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. To get every show in our network without ads and a monthly bonus episode of Freakonomics Radio, sign up for SiriusXM Podcasts+ on Apple Podcasts at http://apple.co/SiriusXM.
829 episodes transcribedIf any other product failed 94 percent of the time, you’d probably stop using it. So why do we put up with burglar alarms?
How much does the President of the United States really matter? And: where did all the hitchhikers go? A pair of "attribution errors."
Women hold fewer than one in 10 patents. Why? And what are we missing out on?
Is booing an act of verbal vandalism or the last true expression of democracy? And: when you drive a Prius, are you guilty of “conspicuous conservatio...
Isn’t it time to admit that the U.S. economy doesn’t have a commander in chief?
Do more expensive wines taste better? And: what does one little rodent in a salad say about a restaurant’s future?
Measuring workplace morale -- and how to game the sick-day system.
The left and the right blame each other for pretty much everything, including slanted media coverage. Can they both be right?
A look at some non-obvious ways to lose weight.
A commitment device forces you to be the person you really want to be. What could possibly go wrong?
A football cheat sheet to help you sound like the smartest person at the party.
Education is the surest solution to a lot of problems. Except when it’s not.
We all know the answer is yes. But the data -- and Rudy Giuliani -- say no.
Levitt and Dubner answer your FREAK-quently Asked Questions about certifying politicians, irrational fears, and the toughest three words in the Englis...
We know it's terribly dangerous to drive drunk. But heading home on foot isn't the solution.
The thrill of customization, via Pandora and a radical new teaching method
Tyler Cowen points fingers. There's plenty of blame to go around.
Clever ways to not waste our waste.
The science of charity, with economist John List.
There’s a nasty secret about hot-button topics like global warming: knowledge is not always power.
