309. Nurses to the Rescue!
16 Nov 2017
Contributed by Lukas
They are the most-trusted profession in America (and with good reason). They are critical to patient...
308. How Can I Do the Most Social Good With $100? And Other FREAK-quently Asked Questions
09 Nov 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Dubner and his Freakonomics co-author Steve Levitt answer your questions about crime, traffic, real-...
Why Is There So Much Ground Beef in the World? (Special Feature)
07 Nov 2017
Contributed by Lukas
In this live episode of "Tell Me Something I Don't Know," you'll learn about carcass balan...
307. Thinking Is Expensive. Who’s Supposed to Pay for It?
02 Nov 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Corporations and rich people donate billions to their favorite think tanks and foundations. Should w...
306. How to Launch a Behavior-Change Revolution
26 Oct 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Academic studies are nice, and so are Nobel Prizes. But to truly prove the value of a new idea, you ...
305. The Demonization of Gluten
19 Oct 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Celiac disease is thought to affect roughly one percent of the population. The good news: it can be ...
304. What Are the Secrets of the German Economy — and Should We Steal Them?
12 Oct 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Smart government policies, good industrial relations, and high-end products have helped German manuf...
“Tell Me Something I Don't Know” on the topic of Behavior Change (Special Feature)
01 Oct 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Stephen J. Dubner hosts an episode full of the world's most renowned behavior change experts, includ...
303. Why Larry Summers Is the Economist Everyone Hates to Love
28 Sep 2017
Contributed by Lukas
He's been U.S. Treasury Secretary, a chief economist for the Obama White House and the World Bank, a...
302. Why Learn Esperanto?
26 Sep 2017
Contributed by Lukas
A language invented in the 19th century, and meant to be universal, it never really caught on. So wh...
301. What Would Be the Best Universal Language? (Earth 2.0 Series)
21 Sep 2017
Contributed by Lukas
We explore votes for English, Indonesian, and … Esperanto! The search for a common language goes b...
300. Why Don’t We All Speak the Same Language? (Earth 2.0 Series)
14 Sep 2017
Contributed by Lukas
There are 7,000 languages spoken on Earth. What are the costs — and benefits — of our modern-day...
299. "How Much Brain Damage Do I Have?"
07 Sep 2017
Contributed by Lukas
John Urschel was the only player in the N.F.L. simultaneously getting a math Ph.D. at M.I.T. But aft...
Bad Medicine, Part 3: Death by Diagnosis (Rebroadcast)
31 Aug 2017
Contributed by Lukas
By some estimates, medical error is the third-leading cause of death in the U.S. How can that be? An...
Bad Medicine, Part 2: (Drug) Trials and Tribulations (Rebroadcast)
24 Aug 2017
Contributed by Lukas
How do so many ineffective and even dangerous drugs make it to market? One reason is that clinical t...
Bad Medicine, Part 1: The Story of 98.6 (Rebroadcast)
17 Aug 2017
Contributed by Lukas
We tend to think of medicine as a science, but for most of human history it has been scientific-ish ...
What Are You Waiting For? (Rebroadcast)
10 Aug 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Standing in line represents a particularly sloppy — and frustrating — way for supply and demand ...
298. Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Money (But Were Afraid to Ask)
03 Aug 2017
Contributed by Lukas
The bad news: roughly 70 percent of Americans are financially illiterate. The good news: all the imp...
297. The Stupidest Thing You Can Do With Your Money
27 Jul 2017
Contributed by Lukas
It's hard enough to save for a house, tuition, or retirement. So why are we willing to pay big fees ...
296. These Shoes Are Killing Me!
20 Jul 2017
Contributed by Lukas
The human foot is an evolutionary masterpiece, far more functional than we give it credit for. So wh...
295. When Helping Hurts
13 Jul 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Good intentions are nice, but with so many resources poured into social programs, wouldn't it be eve...
294. The Fracking Boom, a Baby Boom, and the Retreat From Marriage
06 Jul 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Over 40 percent of U.S. births are to unmarried mothers, and the numbers are especially high among t...
The Harvard President Will See You Now (Rebroadcast)
29 Jun 2017
Contributed by Lukas
How a pain-in-the-neck girl from rural Virginia came to run the most powerful university in the worl...
293. Why Hate the Koch Brothers? (Part 2)
23 Jun 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Charles Koch, the mega-billionaire CEO of Koch Industries and half of the infamous political machine...
292. Why Hate the Koch Brothers? (Part 1)
22 Jun 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Charles Koch, the mega-billionaire CEO of Koch Industries and half of the infamous political machine...
"Tell Me Something I Don't Know" on the topic of Rivalry
20 Jun 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Steve Levitt, Scott Turow and Bridget Gainer are panelists. For the "Freakonomics" co-auth...
291. Evolution, Accelerated
15 Jun 2017
Contributed by Lukas
A breakthrough in genetic technology has given humans more power than ever to change nature. It coul...
290. He’s One of the Most Famous Political Operatives in America. America Just Doesn’t Know It Yet.
08 Jun 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Steve Hilton was the man behind David Cameron's push to remake British politics. Things didn't work ...
289. How Stupid Is Our Obsession With Lawns?
01 Jun 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Nearly two percent of America is grassy green. Sure, lawns are beautiful and useful and they smell g...
288. Are the Rich Really Less Generous Than the Poor?
25 May 2017
Contributed by Lukas
A series of academic studies suggest that the wealthy are, to put it bluntly, selfish jerks. It's an...
287. Hoopers! Hoopers! Hoopers!
18 May 2017
Contributed by Lukas
As CEO of Microsoft, Steve Ballmer was famous for over-the-top enthusiasm. Now he's brought that sam...
286. How Big is My Penis? (And Other Things We Ask Google)
11 May 2017
Contributed by Lukas
On the Internet, people say all kinds of things they'd never say aloud -- about sex and race, about ...
Food + Science = Victory! (Rebroadcast)
04 May 2017
Contributed by Lukas
A kitchen wizard and a nutrition detective talk about the perfect hamburger, getting the most out of...
285. There’s a War on Sugar. Is It Justified?
27 Apr 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Some people argue that sugar should be regulated, like alcohol and tobacco, on the grounds that it's...
284. Is Income Inequality Inevitable? (Earth 2.0 Series)
20 Apr 2017
Contributed by Lukas
In pursuit of a more perfect economy, we discuss the future of work; the toxic remnants of colonizat...
283. What Would Our Economy Look Like? (Earth 2.0 Series)
13 Apr 2017
Contributed by Lukas
If we could reboot the planet and create new systems and institutions from scratch, would they be an...
282. Could Solving This One Problem Solve All the Others?
06 Apr 2017
Contributed by Lukas
The biggest problem with humanity is humans themselves. Too often, we make choices — what we eat, ...
281. Big Returns from Thinking Small
30 Mar 2017
Contributed by Lukas
By day, two leaders of Britain's famous Nudge Unit use behavioral tricks to make better government p...
280. “Tell Me Something I Don’t Know” on the topic of Collections.
28 Mar 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Hear live journalism wrapped in a game show package and hosted by Stephen J. Dubner. In this episode...
How Safe Is Your Job? (Rebroadcast)
23 Mar 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Economists preach the gospel of "creative destruction," whereby new industries -- and jobs...
279. Why Is My Life So Hard?
16 Mar 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Most of us feel we face more headwinds and obstacles than everyone else — which breeds resentment....
278. Chuck E. Cheese’s: Where a Kid Can Learn Price Theory
09 Mar 2017
Contributed by Lukas
The pizza-and-gaming emporium prides itself on affordability, which means its arcade games are reall...
277. The Taboo Trifecta
02 Mar 2017
Contributed by Lukas
The serial entrepreneur Miki Agrawal loves to talk about the bodily functions that make most people ...
276. No Hollywood Ending for the Visual-Effects Industry
23 Feb 2017
Contributed by Lukas
In their chase for a global audience, American movie studios spend billions to make their films look...
275. Professor Hendryx vs. Big Coal
16 Feb 2017
Contributed by Lukas
What happens when a public-health researcher deep in coal country argues that mountaintop mining end...
How to Get More Grit in Your Life
09 Feb 2017
Contributed by Lukas
The psychologist Angela Duckworth argues that a person's level of stick-to-itiveness is directly rel...
274. An Egghead’s Guide to the Super Bowl
02 Feb 2017
Contributed by Lukas
We assembled a panel of smart dudes -- a two-time Super Bowl champ; a couple of NFL linemen, includi...
273. Did China Eat America’s Jobs?
26 Jan 2017
Contributed by Lukas
For years, economists promised that global free trade would be mostly win-win. Now they admit the pa...
Is the American Dream Really Dead?
19 Jan 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Just a few decades ago, more than 90 percent of 30-year-olds earned more than their parents had earn...
272. Trevor Noah Has a Lot to Say
12 Jan 2017
Contributed by Lukas
The Daily Show host grew up as a poor, mixed-race South African kid going to three churches every Su...
271. The Men Who Started a Thinking Revolution
05 Jan 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Starting in the late 1960s, the Israeli psychologists Amos Tversky and Danny Kahneman began to redef...
How to Become Great at Just About Anything (Rebroadcast)
29 Dec 2016
Contributed by Lukas
What if the thing we call "talent" is grotesquely overrated? And what if deliberate practi...
How to Be More Productive (Rebroadcast)
22 Dec 2016
Contributed by Lukas
In this busy time of year, we could all use some tips on how to get more done in less time. First, h...
270. Bad Medicine, Part 3: Death by Diagnosis
15 Dec 2016
Contributed by Lukas
By some estimates, medical error is the third-leading cause of death in the U.S. How can that be? An...
269. Bad Medicine, Part 2: (Drug) Trials and Tribulations
08 Dec 2016
Contributed by Lukas
How do so many ineffective and even dangerous drugs make it to market? One reason is that clinical t...
268. Bad Medicine, Part 1: The Story of 98.6
01 Dec 2016
Contributed by Lukas
We tend to think of medicine as a science, but for most of human history it has been scientific-ish ...
The No-Tipping Point (Rebroadcast)
24 Nov 2016
Contributed by Lukas
The restaurant business model is warped: kitchen wages are too low to hire cooks, while diners are p...
267. How to Make a Bad Decision
17 Nov 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Some of our most important decisions are shaped by something as random as the order in which we make...
Introducing Stephen J. Dubner's new podcast, "Tell Me Something I Don't Know"
15 Nov 2016
Contributed by Lukas
"Tell Me Something I Don't Know" is a live game show hosted by Stephen J. Dubner of "...
266. Trust Me
10 Nov 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Societies where people trust one another are healthier and wealthier. In the U.S. (and the U.K. and ...
How Much Does the President Really Matter? (Rebroadcast )
09 Nov 2016
Contributed by Lukas
The U.S. president is often called the "leader of free world." But if you ask an economist...
265. The White House Gets Into the Nudge Business
03 Nov 2016
Contributed by Lukas
A tiny behavioral-sciences startup is trying to improve the way federal agencies do their work. Cons...
264. In Praise of Incrementalism
27 Oct 2016
Contributed by Lukas
What do Renaissance painting, civil-rights movements, and Olympic cycling have in common? In each ca...
263. In Praise of Maintenance
20 Oct 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Has our culture's obsession with innovation led us to neglect the fact that things also need to be t...
262. This Is Your Brain on Podcasts
13 Oct 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Neuroscientists still have a great deal to learn about the human brain. One recent MRI study sheds s...
How To Win A Nobel Prize (Rebroadcast)
06 Oct 2016
Contributed by Lukas
The process is famously secretive (and conducted in Swedish!) but we pry the lid off at least a litt...
261. Why Are We Still Using Cash?
29 Sep 2016
Contributed by Lukas
It facilitates crime, bribery, and tax evasion -- and yet some governments (including ours) are prin...
260. Has the U.S. Presidency Become a Dictatorship?
22 Sep 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Sure, we all pay lip service to the Madisonian system of checks and balances. But as one legal schol...
259. Ten Signs You Might Be a Libertarian
15 Sep 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Gary Johnson, the Libertarian Party's presidential candidate, likes to say that most Americans are l...
258. Why Uber Is an Economist’s Dream
08 Sep 2016
Contributed by Lukas
To you, it's just a ride-sharing app that gets you where you're going. But to an economist, Uber is ...
257. The Future (Probably) Isn’t as Scary as You Think
01 Sep 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Internet pioneer Kevin Kelly tries to predict the future by identifying what's truly inevitable. How...
Are You Ready for a Glorious Sunset? (Rebroadcast)
25 Aug 2016
Contributed by Lukas
The gist: we spend billions on end-of-life healthcare that doesn’t do much good. So what if a pati...
Aziz Ansari Needs Another Toothbrush (Rebroadcast)
18 Aug 2016
Contributed by Lukas
The comedian, actor -- and now, author -- answers our FREAK-quently Asked Questions.
256. What Are You Waiting For?
11 Aug 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Standing in line represents a particularly sloppy - and frustrating - way for supply and demand to m...
Is It Okay for Restaurants to Racially Profile Their Employees? (Rebroadcast)
04 Aug 2016
Contributed by Lukas
We seem to have decided that ethnic food tastes better when it's served by people of that ethnicity ...
255. Ten Ideas to Make Politics Less Rotten
28 Jul 2016
Contributed by Lukas
We Americans may love our democracy -- at least in theory -- but at the moment our feelings toward t...
254. What Are Gender Barriers Made Of?
21 Jul 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Overt discrimination in the labor markets may be on the wane, but women are still subtly penalized b...
253. Is the Internet Being Ruined?
14 Jul 2016
Contributed by Lukas
It's a remarkable ecosystem that allows each of us to exercise control over our lives. But how much ...
252. Confessions of a Pothole Politician
07 Jul 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Eric Garcetti, the mayor of Los Angeles, has big ambitions but knows he must first master the small ...
The Suicide Paradox (Rebroadcast )
30 Jun 2016
Contributed by Lukas
There are more than twice as many suicides as murders in the U.S., but suicide attracts far less scr...
How Much Does the President Really Matter? (Rebroadcast)
23 Jun 2016
Contributed by Lukas
The U.S. president is often called the "leader of free world." But if you ask an economist...
Why Do We Really Follow the News? (Rebroadcast)
16 Jun 2016
Contributed by Lukas
There are all kinds of civics-class answers to that question. But how true are they? Could it be tha...
Time to Take Back the Toilet
09 Jun 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Public bathrooms are noisy, poorly designed, and often nonexistent. What to do?
251. Are We in a Mattress-Store Bubble?
09 Jun 2016
Contributed by Lukas
You've seen them — everywhere! — and often clustered together, as if central planners across Ame...
250. Why Does Everyone Hate Flying? And Other Questions Only a Pilot Can Answer
02 Jun 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Patrick Smith, the author of Cockpit Confidential, answers every question we can throw at him about ...
249. The Longest Long Shot
26 May 2016
Contributed by Lukas
When the uncelebrated Leicester City Football Club won the English Premier League, it wasn't just th...
248. How to Be Tim Ferriss
19 May 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Our Self-Improvement Month concludes with a man whose entire life and career are one big pile of sel...
247. How to Win Games and Beat People
12 May 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Games are as old as civilization itself, and some people think they have huge social value regardles...
246. How to Get More Grit in Your Life
05 May 2016
Contributed by Lukas
The psychologist Angela Duckworth argues that a person's level of stick-to-itiveness is directly rel...
245. Being Malcolm Gladwell
02 May 2016
Contributed by Lukas
"Books are a pain in the ass," says Gladwell, who has written some of the most popular, in...
244. How to Become Great at Just About Anything
28 Apr 2016
Contributed by Lukas
What if the thing we call "talent" is grotesquely overrated? And what if deliberate practice is the ...
243. How to Be More Productive
21 Apr 2016
Contributed by Lukas
It's Self-Improvement Month at Freakonomics Radio. We begin with a topic that seems to be on everyon...
242. Is the World Ready for a Guaranteed Basic Income?
14 Apr 2016
Contributed by Lukas
A lot of full-time jobs in the modern economy simply don't pay a living wage. And even those jobs ma...
241. Are Payday Loans Really as Evil as People Say?
07 Apr 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Critics -- including President Obama -- say short-term, high-interest loans are predatory, trapping ...
The Economics of Sleep, Part 2 (Rebroadcast)
31 Mar 2016
Contributed by Lukas
People who sleep better earn more money. Now all we have to do is teach everyone to sleep better.
The Economics of Sleep, Part 1 (Rebroadcast)
24 Mar 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Could a lack of sleep help explain why some people get much sicker than others?
240. Yes, the American Economy Is in a Funk -- But Not for the Reasons You Think
17 Mar 2016
Contributed by Lukas
As sexy as the digital revolution may be, it can't compare to the Second Industrial Revolution (elec...
239. The No-Tipping Point
11 Mar 2016
Contributed by Lukas
The restaurant business model is warped: kitchen wages are too low to hire cooks, while diners are p...
238. The United States of Cory Booker
03 Mar 2016
Contributed by Lukas
The junior U.S. Senator from New Jersey thinks bipartisanship is right around the corner. Is he just...
237. Ask Not What Your Podcast Can Do for You
25 Feb 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Now and again, Freakonomics Radio puts hat in hand and asks listeners to donate to the public-radio ...