Steve Levitt

I learned it from you to invest an enormous amount of time in preparation for these interviews.

So,

If somebody had written books, I'd tried to read every one of their books.

And I tried to read their academic articles and figure out whatever I could about their personal life.

It was a real tax on my time.

And doing it every week, it felt like a pressure cooker.

But every other week was perfect because it was just enough to make me feel like I always had a little pressure on me, but not so much that I had to be grumpy and mean to everyone else in my life to get it done.

My dilemma is that I have so many amazing possibilities out there for things to do that I never get done a third or a tenth of the things that I could do.

I started this one school called the Levitt Lab, and I fought so hard not to have it called Levitt.

I win many battles, but that one I did not win.

And the first one is located in the middle of the Arizona State campus in Tempe, Arizona.

And we're going to start two more in the fall of 2026.

One outside Boston and one in LA.

And

I have found that to be a uniquely rewarding experience.

I can't even explain why, because, you know, I'm not a people person in any way, shape or form.

But there's something about the students, about the learners when I'm on the campus and how engaged they are.

these learners are with it.

I'm not sure why that touches me so deeply, but it really, it feels almost like when my grandchildren come, this is the thing I'll talk to them about.

Obviously Freakonomics has been awesome and it's had a big impact, but it feels to me like if I could actually