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.
803 episodes transcribedThe banana, once a luxury good, rose to become America’s favorite fruit. Now a deadly fungus threatens to wipe it out. Can it be saved?
It’s fun to obsess over pop stars and racecar drivers — but is fandom making our politics even more toxic?
The last two years have radically changed the way we work — producing winners, losers, and a lot of surprises.
It was supposed to boost prosperity and democracy at the same time. What really happened? According to the legal scholar Anthea Roberts, it depends wh...
One Yale economist certainly thinks so. But even if he’s right, are economists any better?
New research finds that bosses who went to business school pay their workers less. So what are M.B.A. programs teaching — and should they stop?
The pandemic provided city dwellers with a break from the din of the modern world. Now the noise is coming back. What does that mean for our productiv...
Liberals endorse harm reduction when it comes to the opioid epidemic. Are they ready to take the same approach to climate change?
The documentary filmmaker, known for The Civil War, Jazz, and Baseball, turns his attention to the Holocaust, and asks what we can learn from the evil...
The pandemic moved a lot of religious activity onto the internet. With faith-based apps, Silicon Valley is turning virtual prayers into earthly reward...
As the Biden administration rushes to address climate change, Stephen Dubner looks at another, hidden cost of air pollution — one that’s affecting how...
The controversial Harvard economist, recently back from a suspension, “broke a lot of glass early in my career,” he says. His research on school incen...
It boosts economic opportunity and social mobility. It’s good for the environment. So why do we charge people to use it? The short answer: it’s compli...
Breaking news! Sources say American journalism exploits our negativity bias to maximize profits, and social media algorithms add fuel to the fire. Ste...
According to a decades-long research project, the U.S. is not only the most individualistic country on earth; we’re also high on indulgence, short-ter...
We often look to other countries for smart policies on education, healthcare, infrastructure, etc. But can a smart policy be simply transplanted into...
It used to be at the center of our conversations about politics and society. Scott Hershovitz (author of Nasty, Brutish, and Short) argues that philos...
Sure, you were “in love.” But economists — using evidence from Bridgerton to Tinder — point to what’s called “assortative mating.” And it has some unp...
In one of the earliest Freakonomics Radio episodes, we asked a bunch of economists with young kids how they approached child-rearing. Now the kids are...
Boosters say blockchain technology will usher in a brave new era of decentralization. Are they right — and would it be a dream or a nightmare? (Part 3...
