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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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219. Preventing Crime for Pennies on the Dollar
Conventional programs tend to be expensive, onerous, and ineffective. Could something as simple (and cheap) as cognitive behavioral therapy do the trick?
41:3310/09/2015
218. The Harvard President Will See You Now
How a pain-in-the-neck girl from rural Virginia came to run the most powerful university in the world.
38:5203/09/2015
217. Are You Ready for a Glorious Sunset?
We spend billions on end-of-life healthcare that doesn't do much good. So what if a patient could forego the standard treatment and get a cash rebate instead?
36:5527/08/2015
216. How to Make a Smart TV Ad
Step 1: Hire a Harvard psych professor as the pitchman. Step 2: Have him help write the script ...
30:3420/08/2015
The Dangers of Safety (Rebroadcast)
What do NASCAR drivers, Glenn Beck and the hit men of the NFL have in common?
30:5713/08/2015
215. Why Do We Really Follow the News?
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?
35:5106/08/2015
214. How to Create Suspense
Why is soccer the best sport? How has Harlan Coben sold 70 million books? And why does "Apollo 13" keep you enthralled even when you know the ending?
39:2130/07/2015
213. Aziz Ansari Needs Another Toothbrush
The comedian, actor -- and now, author -- answers our FREAK-quently Asked Questions
32:0223/07/2015
212. The Economics of Sleep, Part 2
People who sleep better earn more money. Now all we have to do is teach everyone to sleep better.
43:2816/07/2015
211. The Economics of Sleep, Part 1
Could a lack of sleep help explain why some people get much sicker than others?
45:0009/07/2015
A Better Way to Eat (Rebroadcast)
Takeru Kobayashi revolutionized the sport of competitive eating. What can the rest of us learn from his breakthrough?
28:0602/07/2015
210. Is It Okay for Restaurants to Racially Profile Their Employees?
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?
53:5625/06/2015
209. Make Me a Match
Sure, markets generally work well. 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.
50:2218/06/2015
208. Making Sex Offenders Pay -- and Pay and Pay and Pay
Sure, sex crimes are horrific, and the perpetrators deserve to be punished harshly. But society keeps exacting costs -- out-of-pocket and otherwise -- long after the prison sentence has been served.
35:2911/06/2015
207. Should We Really Behave Like Economists Say We Do?
One man's attempt to remake his life in the mold of homo economicus.
54:4704/06/2015
Tell Me Something I Don’t Know (Rebroadcast)
The debut of a live game show from Freakonomics Radio, with judges Malcolm Gladwell, Ana Gasteyer, and David Paterson.
01:02:5628/05/2015
Failure Is Your Friend (Rebroadcast)
In which we argue that failure should not only be tolerated but celebrated.
31:4821/05/2015
206. Ten Years of Freakonomics
Dubner and Levitt are live onstage at the 92nd Street Y in New York to celebrate their new book "When to Rob a Bank" -- and a decade of working together.
46:0214/05/2015
205. Could the Next Brooklyn Be ... Las Vegas?!
Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh has a wild vision and the dollars to try to make it real. But it still might be the biggest gamble in town.
55:1607/05/2015
Think Like a Child (Rebroadcast)
When it comes to generating ideas and asking questions it can be really fruitful to have the mentality of an eight year old.
29:4330/04/2015
204. Nate Silver Says: “Everyone Is Kind of Weird”
America's favorite statistical guru answers our FREAK-quently Asked Questions, and more.
39:0823/04/2015
203. Diamonds Are a Marriage Counselor’s Best Friend
It may seem like winning a valuable diamond is an unalloyed victory. It's not. It's not even clear that a diamond is so valuable.
40:2916/04/2015
202. How Many Doctors Does It Take to Start a Healthcare Revolution?
The practice of medicine has been subsumed by the business of medicine. This is great news for healthcare shareholders -- and bad news for pretty much everyone else.
53:5509/04/2015
201. How Do We Know What Really Works in Healthcare?
A lot of the conventional wisdom in medicine is nothing more than hunch or wishful thinking. A new breed of data detectives is hoping to change that.
41:5202/04/2015
The Perfect Crime (Rebroadcast)
If you are driving and kill a pedestrian, there's a good chance you'll barely be punished. Why?
29:3526/03/2015
What You Don’t Know About Online Dating (Rebroadcast)
Thick markets, thin markets, and the triumph of attributes over compatibility.
40:1119/03/2015
200. When Willpower Isn’t Enough
Sure, we all want to make good personal decisions, but it doesn't always work out. That's where "temptation bundling" comes in.
33:0312/03/2015
199. This Idea Must Die
Every year, Edge.org asks its salon of big thinkers to answer one big question. This year's question borders on heresy: what scientific idea is ready for retirement?
54:3305/03/2015
198. The Maddest Men of All
Advertisers have always been adept at manipulating our emotions. Now they're using behavioral economics to get even better.
32:5626/02/2015
197. Hacking the World Bank
Jim Yong Kim has an unorthodox background for a World Bank president — and his reign thus far is just as unorthodox.
36:0019/02/2015
196. Is There a Better Way to Fight Terrorism?
The White House is hosting an anti-terror summit next week. Summits being what they are, we try to offer some useful advice.
42:4812/02/2015
195. How Efficient Is Energy Efficiency?
It's a centerpiece of U.S. climate policy and a sacred cow among environmentalists. Does it work?
32:3505/02/2015
194. How Safe Is Your Job?
Economists preach the gospel of "creative destruction," whereby new industries -- and jobs -- replace the old ones. But has creative destruction become too destructive?
33:3829/01/2015
193. Someone Else’s Acid Trip
As Kevin Kelly tells it, the hippie revolution and the computer revolution are nearly one and the same.
29:1522/01/2015
192. That’s a Great Question!
Verbal tic or strategic rejoinder? Whatever the case: it’s rare to come across an interview these days where at least one question isn’t a “great” one.
25:2315/01/2015
191. Why Doesn’t Everyone Get the Flu Vaccine?
Influenza kills, but you’d never know it by how few of us get the vaccine.
36:1608/01/2015
What’s the “Best” Exercise? (Rebroadcast)
Most people blame lack of time for being out of shape. So maybe the solution is to exercise more efficiently.
15:2001/01/2015
What’s More Dangerous: Marijuana or Alcohol? (Rebroadcast)
Imagine that both substances were undiscovered until today. How would we think about their relative risks?
25:2225/12/2014
190. Time to Take Back the Toilet
Public bathrooms are noisy, poorly designed, and often nonexistent. What to do?
34:4518/12/2014
The Troubled Cremation of Stevie the Cat (Rebroadcast)
We spend billions on our pets, and one of the fastest-growing costs is pet "aftercare." But are those cremated remains you got back really from your pet?
44:3811/12/2014
189. How to Fix a Broken High Schooler, in Four Easy Steps
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.
29:1804/12/2014
188. Is America’s Education Problem Really Just a Teacher Problem?
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?
34:2427/11/2014
187. The Man Who Would Be Everything
Boris Johnson -- mayor of London, biographer of Churchill, cheese-box painter and tennis-racket collector -- answers our FREAK-quently Asked Questions.
27:4420/11/2014
186. Why Do People Keep Having Children?
Even a brutal natural disaster doesn’t diminish our appetite for procreating. This surely means we’re heading toward massive overpopulation, right? Probably not.
38:3313/11/2014
185. Should the U.S. Merge With Mexico?
Corporations around the world are consolidating like never before. If it’s good enough for companies, why not countries? Welcome to Amexico!
55:5906/11/2014
184. What Can Vampires Teach Us About Economics?
A lot! “The Economics of the Undead” is a book about dating strategy, job creation, and whether there should be a legal market for blood.
24:5130/10/2014
183. “Tell Me Something I Don’t Know”
The debut of a live game show from Freakonomics Radio, with judges Malcolm Gladwell, Ana Gasteyer, and David Paterson.
01:02:2823/10/2014
182. How Can Tiny Norway Afford to Buy So Many Teslas?
The Norwegian government parleys massive oil wealth into huge subsidies for electric cars. Is that carbon laundering or just pragmatic environmentalism?
36:1116/10/2014
How to Raise Money Without Killing a Kitten (Rebroadcast)
The science of what works -- and doesn't work -- in fund-raising
33:1509/10/2014
181. Fixing the World, Bang-for-the-Buck Edition
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.
41:5902/10/2014