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Freakonomics Radio Network's 2022 Staff Picks - Freakonomics
To celebrate a wonderful year of production on all of the shows in our network, we asked our staff to choose their favorite episode of the year. Lyric Bowditch, Production Associate“Why Do Doctors Have to Play Defense?” from Freakonomics, M.D.After the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, my feeds were flooded with content about it. This episode cut through the . . .
New Miracle Sleep Aid Discovered! - Freakonomics
From a podcast listener named Jessica Graham in Sydney, Australia: My name is Jess and for most of my adult life I have been afflicted by various forms of sleeplessness. Would I call it insomnia? I don’t know if it could be classified as clinical insomnia, but all I can say is up until a few months ago I did . . .
Introducing "Question of the Day," a New Dubner Podcast - Freakonomics
One of the best things about being a journalist is getting to ask questions. Stephen Dubner has been doing this for years, accumulating fascinating bits of knowledge, hidden insights, and wild stories. By now he knows at least a little bit about a lot of things.
Calling All Music-Industry Insiders and the Economists Who Love Them - Freakonomics
The Princeton economist Alan Krueger — he led the Council of Economic Advisers under Obama, and his research has been featured several times on Freakonomics.com — is among a group of scholars launching a new endeavor. It’s called the Music Industry Research Association, and they want you to come to their first conference, at UCLA, in August. Here’s their writeup: Starting with . . .
Happy Everything, From Freakonomics - Freakonomics
How can we at Freakonomics help you during the holidays? Here’s a few ideas: 1. We can provide inspiration for gifts for the “homo economicus” in your life. 2. When you’re making your year-end donations, we can help you consider the evidence for which programs work, and which don’t. 3. No matter how far away you roam, we can entertain . . .
Read an Early Excerpt from When to Rob a Bank - Freakonomics
In celebration of the 10th anniversary of Freakonomics comes this curated collection from the most readable economics blog in the universe. When Freakonomics was first published, its authors, Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner, started a blog — and they’ve kept it up. The writing is more casual, more personal, even more outlandish than in their books. In When to Rob a Bank, they ask a host of typically off-center questions: Why don’t flight attendants get tipped? If you were a terrorist, how would you attack? And why does KFC always run out of fried chicken?
Great Companies Needed - Freakonomics
My good friend and colleague John List has very ambitious summer plans. We’ve both believed for a long time that the combination of creative economic thinking and randomized experiments has the potential to revolutionize business and the non-profit sector. John and I have worked to foment that revolution through both academic partnerships with firms as well as a project of John's called the Science of Philanthropy Initiative (SPI), whose mission is "evidence-based research on charitable giving."
A Would-Be Freakonomist in Kyrgyzstan Needs Your Help - Freakonomics
From a reader named John Keaney: I just finished your book Think Like a Freak, and I’m trying to use the lessons in the book while I’m in Kyrgyzstan. I’m an undergraduate at University of South Carolina, and I’ve decided to pursue my very first, independent research project while I’m living in Kyrgyzstan on the effects of Kyrgyz accession to . . .
Lend Your Voice to Freakonomics Radio - Freakonomics
We're working on an episode about behavior change -- essentially, how to get yourself to do the things you should be doing but often don't. It revolves around the fascinating research of Katy Milkman at Penn. For example, she and her colleagues have noted a "Fresh Start Effect":
Congratulations to Nobel Laureate Richard Thaler! - Freakonomics
It should surprise no one, and delight everyone, that Richard Thaler has won this year’s Nobel in economics. Congratulations! Thaler is a big reason I personally got interested in economics. (I’ve known him quite a bit longer than I’ve known Steve Levitt.) He is everything to be admired in a scholar and thinker: original, judicious, crafty, and more than a . . .
Any Strategic Reading Tips for a Survivor Applicant? - Freakonomics
From a computer scientist (and self-professed “data nerd”) named Scott Griggs: Hi! Long time reader/listener here, looking for some quick reading list recommendations… I have submitted another application to be on CBS’s Survivor, the reality show of outwit, outplay, outlast fame. The game is physical as well as mental and includes a large social aspect concerning relationships, building trust, evaluating . . .
Religiosity: Good for Society, Bad for Innovation? - Freakonomics
In a new working paper, Roland Benabou, Davide Ticchi, and Andrea Vindigni follow up their earlier paper which found "a robust negative association between religiosity and patents per capita." Their new paper, "Religion and Innovation" (abstract; PDF), they look at religiosity on the individual level, "examining the relationship between religiosity and a broad set of pro- or anti-innovation attitudes."
What Happens When Poor Pregnant Women Are Given Medicaid Coverage? - Freakonomics
We’ll be putting out a new Freakonomics Radio episode later this week on the use of RCTs (randomized controlled trials) in healthcare delivery. It features the work of the MIT economist Amy Finkelstein and her colleagues at J-PAL, and it includes their analysis of what happened when Oregon expanded its Medicaid coverage. If you want to get a head start . . .
Announcing the Debut of Tell Me Something I Don't Know - Freakonomics
A while back, we tried out a new idea on a special edition of Freakonomics Radio — a game show we called Tell Me Something I Don’t Know. You might remember it. It was so much fun that we decided to launch a whole new podcast series. It’s been in the works for a while and it’s finally here! A preview . . .
Do We Owe This Boyfriend an Apology? - Freakonomics
We recently received the following e-mail from Yu Chen, a 29-year-old engineer supervisor in California who moved to the U.S. from China when she was 16. I listened to the episode on diamonds and asked my boyfriend for a gold bar for engagement instead. Then I heard the episode on quitting, so I broke up with him. I’ve been very . . .
Calling All (Potential) Peak Performers! - Freakonomics
In our recent Freakonomics Radio episode “How to Become Great at Just About Anything," we spoke with K. Anders Ericsson, a research psychologist who has spent more than 30 years studying expert performers in many fields — music, sports, chess, surgery, teaching, writing, and more. Ericsson's recent book is called Peak: Secrets from the New Science of Expertise. It has inspired us to try launching a Freakonomics spinoff podcast, called (for now) Peak.
Win Free Tickets to See Dubner on Stage in Brooklyn on January 14 - Freakonomics
When Stephen Dubner’s new podcast Question of the Day launched in August, it immediately shot to No. 1 on the iTunes chart. Last month it was selected as one of iTunes "Best of 2015." (You can subscribe here.) Now you can come see a live taping of the show on Thursday, January 14, at The Bell House in Brooklyn. Join Dubner, his Question of the Day co-host, James Altucher, and their special guest Negin Farsad for an evening of conversation that will run from the ridiculous to the sublime (and occasionally both).
Some Other Explanations for Why Public Bathrooms Are the Way They Are - Freakonomics
From a podcast listener named Katie McGreer, some really interesting comment on our recent episode “Time to Take Back the Toilet“: I am an avid listener of the Freakonomics podcast and I just wanted to respond to the recent episode on noise in public washrooms (or the lack of buffers). I was having a discussion about the history of cottaging . . .