evelyn Blumenberg, and Andrew Schouten (Transportation, 2023).
• “Route-28 Fare-Free Pilot Evaluation: Summary Findings,” by the City of Boston Transportation (2022).
• “Forget Fare Hikes — Make the T Free,” by Michelle Wu (The Boston Globe, 2019).
• Traffic Power Structure, by Planka.nu (2016).
• "The Impacts of Neighborhoods on Intergenerational Mobility: Childhood Exposure Effects and County-Level Estimates," by Raj Chetty and Nathaniel Hendren (NBER Working Paper, 2015).
• "Fare, Free, or Something in Between?" by Jennifer S. Perone and Joel M. Volinski (World Transit Research, 2003).
• Planka.Nu.

EXTRAS:

• "Why Is the U.S. So Good at Killing Pedestrians?" by Freakonomics Radio (2023).
• "Should Public Transit Be Free?" by Freakonomics Radio (2022).
• “Should Traffic Lights Be Abolished?” by Freakonomics Radio (2021).
• “The Perfect Crime,” by Freakonomics Radio (2014).
• “Parking Is Hell,” by Freakonomics Radio (2013).

Most industries have become more productive over time. But not construction! We identify the causes — and possible solutions. (Can you say ... “prefab”?)
 

RESOURCES:

• "The Strange and Awful Path of Productivity in the US Construction Sector," by Austan Goolsbee and Chad Syverson (BFI Working Paper, 2023).
• "Infrastructure Costs," by Leah Brooks and Zachary D. Liscow (American Economic Journal: Applied, 2023).
• "The Silicon Valley Elite Who Want to Build a City From Scratch," by Conor Dougherty and Erin Griffith (The New York Times, 2023).
• "A Decent Home," report by the President's Committee on Urban Housing (1968).

EXTRAS:

• "Edward Glaeser Explains Why Some Cities Thrive While Others Fade Away," by People I (Mostly) Admire (2021).
• "Why Are Cities (Still) So Expensive?" by Freakonomics Radio (2020).

SOURCES:

• Vaughan Buckley, founder and C.E.O. of the Volumetric Building Companies.
• Carrie Sturts Dossick, professor of construction management at the University of Washington.
• Ed Glaeser, professor of economics and chair the economics department at Harvard University.
• Michael Hough, director of MJH Structural Engineers.
• Ivan Rupnik, professor of architecture at Northeastern University.
• Chad Syverson, professor of economics at the University of Chicago.

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. 

RESOURCES:

• “N.F.L. Player Team Report Cards,” by the National Football League Players Association (2023).
• Kelce, documentary (2023).
• New Heights with Jason and Travis Kelce, (produced by Wave Sports + Entertainment).

EXTRAS:

• "When Is a Superstar Just Another Employee?" by Freakonomics Radio (2023).

SOURCES:

• Jason Kelce, center for the Philadelphia Eagles.

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.)

RESOURCES:

• Plunder: Private Equity's Plan to Pillage America, by Brendan Ballou (2023).
• Two and Twenty: How the Masters of Private Equity Always Win, by Sachin Khajuria (2022).
• "Local Journalism under Private Equity Ownership," by Michael Ewens, Arpit Gupta, and Sabrina T. Howell (NBER Working Paper, 2022).
• “Owner Incentives and Performance in Healthcare: Private Equity Investment in Nursing Homes,” by Atul Gupta, Sabrina T. Howell, Constantine Yannelis, and Abhinav Gupta (NBER Working Paper, 2021).
• “Leveraged Buyouts and Financial Distress,” by Brian Ayash and Mahdi Rastad (Finance Research Letters, 2021).
• “Have Private Equity Owned Nursing Homes Fared Worse Under COVID-19?” by Ashvin Gandhi, YoungJun Song, and Prabhava Upadrashta (SSRN, 2020).
• “When Investor Incentives and Consumer Interests Diverge: Private Equity in Higher Education,” by Charlie Eaton, Sabrina T. Howell, and Constantine Yannelis (The Review of Financial Studies, 2020).
• “The Economic Effects of Private Equity Buyouts,” by Steven J. Davis, John Haltiwanger, Kyle Handley, Ben Lipsius, Josh Lerner, and Javier Miranda (SSRN, 2019).
• “How Acquisitions Affect Firm Behavior and Performance: Evidence from the Dialysis Industry,” by Paul J. Eliason, Benjamin Heebsh, Ryan C. McDevitt, and James W. Roberts (The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 2019).
• "In Silicon Valley, Even Mobile Homes Are Getting Too Pricey for Longtime Residents," by Tracy Lien (Los Angeles Times, 2017).
• “The Operational Consequences of Private Equity Buyouts: Evidence from the Restaurant Industry,” by Shai Bernstein and Albert Sheen (SSRN, 2013).
• "Private Equity and Employment," by Steven J. Davis, John C. Haltiwanger, Ron S. Jarmin, Josh Lerner, and Javier Miranda (NBER Working Paper, 2011).

EXTRAS:

• "Should You Trust Private Equity to Take Care of Your Dog?" by Freakonomics Radio (2023).
• "Do You Know Who Owns Your Vet?" by Freakonomics Radio (2023).
• "Mobile Home Parks," by The Economics of Everyday Things (2023).
• "The Secret Life of a C.E.O.," series by Freakonomics Radio (2018).
• "Extra: David Rubenstein Full Interview," by Freakonomics Radio (2018).

SOURCES:

• Brendan Ballou, special counsel at the Department of Justice.
• Dan Glickberg, venture-capital investor.
• Hannah Howard, food writer.
• Sachin Khajuria, investor.

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.

RESOURCES:

• "Discrimination, Managers, and Firm Performance: Evidence from 'Aryanizations' in Nazi Germany," by Kilian Huber, Volker Lindenthal, and Fabian Waldinger (Journal of Political Economy, 2021).
• "Diversity and Performance in Entrepreneurial Teams," by Sophie Calder-Wang, Paul A. Gompers, and Kevin Huang (SSRN, 2021).
• "Systemic Discrimination Among Large U.S. Employers," by Patrick M. Kline, Evan K. Rose, and Christopher R. Walters (NBER Working Papers, 2021).
• City of Champions: A History of Triumph and Defeat in Detroit, by Silke-Maria Weineck and Stefan Szymanski (2020).
• "The Allocation of Talent and U.S. Economic Growth," by Chang-Tai Hsieh, Erik Hurst, Charles I. Jones, and Peter J. Klenow (Econometrica, 2019).
• Genius & Anxiety: How Jews Changed the World, 1847-1947, by Norman Lebrecht (2019).
• "And the Children Shall Lead: Gender Diversity and Performance in Venture Capital," by Paul A. Gompers and Sophie Q. Wang (NBER Working Papers, 2017).
• "The Political Economy of Hatred," by Edward Glaeser (The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 2005).
• "Statistical Theories of Discrimination in Labor Markets," by Dennis J. Aigner and Glen G. Cain (Industrial and Labor Relations Review, 1977).
• The Economics of Discrimination, by Gary S. Becker (1957).

EXTRAS:

• "A New Nobel Laureate Explains the Gender Pay Gap (Replay)," by Freakonomics Radio (2023).
• "Edward Glaeser Explains Why Some Cities Thrive While Others Fade Away," by People I (Mostly) Admire (2021).
• "What Are the Secrets of the German Economy — and Should We Steal Them?" by Freakonomics Radio (2017).

SOURCES:

• Kilian Huber, professor of economics at the University of Chicago.
• Silke-Maria Weineck, professor of German studies and comparative literature at the University of Michigan.
• Sophie Calder-Wang, professor of economics at the University of Pennsylvania.

Everyone makes mistakes. How do you learn from them? Lessons from the classroom, the Air Force, and the world’s deadliest infectious disease.

RESOURCES:

• Right Kind of Wrong: The Science of Failing Well, by Amy Edmondson (2023).
• "You Think Failure Is Hard? So Is Learning From It," by Lauren Eskreis-Winkler and Ayelet Fishbach (Perspectives on Psychological Science, 2022).
• "The Market for R&D Failures," by Manuel Trajtenberg and Roy Shalem (SSRN, 2010).
• "Performing a Project Premortem," by Gary Klein (Harvard Business Review, 2007).

EXTRAS:

• “How to Succeed at Failing,” series by Freakonomics Radio (2023).
• "Moncef Slaoui: 'It’s Unfortunate That It Takes a Crisis for This to Happen,'" by People I (Mostly) Admire (2020).

SOURCES:

• Will Coleman, founder and C.E.O. of Alto.
• Amy Edmondson, professor of leadership management at Harvard Business School.
• Babak Javid, physician-scientist and associate director of the University of California, San Francisco Center for Tuberculosis.
• Gary Klein, cognitive psychologist and pioneer in the field of naturalistic decision making.
• Theresa MacPhail, medical anthropologist and associate professor of science & technology studies at the Stevens Institute of Technology.
• Roy Shalem, lecturer at Tel Aviv University.
• Samuel West, curator and founder of The Museum of Failure.

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. 

RESOURCES

• "Data Snapshot: Tenure and Contingency in US Higher Education," by Glenn Colby (American Association of University Professors, 2023).
• Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance, by Angela Duckworth (2016).
• "Entrepreneurship and the U.S. Economy," by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (2016).
• "A CV of Failures," by Melanie Stefan (Nature, 2010).

EXTRAS

• “How to Succeed at Failing,” series by Freakonomics Radio (2023).
• "Annie Duke Thinks You Should Quit," by People I (Mostly) Admire (2022).
• "How Do You Know When It’s Time to Quit?" by No Stupid Questions (2020).
• “Honey, I Grew the Economy,” by Freakonomics Radio (2019).
• “The Upside of Quitting," by Freakonomics Radio (2011).
• "The Ramen Now - Rapid Desktop Cooking for Delicious Meals," Kickstarter campaign by Travis Thul.

SOURCES:

• John Boykin, website designer and failed paint can re-inventor.
• Angela Duckworth, host of No Stupid Questions, co-founder of Character Lab, and professor of psychology at the University of Pennsylvania.
• Amy Edmondson, professor of leadership management at Harvard Business School.
• Helen Fisher, senior research fellow at The Kinsey Institute and chief science advisor to Match.com.
• Eric von Hippel, professor of technological innovation at M.I.T.’s Sloan School of Management.
• Jill Hoffman, founder and C.E.O. of Path 2 Flight.
• Gary Klein, cognitive psychologist and pioneer in the field of naturalistic decision making.
• Steve Levitt, host of People I (Mostly) Admire, co-author of the Freakonomics books, and professor of economics at the University of Chicago.
• Joseph O’Connell, artist.
• Mike Ridgeman, advocacy manager at Trek Bicycles and former professor.
• Melanie Stefan, professor of physiology at Medical School Berlin.
• Travis Thul, director of operations and senior fellow at the University of Minnesota Technological Leadership Institute.

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.

RESOURCES:

• Right Kind of Wrong: The Science of Failing Well, by Amy Edmondson (2023).
• "Reconsidering the Application of Systems Thinking in Healthcare: The RaDonda Vaught Case," by Connor Lusk, Elise DeForest, Gabriel Segarra, David M. Neyens, James H. Abernathy III, and Ken Catchpole (British Journal of Anaesthesia, 2022).
• "Dispelling the Myth That Organizations Learn From Failure," by Jeffrey Ray (SSRN, 2016).
• "A New, Evidence-Based Estimate of Patient Harms Associated With Hospital Care," by John T. James (Journal of Patient Safety, 2013).
• To Err is Human: Building a Safer Health System, by the National Academy of Sciences (1999).
• "Polymers for the Sustained Release of Proteins and Other Macromolecules," by Robert Langer and Judah Folkman (Nature, 1976).

EXTRAS:

• "How to Succeed at Failing," series by Freakonomics Radio (2023).
• "Will a Covid-19 Vaccine Change the Future of Medical Research?" by Freakonomics Radio (2020).
• "Bad Medicine, Part 3: Death by Diagnosis," by Freakonomics Radio (2016).

SOURCES:

• Amy Edmondson, professor of leadership management at Harvard Business School.
• Carole Hemmelgarn, co-founder of Patients for Patient Safety U.S. and director of the Clinical Quality, Safety & Leadership Master’s program at Georgetown University.
• Gary Klein, cognitive psychologist and pioneer in the field of naturalistic decision making.
• Robert Langer, institute professor and head of the Langer Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
• John Van Reenen, professor at the London School of Economics.

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.

RESOURCES

• Right Kind of Wrong: The Science of Failing Well, by Amy Edmondson (2023).
• "Michigan School Shooter Is Found Eligible for Life Sentence Without Parole," by Stephanie Saul and Dana Goldstein (The New York Times, 2023).
• "How Fire Turned Lahaina Into a Death Trap," by Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs, Serge F. Kovaleski, Shawn Hubler, and Riley Mellen (The New York Times, 2023).
• The Violence Project: How to Stop a Mass Shooting Epidemic, by Jillian Peterson and James Densley (2021).
• "I Was Almost A School Shooter," by Aaron Stark (TEDxBoulder, 2018).

EXTRAS 

• "Is Perfectionism Ruining Your Life?" by People I (Mostly) Admire (2023).
• "Why Did You Marry That Person?" by Freakonomics Radio (2022).
• "What Do We Really Learn From Failure?" by No Stupid Questions (2021).
• "How to Fail Like a Pro," by Freakonomics Radio (2019).
• "Failure Is Your Friend," by Freakonomics Radio (2014).

SOURCES:

• Amy Edmondson, professor of leadership management at Harvard Business School.
• Helen Fisher, senior research fellow at The Kinsey Institute and chief science advisor to Match.com.
• Ed Galea, founding director of the Fire Safety Engineering Group at the University of Greenwich.
• Gary Klein, cognitive psychologist and pioneer in the field of naturalistic decision making.
• David Riedman, founder of the K-12 School Shooting Database.
• Aaron Stark, assistant manager at Kum & Go and keynote speaker.
• John Van Reenen, professor at the London School of Economics.

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. 

SOURCES:

• Claudia Goldin, professor of economics at Harvard University.

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.

RESOURCES:

• "United States of America v. Samuel Bankman-Fried, a/k/a 'SBF,'" by the United States District Court Southern District of New York (2023).
• "Does FTX’s New CEO Have the Worst Job in Corporate America?" by Ben Cohen (The Wall Street Journal, 2022).
• "John J. Ray III, a St. Joseph’s Grad From Pittsfield, Is Earning $1,300 an Hour to Sort Out the Remains of the FTX Cryptocurrency Collapse," by Larry Parnass (The Berkshire Eagle, 2022).
• "'Pit Bull' Fights to Pick Up Enron's Pieces," by Ameet Sachdev (Chicago Tribune, 2007).

EXTRAS:

• “The Secret Life of a C.E.O.,” series by Freakonomics Radio (2018-2023).
• "Did Michael Lewis Just Get Lucky with Moneyball?" by Freakonomics Radio (2022).
• "Does the Crypto Crash Mean the Blockchain Is Over?" by Freakonomics Radio (2022).
• "What Can Blockchain Do for You?" series by Freakonomics Radio (2022).

SOURCES:

• John Ray, C.E.O. of FTX.

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.

• RESOURCES:
  • "How Allbirds Lost Its Way," by Suzanne Kapner (The Wall Street Journal, 2023).
  • "Is It Time to Consider Co-C.E.O.s?" by Marc A. Feigen, Michael Jenkins, and Anton Warendh (Harvard Business Review, 2022).
  • "The Costs and Benefits of Pair Programming," by Alistair Cockburn and Laurie Williams (2000).
  • "Strengthening the Case for Pair Programming," by Laurie Williams, Robert R. Kessler, Ward Cunningham, and Ron Jeffries (IEEE Software, 2000).

• EXTRAS:
  • "The Facts Are In: Two Parents Are Better Than One," by Freakonomics Radio (2023).
  • "The Secret Life of a C.E.O.," series by Freakonomics Radio (2018-2023).

• SOURCES:
  • Jim Balsillie, retired chairman and co-C.E.O. of Research In Motion.
  • Mike Cannon-Brookes, co-founder and co-C.E.O. of Atlassian.
  • Scott Farquhar, co-founder and co-C.E.O. of Atlassian.
  • Marc Feigen, C.E.O. advisor.
  • Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, professor of management studies and senior associate dean at the Yale School of Management and founding president of the Chief Executive Leadership Institute.
  • Laurie Williams, professor of computer science at North Carolina State University...

In her new book The Two-Parent Privilege, the economist Melissa Kearney says it’s time for liberals to face the facts: U.S. marriage rates have plummeted but the babies keep coming, and the U.S. now leads the world in single-parent households. Plus: our friends at Atlas Obscura explore just how many parents a kid can have.

The union that represents N.F.L. players conducted their first-ever survey of workplace conditions, and issued a report card to all 32 teams. What did the survey reveal? Clogged showers, rats in the locker room — and some helpful insights for those of us who don’t play pro football.

For show notes, visit freakonomics.com/podcast/when-is-a-superstar-just-another-employee/

For all the speculation about the future, A.I. tools can be useful right now. Adam Davidson discovers what they can help us do, how we can get the most from them — and why the things that make them helpful also make them dangerous. (Part 3 of "How to Think About A.I.")

Guest host Adam Davidson looks at what might happen to your job in a world of human-level artificial intelligence, and asks when it might be time to worry that the machines have become too powerful. (Part 2 of "How to Think About A.I.")

Artificial intelligence, we’ve been told, will destroy humankind. No, wait — it will usher in a new age of human flourishing! Guest host Adam Davidson (co-founder of Planet Money) sorts through the big claims about A.I.'s future by exploring its past and present — and whether it has a sense of humor. (Part 1 of "How to Think About A.I.")

The famously profane politician and operative is now U.S. ambassador to Japan, where he’s trying to rewrite the rules of diplomacy. But don’t worry: When it comes to China, he’s every bit as combative as you’d expect.

Americans are so accustomed to the standard intersection that we rarely consider how dangerous it can be — as well as costly, time-wasting, and polluting. Is it time to embrace the lowly, lovely roundabout?

Bjorn Andersen killed 111 minke whales this season. He tells us how he does it, why he does it, and what he thinks would happen if whale-hunting ever stopped.  (This bonus episode is a follow-up to our series “Everything You Never Knew About Whaling.")

In three stories from our newest podcast, host Zachary Crockett digs into sports mascots, cashmere sweaters, and dinosaur skeletons. 

In the final episode of our whale series, we learn about fecal plumes, shipping noise, and why "Moby-Dick" is still worth reading. (Part 3 of "Everything You Never Knew About Whaling.")

For years, whale oil was used as lighting fuel, industrial lubricant, and the main ingredient in (yum!) margarine. Whale meat was also on a few menus. But today, demand for whale products is at a historic low. And yet some countries still have a whaling industry. We find out why. (Part 2 of “Everything You Never Knew About Whaling.”)

Whaling was, in the words of one scholar, “early capitalism unleashed on the high seas.” How did the U.S. come to dominate the whale market? Why did whale hunting die out here — and continue to grow elsewhere? And is that whale vomit in your perfume? (Part 1 of “Everything You Never Knew About Whaling.”)

Actually, the reasons are pretty clear. The harder question is: Will we ever care enough to stop?

Sure, you were “in love.” But economists — using evidence from Bridgerton to Tinder — point to what’s called “assortative mating.” And it has some unpleasant consequences for society.

But as C.E.O. of the resurgent Microsoft, he is firmly at the center of the A.I. revolution. We speak with him about the perils and blessings of A.I., Google vs. Bing, the Microsoft succession plan — and why his favorite use of ChatGPT is translating poetry.

Probably not. The economist Kelly Shue argues that E.S.G. investing just gives more money to firms that are already green while depriving polluting firms of the financing they need to get greener. But she has a solution.

Gun control, abortion rights, drug legalization — it seems like every argument these days claims that if X happens, then Y will follow, and we’ll all be doomed to Z. Is the slippery-slope argument a valid logical construction or just a game of feelingsball?

He turned a small Hollywood talent agency into a massive sports-and-entertainment empire. In a freewheeling conversation, he explains how he did it and why it nearly killed him.

Sure, markets work well in general. But for some transactions — like school admissions and organ transplants — money alone can’t solve the problem. That’s when you need a market-design wizard like Al Roth. Plus: We hear from a listener who, inspired by this episode, made a remarkable decision.

Museums are purging their collections of looted treasures. Can they also get something in return? And what does it mean to be a museum in the 21st century? (Part 3 of “Stealing Art Is Easy. Giving It Back Is Hard.”)

The world’s great museums are full of art and artifacts that were plundered during an era when plunder was the norm. Now there’s a push to return these works to their rightful owners. Sounds simple, right? It's not. (Part 2 of “Stealing Art Is Easy. Giving It Back Is Hard.”)

How did a freshly looted Egyptian antiquity end up in the Metropolitan Museum of Art? Why did it take Kim Kardashian to crack the case? And how much of what you see in any museum is stolen? (Part 1 of “Stealing Art Is Easy. Giving It Back Is Hard.”)

Whether it’s a giant infrastructure plan or a humble kitchen renovation, it’ll inevitably take way too long and cost way too much. That’s because you suffer from “the planning fallacy.” (You also have an “optimism bias” and a bad case of overconfidence.) But don’t worry: we’ve got the solution. 

Every language has its taboo words (which many people use all the time). But the list of forbidden words is always changing — and those changes tell us some surprising things about ourselves. Note: The swear words in this episode have been bleeped out. To hear a version of this episode without the bleeps, go to freakonomics.com.

Delaware is beloved by corporations, bankruptcy lawyers, tax avoiders, and money launderers. Critics say the Delaware “franchise” is undemocratic and corrupt. Insiders say it’s wildly efficient. We say: they’re both right.

Many companies say they want to create more opportunities for Black Americans. One company is doing something concrete about it. We visit the South Side of Chicago to see how it’s working out.

Every year, Americans short the I.R.S. nearly half a trillion dollars. Most ideas to increase compliance are more stick than carrot — scary letters, audits, and penalties. But what if we gave taxpayers a chance to allocate how their money is spent, or even bribed them with a thank-you gift?

In this installment of the Freakonomics Radio Book Club, the economist Amy Finkelstein explains why insurance markets are broken and how to fix them. Also: why can’t you buy divorce insurance?

People who are good at their jobs routinely get promoted into bigger jobs they’re bad at. We explain why firms keep producing incompetent managers — and why that’s unlikely to change.

Most travelers want the cheapest flight they can find. Airlines, meanwhile, need to manage volatile fuel costs, a pricey workforce, and complex logistics. So how do they make money — and how did America’s grubbiest airport suddenly turn into a palace? (Part 3 of “Freakonomics Radio Takes to the Skies.”)

Thanks to decades of work by airlines and regulators, plane crashes are nearly a thing of the past. Can we do the same for cars? (Part 2 of “Freakonomics Radio Takes to the Skies.”)

It’s an unnatural activity that has become normal. You’re stuck in a metal tube with hundreds of strangers (and strange smells), defying gravity and racing through the sky.  But oh, the places you’ll go! We visit the world’s busiest airport to see how it all comes together. (Part 1 of “Freakonomics Radio Takes to the Skies.”) 

Adam Smith famously argued that specialization is the key to prosperity. In the N.F.L., the long snapper is proof of that argument. Here’s everything there is to know about a job that didn’t used to exist.

Hotel guests adore those cute little soaps, but is it just a one-night stand? In our fourth episode of The Economics of Everyday Things, Zachary Crockett discovers what happens to those soaps when we love ’em and leave ’em.

For decades, the U.S. let globalization run its course and hoped China would be an ally. Now the Biden administration is spending billions to bring high-tech manufacturing back home. Is this the beginning of a new industrial policy — or just another round of corporate welfare?

Can a hit single from four decades ago still pay the bills? Zachary Crockett f-f-f-finds out in the third episode of our newest podcast, The Economics of Everyday Things.

The economist Kate Raworth says the aggressive pursuit of G.D.P. is trashing the planet and shortchanging too many people. She has proposed an alternative — and the city of Amsterdam is giving it a try. How's it going?

How does America's cutest sales force get billions of Thin Mints, Samoas, and Tagalongs into our hands every year? Zachary Crockett finds out in the second episode of our newest podcast, The Economics of Everyday Things.

When small businesses get bought by big investors, the name may stay the same — but customers and employees can feel the difference. (Part 2 of 2.)

A new podcast hosted by Zachary Crockett. In the first episode: Gas stations. When gas prices skyrocket, do station owners get a windfall? And where do their profits really come from? 

Big investors are buying up local veterinary practices (and pretty much everything else). What does this mean for scruffy little Max* — and for the U.S. economy? (Part 1 of 2.)

*The most popular dog name in the U.S. in 2022.

And with her book "Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat," she succeeded. Now she's not so sure how to feel about all the attention. 

We tend to look down on artists who can't match their breakthrough success. Should we be celebrating them instead? 

In a special episode of No Stupid Questions, Stephen Dubner and Angela Duckworth discuss classroom design, open offices, and cognitive drift.

In this special episode of People I (Mostly) Admire, Steve Levitt talks to the best-selling author of Sapiens and Homo Deus about finding the profound in the obvious.

Labor exploitation! Corporate profiteering! Government corruption! The 21st century can look a lot like the 18th. In the final episode of a series, we turn to “the father of economics” for solutions. (Part 3 of “In Search of the Real Adam Smith.”)

Economists and politicians have turned him into a mascot for free-market ideology. Some on the left say the right has badly misread him. Prepare for a very Smithy tug of war. (Part 2 of “In Search of the Real Adam Smith.”)

A sneak peek at an upcoming series — and a call for would-be radio reporters.

How did an affable 18th-century “moral philosopher” become the patron saint of cutthroat capitalism? Does “the invisible hand” mean what everyone thinks it does? We travel to Smith’s hometown in Scotland to uncover the man behind the myth. (Part 1 of a series.)

In this special episode of Freakonomics, M.D., host Bapu Jena looks at a clever new study that could help answer one of parenting’s most contentious questions.

No — but he does have a knack for stumbling into the perfect moment, including the recent FTX debacle. In this installment of the Freakonomics Radio Book Club, we revisit the book that launched the analytics revolution.

It used to feel like magic. Now it can feel like a set of cheap tricks. Is the problem with Google — or with us?

The banana, once a luxury good, rose to become America’s favorite fruit. Now a deadly fungus threatens to wipe it out. Can it be saved?

It’s fun to obsess over pop stars and racecar drivers — but is fandom making our politics even more toxic?  

The last two years have radically changed the way we work — producing winners, losers, and a lot of surprises.

It was supposed to boost prosperity and democracy at the same time. What really happened? According to the legal scholar Anthea Roberts, it depends which story you believe.

One Yale economist certainly thinks so. But even if he’s right, are economists any better?

New research finds that bosses who went to business school pay their workers less. So what are M.B.A. programs teaching — and should they stop? 

The pandemic provided city dwellers with a break from the din of the modern world. Now the noise is coming back. What does that mean for our productivity, health, and basic sanity?

Liberals endorse harm reduction when it comes to the opioid epidemic. Are they ready to take the same approach to climate change? 

The documentary filmmaker, known for The Civil War, Jazz, and Baseball, turns his attention to the Holocaust, and asks what we can learn from the evils of the past.

The pandemic moved a lot of religious activity onto the internet. With faith-based apps, Silicon Valley is turning virtual prayers into earthly rewards. Does this mean sharing user data? Dear God, let’s hope not …

As the Biden administration rushes to address climate change, Stephen Dubner looks at another, hidden cost of air pollution — one that’s affecting how we think.

The controversial Harvard economist, recently back from a suspension, “broke a lot of glass early in my career,” he says. His research on school incentives and police brutality won him acclaim — but also enemies. Now he’s taking a hard look at corporate diversity programs. The common thread in his work? “I refuse to not tell the truth.”

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. 

Breaking news! Sources say American journalism exploits our negativity bias to maximize profits, and social media algorithms add fuel to the fire. Stephen Dubner investigates.

According to a decades-long research project, the U.S. is not only the most individualistic country on earth; we’re also high on indulgence, short-term thinking, and masculinity (but low on “uncertainty avoidance,” if that makes you feel better). We look at how these traits affect our daily lives and why we couldn’t change them even if we wanted to. 

We often look to other countries for smart policies on education, healthcare, infrastructure, etc. But can a smart policy be simply transplanted into a country as culturally unusual (and as supremely WEIRD) as America?

It used to be at the center of our conversations about politics and society. Scott Hershovitz (author of Nasty, Brutish, and Short) argues that philosophy still has a lot to say about work, justice, and parenthood. Our latest installment of the Freakonomics Radio Book Club.

Sure, you were “in love.” But economists — using evidence from Bridgerton to Tinder — point to what’s called “assortative mating.” And it has some unpleasant consequences for society.

In one of the earliest Freakonomics Radio episodes, we asked a bunch of economists with young kids how they approached child-rearing. Now the kids are old enough to talk — and they have a lot to say. We hear about nature vs. nurture, capitalism vs. Marxism, and why you don’t tell your friends that your father is an economist.

Boosters say blockchain technology will usher in a brave new era of decentralization. Are they right — and would it be a dream or a nightmare? (Part 3 of "What Can Blockchain Do for You?")

Some of them are. With others, it’s more complicated (and more promising). We try to get past the Bored Apes and the ripoffs to see if we can find art on the blockchain. (Part 2 of "What Can Blockchain Do for You?")

No. But now is a good time to sort out the potential from the hype. Whether you’re bullish, bearish, or just confused, we’re here to explain what the blockchain can do for you. (Part 1 of a series.) 

Kevin Kelly calls himself “the most optimistic person in the world.” And he has a lot to say about parenting, travel, A.I., being luckier — and why we should spend way more time on YouTube.

In ancient Rome, it was bread and circuses. Today, it’s a World Cup, an Olympics, and a new Saudi-backed golf league that’s challenging the P.G.A. Tour. Can a sporting event really repair a country’s reputation — or will it trigger the dreaded Streisand Effect?

When the world went into lockdown, experts predicted a rise in intimate-partner assaults. What actually happened was more complicated.

In this new podcast from the Freakonomics Radio Network, dog-cognition expert and bestselling author Alexandra Horowitz (Inside of a Dog) takes us inside the scruffy, curious, joyful world of dogs. This is the first episode of Off Leash; you can find more episodes in your podcast app now. 

Educators and economists tell us all the reasons college enrollment has been dropping, especially for men, and how to stop the bleeding. (Part 4 of “Freakonomics Radio Goes Back to School.”)

As the Supreme Court considers overturning Roe v. Wade, we look back at Steve Levitt’s controversial research on an unintended consequence of the 1973 ruling.

Enrollment is down for the first time in memory, and critics complain college is too expensive, too elitist, and too politicized. The economist Chris Paxson — who happens to be the president of Brown University — does not agree. (Part 3 of “Freakonomics Radio Goes Back to School.”)

America’s top colleges are facing record demand. So why don’t they increase supply? (Part 2 of “Freakonomics Radio Goes Back to School.”)

We think of them as intellectual enclaves and the surest route to a better life. But U.S. colleges also operate like firms, trying to differentiate their products to win market share and prestige points. In the first episode of a special series, we ask what our chaotic system gets right — and wrong. (Part 1 of “Freakonomics Radio Goes Back to School.”)

The political scientist Yuen Yuen Ang argues that different forms of government create different styles of corruption. The U.S. and China have more in common than we’d like to admit — but Russia is a different story, which could explain its willingness to invade Ukraine. 

The British art superstar Flora Yukhnovich, the Freakonomist Steve Levitt, and the upstart American Basketball Association were all unafraid to follow their joy — despite sneers from the Establishment. Should we all be more willing to embrace the déclassé?

After a huge false start, electric cars are finally about to flourish. We speak with a technology historian about this all-too-common story, and what it means for innovation everywhere.

Every year, there are more than a million collisions in the U.S. between drivers and deer. The result: hundreds of deaths, thousands of injuries, and billions in damages. Enter the wolf …

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?

Organized labor hasn’t had this much public support in 50 years, and yet the percentage of Americans in a union is near a record low. A.F.L-C.I.O. president Liz Shuler tries to explain this gap — and persuade Stephen Dubner that “the folks who brought you the weekend” still have the leverage to fix a broken economy.

People who are good at their jobs routinely get promoted into bigger jobs they’re bad at. We explain why firms keep producing incompetent managers — and why that’s unlikely to change.

In a new book called The Voltage Effect, the economist John List — who has already revolutionized how his profession does research — is trying to start a scaling revolution. In this installment of the Freakonomics Radio Book Club, List teaches us how to avoid false positives, how to know whether a given success is due to the chef or the ingredients, and how to practice “optimal quitting.”  

Among O.E.C.D. nations, the U.S. has one of the highest rates of child poverty. Until recently, it looked as if Washington was about to change that. But then … Washington happened.