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Society & Culture
Freakonomics Radio + Stitcher
Freakonomics co-author Stephen J. Dubner uncovers the hidden side of everything. Why is it safer to fly in an airplane than drive a car? How do we decide whom to marry? Why is the media so full of bad news? Also: things you never knew you wanted to know about wolves, bananas, pollution, search engines, and the quirks of human behavior.
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256. What Are You Waiting For?
Standing in line represents a particularly sloppy - and frustrating - way for supply and demand to meet. Why haven't we found a better way to get what we want? Is it possible that we secretly enjoy waiting in line? And might it even be (gulp) good for us?
34:5611/08/2016
Is It Okay for Restaurants to Racially Profile Their Employees? (Rebroadcast)
We seem to have decided that ethnic food tastes better when it's served by people of that ethnicity (or at least something close). Does this make sense -- and is it legal?
51:5904/08/2016
255. Ten Ideas to Make Politics Less Rotten
We Americans may love our democracy -- at least in theory -- but at the moment our feelings toward the federal government lie somewhere between disdain and hatred. Which electoral and political ideas should be killed off to make way for a saner system?
43:0328/07/2016
254. What Are Gender Barriers Made Of?
Overt discrimination in the labor markets may be on the wane, but women are still subtly penalized by all sorts of societal conventions. How can those penalties be removed without burning down the house?
36:3221/07/2016
253. Is the Internet Being Ruined?
It's a remarkable ecosystem that allows each of us to exercise control over our lives. But how much control do we truly have? How many of our decisions are really being made by Google and Facebook and Apple? And, perhaps most importantly: is the Internet's true potential being squandered?
47:5814/07/2016
252. Confessions of a Pothole Politician
Eric Garcetti, the mayor of Los Angeles, has big ambitions but knows he must first master the small stuff. He's also a polymath who relies heavily on data and new technologies. Could this be what modern politics is supposed to look like?
43:4807/07/2016
The Suicide Paradox (Rebroadcast )
There are more than twice as many suicides as murders in the U.S., but suicide attracts far less scrutiny. Freakonomics Radio digs through the numbers and finds all kinds of surprises.
57:2630/06/2016
How Much Does the President Really Matter? (Rebroadcast)
The U.S. president is often called the "leader of free world." But if you ask an economist or a Constitutional scholar how much the occupant of the Oval Office matters, they won't say much. We look at what the data have to say about measuring leadership, and its impact on the economy and the country.
33:2823/06/2016
Why Do We Really Follow the News? (Rebroadcast)
There are all kinds of civics-class answers to that question. But how true are they? Could it be that we like to read about war, politics, and miscellaneous heartbreak simply because it's (gasp) entertaining?
35:4916/06/2016
Time to Take Back the Toilet
Public bathrooms are noisy, poorly designed, and often nonexistent. What to do?
31:4809/06/2016
251. Are We in a Mattress-Store Bubble?
You've seen them — everywhere! — and often clustered together, as if central planners across America decided that what every city really needs is a Mattress District. There are now dozens of online rivals too. Why are there so many stores selling something we buy so rarely?
36:4509/06/2016
250. Why Does Everyone Hate Flying? And Other Questions Only a Pilot Can Answer
Patrick Smith, the author of Cockpit Confidential, answers every question we can throw at him about what really happens up in the air. Just don't get him started on pilotless planes -- or whether the autopilot is actually doing the flying.
43:4502/06/2016
249. The Longest Long Shot
When the uncelebrated Leicester City Football Club won the English Premier League, it wasn't just the biggest underdog story in recent history. It was a sign of changing economics — and that other impossible, wonderful events might be lurking just around the corner.
43:0326/05/2016
248. How to Be Tim Ferriss
Our Self-Improvement Month concludes with a man whose entire life and career are one big pile of self-improvement. Nutrition? Check. Bizarre physical activities? Check. Working less and earning more? Check. Tim Ferriss, creator of the Four-Hour universe, may at first glance look like a charlatan, but it seems more likely that he's a wizard -- and the kind of self-improvement ally we all want on our side.
41:3119/05/2016
247. How to Win Games and Beat People
Games are as old as civilization itself, and some people think they have huge social value regardless of whether you win or lose. Tom Whipple is not one of those people. That's why he consulted an army of preposterously overqualified experts to find the secret to winning any game.
52:3112/05/2016
246. How to Get More Grit in Your Life
The psychologist Angela Duckworth argues that a person's level of stick-to-itiveness is directly related to their level of success. No big surprise there. But grit, she says, isn't something you're born with -- it can be learned. Here's how.
44:2905/05/2016
245. Being Malcolm Gladwell
"Books are a pain in the ass," says Gladwell, who has written some of the most popular, influential, and beloved non-fiction books in recent history. In this wide-ranging and candid conversation, he describes other pains in the ass -- as well as his passions, his limits, and why he'll never take up golf.
28:2002/05/2016
244. How to Become Great at Just About Anything
What if the thing we call "talent" is grotesquely overrated? And what if deliberate practice is the secret to excellence? Those are the claims of the research psychologist Anders Ericsson, who has been studying the science of expertise for decades. He tells us everything he's learned.
48:0428/04/2016
243. How to Be More Productive
It's Self-Improvement Month at Freakonomics Radio. We begin with a topic that seems to be on everyone's mind: how to get more done in less time. First, however, a warning: there's a big difference between being busy and being productive.
38:3721/04/2016
242. Is the World Ready for a Guaranteed Basic Income?
A lot of full-time jobs in the modern economy simply don't pay a living wage. And even those jobs may be obliterated by new technologies. What's to be done so that financially vulnerable people aren't just crushed? It may finally be time for an idea that economists have promoted for decades.
36:4214/04/2016
241. Are Payday Loans Really as Evil as People Say?
Critics -- including President Obama -- say short-term, high-interest loans are predatory, trapping borrowers in a cycle of debt. But some economists see them as a useful financial instrument for people who need them. As the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau promotes new regulation, we ask: who's right?
49:4007/04/2016
The Economics of Sleep, Part 2 (Rebroadcast)
People who sleep better earn more money. Now all we have to do is teach everyone to sleep better.
42:5031/03/2016
The Economics of Sleep, Part 1 (Rebroadcast)
Could a lack of sleep help explain why some people get much sicker than others?
45:4124/03/2016
240. Yes, the American Economy Is in a Funk -- But Not for the Reasons You Think
As sexy as the digital revolution may be, it can't compare to the Second Industrial Revolution (electricity! the gas engine! antibiotics!), which created the biggest standard-of-living boost in U.S. history. The only problem, argues the economist Robert Gordon, is that the Second Industrial Revolution was a one-time event. So what happens next?
33:3217/03/2016
239. The No-Tipping Point
The restaurant business model is warped: kitchen wages are too low to hire cooks, while diners are put in charge of paying the waitstaff. So what happens if you eliminate tipping, raise menu prices, and redistribute the wealth? New York restaurant maverick Danny Meyer is about to find out.
43:1811/03/2016
238. The United States of Cory Booker
The junior U.S. Senator from New Jersey thinks bipartisanship is right around the corner. Is he just an idealistic newbie or does he see a way forward that everyone else has missed?
39:2103/03/2016
237. Ask Not What Your Podcast Can Do for You
Now and again, Freakonomics Radio puts hat in hand and asks listeners to donate to the public-radio station that produces the show. Why on earth should anyone pay good money for something that can be had for free? Here are a few reasons.
41:4325/02/2016
236. How Can This Possibly Be True?
A famous economics essay features a pencil (yes, a pencil) arguing that “not a single person on the face of this earth knows how to make me.” Is the pencil just bragging? In any case, what can the pencil teach us about our global interdependence — and the proper role of government in the economy?
40:5218/02/2016
235. Who Needs Handwriting?
The digital age is making pen and paper seem obsolete. But what are we giving up if we give up on handwriting?
39:3611/02/2016
How to Fix a Broken High Schooler, in Four Easy Steps (Rebroadcast)
Okay, maybe the steps aren't so easy. But a program run out of a Toronto housing project has had great success in turning around kids who were headed for trouble.
29:1504/02/2016
Is America’s Education Problem Really Just a Teacher Problem? (Rebroadcast)
If U.S. schoolteachers are indeed "just a little bit below average," it's not really their fault. So what should be done about it?
36:3928/01/2016
234. Do Boycotts Work?
The Montgomery Bus Boycott, the South African divestment campaign, Chick-fil-A! Almost anyone can launch a boycott, and the media loves to cover them. But do boycotts actually produce the change they're fighting for?
37:2621/01/2016
233. How to Be Less Terrible at Predicting the Future
Experts and pundits are notoriously bad at forecasting, in part because they aren't punished for bad predictions. Also, they tend to be deeply unscientific. The psychologist Philip Tetlock is finally turning prediction into a science -- and now even you could become a superforecaster.
46:5614/01/2016
232. The True Story of the Gender Pay Gap
Discrimination can't explain why women earn so much less than men. If only it were that easy.
43:2707/01/2016
When Willpower Isn’t Enough (Rebroadcast)
Sure, we all want to make good personal decisions, but it doesn't always work out. That's where "temptation bundling" comes in.
31:0231/12/2015
Fixing the World, Bang-for-the-Buck Edition (Rebroadcast)
A team of economists has been running the numbers on the U.N.'s development goals. They have a different view of how those billions of dollars should be spent.
41:5924/12/2015
231. Is Migration a Basic Human Right?
The argument for open borders is compelling -- and deeply problematic.
01:00:5817/12/2015
230. The Cheeseburger Diet
One woman's quest to find the best burger in town can teach all of us to eat smarter.
32:0710/12/2015
229. Ben Bernanke Gives Himself a Grade
He was handed the keys to the global economy just as it started heading off a cliff. Fortunately, he'd seen this movie before.
47:0503/12/2015
Why Do People Keep Having Children? (Rebroadcast)
Even a brutal natural disaster doesn't diminish our appetite for procreating. This surely means we're heading toward massive overpopulation, right? Probably not.
40:0326/11/2015
228. Does “Early Education” Come Way Too Late?
In our collective zeal to reform schools and close the achievement gap, we may have lost sight of where most learning really happens -- at home.
45:5619/11/2015
227. Should Everyone Be in a Rock Band?
Lessons from Tom Petty's rise and another rocker's fall.
45:3112/11/2015
226. Food + Science = Victory!
A kitchen wizard and a nutrition detective talk about the perfect hamburger, getting the most out of garlic, and why you should use vodka in just about everything.
38:2305/11/2015
225. Am I Boring You?
Researchers are trying to figure out who gets bored - and why - and what it means for ourselves and the economy. But maybe there's an upside to boredom?
39:3229/10/2015
How to Save $1 Billion Without Even Trying (Rebroadcast)
Doctors, chefs, and other experts are much more likely than the rest of us to buy store-brand products. What do they know that we don't?
36:2722/10/2015
224. How To Win A Nobel Prize
The process is famously secretive (and conducted in Swedish!) but we pry the lid off at least a little bit.
45:2715/10/2015
223. Should Kids Pay Back Their Parents for Raising Them?
When one athlete turned pro, his mom asked him for $1 million. Our modern sensibilities tell us she doesn't have a case. But should she?
47:2208/10/2015
222. Meet the Woman Who Said Women Can’t Have It All
Anne-Marie Slaughter was best known for her adamant views on Syria when she accidentally became a poster girl for modern feminism. As it turns out, she can be pretty adamant in that realm as well.
42:1001/10/2015
221. How Did the Belt Win?
Suspenders may work better, but the dork factor is too high. How did an organ-squeezing belly tourniquet become part of our everyday wardrobe -- and what other suboptimal solutions do we routinely put up with?
30:5624/09/2015
220. “I Don't Know What You've Done With My Husband, But He's a Changed Man.”
From domestic abusers to former child soldiers, there is increasing evidence that behavioral therapy can turn them around.
46:5317/09/2015