Freakonomics Radio

Freakonomics Radio

Freakonomics Radio + Stitcher
en-us
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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Episodes (82)

Freakonomics Radio

644. Has America Lost Its Appetite for the Common Good?

August 29, 2025 1h 16m Episode 644
Patrick Deneen, a political philosopher at Notre Dame, says yes. He was a Democrat for years, and has now come to be seen as an “ideological guru” of the Trump administration. But that only tells half...
Extra: A Modern Whaler Speaks Up (Update)

Extra: A Modern Whaler Speaks Up (Update)

August 27, 2025 26m
Bjørn Andersen has killed hundreds of minke whales. He tells us how he does it, why he does it, and what he thinks would happen if whale-hunting ever stopped. (This bonus episode is a follow-up to our...
What Can Whales Teach Us About Clean Energy, Workplace Harmony, and Living the Good Life? (Update)

What Can Whales Teach Us About Clean Energy, Workplace Harmony, and Living the Good Life? (Update)

August 22, 2025 48m Episode 551
In the final episode of our whale series, we learn about fecal plumes, shipping noise, and why "Moby-Dick" is still worth reading. (Part 3 of "Everything You Never Knew About Whaling.")
Why Do People Still Hunt Whales? (Update)

Why Do People Still Hunt Whales? (Update)

August 15, 2025 37m Episode 550
For years, whale oil was used as lighting fuel, industrial lubricant, and the main ingredient in (yum!) margarine. Whale meat was also on a few menus. But today, demand for whale products is at a...
The First Great American Industry (Update)

The First Great American Industry (Update)

August 08, 2025 45m Episode 549
Whaling was, in the words of one scholar, “early capitalism unleashed on the high seas.” How did the U.S. come to dominate the whale market? Why did whale hunting die out here — and continue to grow...
Freakonomics Radio

Why Does Tipping Still Exist? (Update)

August 06, 2025 47m Episode 396
It’s a haphazard way of paying workers, and yet it keeps expanding. With federal tax policy shifting in a pro-tip direction, we revisit an episode from 2019 to find out why.
Freakonomics Radio

643. Why Do Candles Still Exist?

August 01, 2025 47m Episode 643
They should have died out when the lightbulb was invented. Instead they’re a $10 billion industry. What does it mean that we still want tiny fires inside our homes?
Freakonomics Radio

642. How to Wage Peace, According to Tony Blinken

July 25, 2025 1h 6m Episode 642
The former secretary of state isn’t a flamethrower, but he certainly has strong opinions. In this wide-ranging conversation with Stephen Dubner, he gives them all: on Israel, Gaza, China, Iran,...
Freakonomics Radio

Why Does One Tiny State Set the Rules for Everyone? (Update)

July 23, 2025 47m Episode 539
Until recently, Delaware was almost universally agreed to be the best place for companies to incorporate. Now, with Elon Musk leading a corporate stampede out of the First State, we revisit an episode...
Freakonomics Radio

641. What Does It Cost to Lead a Creative Life?

July 18, 2025 46m Episode 641
For years, the playwright David Adjmi was considered “polarizing and difficult.” But creating "Stereophonic" seems to have healed him. Stephen Dubner gets the story — and sorts out what Adjmi has in...
Freakonomics Radio

640. Why Governments Are Betting Big on Sports

July 11, 2025 50m Episode 640
The Gulf States and China are spending billions to build stadiums and buy up teams — but what are they really buying? And can an entrepreneur from Cincinnati make his own billions by bringing baseball...
Freakonomics Radio

How to Make Your Own Luck (Update)

July 09, 2025 58m Episode 424
Before she decided to become a poker pro, Maria Konnikova didn’t know how many cards are in a deck. But she did have a Ph.D. in psychology, a brilliant coach, and a burning desire to know whether life...
Freakonomics Radio

639. “This Country Kicks My Ass All the Time”

July 04, 2025 53m Episode 639
Cory Booker on the politics of fear, the politics of hope, and how to split the difference.
638. Are You Ready for the Elder Swell?

638. Are You Ready for the Elder Swell?

June 27, 2025 54m Episode 638
In the U.S., there will soon be more people over 65 than there are under 18 — and it’s not just lifespan that’s improving, it’s “healthspan” too. Unfortunately, the American approach to aging is stuck...
Freakonomics Radio

What Do Medieval Nuns and Bo Jackson Have in Common? (Update)

June 25, 2025 36m Episode 126
In this episode from 2013, we look at whether spite pays — and if it even exists.
637. What It’s Like to Be Middle-Aged (in the Middle Ages)

637. What It’s Like to Be Middle-Aged (in the Middle Ages)

June 20, 2025 45m Episode 637
The simplicity of life back then is appealing today, as long as you don’t mind Church hegemony, the occasional plague, trial by gossip — and the lack of ibuprofen. (Part two of a three-part series,...
636. Why Aren’t We Having More Babies?

636. Why Aren’t We Having More Babies?

June 13, 2025 50m Episode 636
For decades, the great fear was overpopulation. Now it’s the opposite. How did this happen — and what’s being done about it? (Part one of a three-part series, “Cradle to Grave.”)
Freakonomics Radio

An Economics Lesson from a Talking Pencil (Update)

June 11, 2025 39m Episode 236
A famous essay argues that “not a single person on the face of this earth” knows how to make a pencil. How true is that? In this 2016 episode, we looked at what pencil-making can teach us about...
Freakonomics Radio

635. Can a Museum Be the Conscience of a Nation?

June 06, 2025 50m Episode 635
Nicholas Cullinan, the new director of the British Museum, seems to think so. “I'm not afraid of the past,” he says — which means talking about looted objects, the basement storerooms, and the leaking...
Freakonomics Radio

634. “Fault-Finder Is a Minimum-Wage Job”

May 30, 2025 1h 2m Episode 634
Austan Goolsbee, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, is less reserved than the average banker. He explains why vibes are overrated, why the Fed’s independence is non-negotiable, and why...
Freakonomics Radio

633. The Most Powerful People You’ve Never Heard Of

May 23, 2025 1h 5m Episode 633
Just beneath the surface of the global economy, there is a hidden layer of dealmakers for whom war, chaos, and sanctions can be a great business opportunity. Javier Blas and Jack Farchy, the authors...
How to Succeed at Failing, Part 4: Extreme Resiliency (Update)

How to Succeed at Failing, Part 4: Extreme Resiliency (Update)

May 21, 2025 52m Episode 564
Everyone makes mistakes. How do we learn from them? Lessons from the classroom, the Air Force, and the world’s deadliest infectious disease. (Part four of a four-part series.)
How to Succeed at Failing, Part 3: Grit vs. Quit (Update)

How to Succeed at Failing, Part 3: Grit vs. Quit (Update)

May 16, 2025 1h 3m Episode 563
Giving up can be painful. That's why we need to talk about it. Today: stories about glitchy apps, leaky paint cans, broken sculptures — and a quest for the perfect bowl of ramen. (Part three of a...
How to Succeed at Failing, Part 2: Life and Death (Update)

How to Succeed at Failing, Part 2: Life and Death (Update)

May 14, 2025 53m Episode 562
In medicine, failure can be catastrophic. It can also produce discoveries that save millions of lives. Tales from the front line, the lab, and the I.T. department. (Part two of a four-part series.)
How to Succeed at Failing, Part 1: The Chain of Events (Update)

How to Succeed at Failing, Part 1: The Chain of Events (Update)

May 09, 2025 55m Episode 561
We tend to think of tragedies as a single terrible moment, rather than the result of multiple bad decisions. Can this pattern be reversed? We try — with stories about wildfires, school shootings, and...
Freakonomics Radio

632. When Did We All Start Watching Documentaries?

May 02, 2025 54m Episode 632
It used to be that making documentary films meant taking a vow of poverty (and obscurity). The streaming revolution changed that. Award-winning filmmaker R.J. Cutler talks to Stephen Dubner about...
631. Will "3 Summers of Lincoln" Make It to Broadway?

631. Will "3 Summers of Lincoln" Make It to Broadway?

April 25, 2025 46m Episode 631
It’s been in development for five years and has at least a year to go. On the eve of its out-of-town debut, the actor playing Lincoln quit. And the producers still need to raise another $15 million to...
Freakonomics Radio

Is It a Theater Piece or a Psychological Experiment? (Update)

April 23, 2025 37m Episode 92
In an episode from 2012, we looked at what "Sleep No More" and the Stanford Prison Experiment can tell us about who we really are.
630. On Broadway, Nobody Knows Nothing

630. On Broadway, Nobody Knows Nothing

April 18, 2025 1h 1m Episode 630
A hit like "Hamilton" can come from nowhere while a sure bet can lose $20 million in a flash. We speak with some of the biggest producers in the game — Sonia Friedman, Jeffrey Seller, Hal Luftig — and...
629. How Is Live Theater Still Alive?

629. How Is Live Theater Still Alive?

April 11, 2025 59m Episode 629
It has become fiendishly expensive to produce, and has more competition than ever. And yet the believers still believe. Why? And does the world really want a new musical about ... Abraham Lincoln?!...
Freakonomics Radio

Policymaking Is Not a Science — Yet (Update)

April 09, 2025 45m Episode 405
Why do so many promising solutions in education, medicine, and criminal justice fail to scale up into great policy? And can a new breed of “implementation scientists” crack the code?
Freakonomics Radio

628. Sludge, Part 2: Is Government the Problem, or the Solution?

April 04, 2025 48m Episode 628
There is no sludgier place in America than Washington, D.C. But there are signs of a change. We’ll hear about this progress — and ask where Elon Musk and DOGE fit in. (Part two of a two-part series.)
Freakonomics Radio

627. Sludge, Part 1: The World Is Drowning in It

March 28, 2025 54m Episode 627
Insurance forms that make no sense. Subscriptions that can’t be cancelled. A never-ending blizzard of automated notifications. Where does all this sludge come from — and how much is it costing us?...
Freakonomics Radio

Should America Be Run by … Trader Joe’s? (Update)

March 21, 2025 48m Episode 359
The quirky little grocery chain with California roots and German ownership has a lot to teach all of us about choice architecture, efficiency, frugality, collaboration, and team spirit.
Freakonomics Radio

626. Ten Myths About the U.S. Tax System

March 14, 2025 1h 3m Episode 626
Nearly everything that politicians say about taxes is at least half a lie. They are also dishonest when it comes to the national debt. Stephen Dubner finds one of the few people in Washington who is...
Freakonomics Radio

625. The Biden Policy That Trump Hasn’t Touched

March 07, 2025 1h 3m Episode 625
Lina Khan, the youngest F.T.C. chair in history, reset U.S. antitrust policy by thwarting mega-mergers and other monopolistic behavior. This earned her enemies in some places, and big fans in others —...
Freakonomics Radio

EXTRA: The Downside of Disgust (Update)

March 05, 2025 44m Episode 448
It’s a powerful biological response that has preserved our species for millennia. But now it may be keeping us from pursuing strategies that would improve the environment, the economy, even our own...
624. The Animal No One Loves, Until They Do

624. The Animal No One Loves, Until They Do

February 28, 2025 45m Episode 624
To most people, the rat is vile and villainous. But not to everyone! We hear from a scientist who befriended rats and another who worked with them in the lab — and from the animator who made one the...
623. Can New York City Win Its War on Rats?

623. Can New York City Win Its War on Rats?

February 21, 2025 50m Episode 623
Even with a new rat czar, an arsenal of poisons, and a fleet of new garbage trucks, it won’t be easy — because, at root, the enemy is us. (Part two of a three-part series, “Sympathy for the Rat.”)
Freakonomics Radio

The Show That Never Happened

February 20, 2025 13m
A brief meditation on loss, relativity, and the vagaries of show business.
622. Why Does Everyone Hate Rats?

622. Why Does Everyone Hate Rats?

February 14, 2025 41m Episode 622
New York City’s mayor calls them “public enemy number one.” History books say they caused the Black Death — although recent scientific evidence disputes that claim. So is the rat a scapegoat? And what...
Freakonomics Radio

621. Is Professional Licensing a Racket?

February 07, 2025 55m Episode 621
Licensing began with medicine and law; now it extends to 20 percent of the U.S. workforce, including hair stylists and auctioneers. In a new book, the legal scholar Rebecca Allensworth calls licensing...
Freakonomics Radio

When Is a Superstar Just Another Employee? (Update)

February 05, 2025 1h 8m Episode 557
In 2023, the N.F.L. players’ union conducted a workplace survey that revealed clogged showers, rats in the locker room — and some insights for those of us who don’t play football. Today we’re updating...
Freakonomics Radio

620. Why Don’t Running Backs Get Paid Anymore?

January 31, 2025 1h 1m Episode 620
They used to be the N.F.L.’s biggest stars, with paychecks to match. Now their salaries are near the bottom, and their careers are shorter than ever. We speak with an analytics guru, an agent, some...
Freakonomics Radio

619. How to Poison the A.I. Machine

January 24, 2025 52m Episode 619
When the computer scientist Ben Zhao learned that artists were having their work stolen by A.I. models, he invented a tool to thwart the machines. He also knows how to foil an eavesdropping Alexa and...
Freakonomics Radio

Is San Francisco a Failed State? (And Other Questions You Shouldn’t Ask the Mayor)

January 22, 2025 59m
Stephen Dubner, live on stage, mixes it up with outbound mayor London Breed, and asks economists whether A.I. can be “human-centered” and if Tang is a gateway drug.
Freakonomics Radio

618. Are Realtors Having an Existential Crisis?

January 17, 2025 53m Episode 618
Their trade organization just lost a huge lawsuit. Their infamous commission model is under attack. And there are way too many of them. If they go the way of travel agents, will we miss them when...
Freakonomics Radio

617. Are You Really Allergic to Penicillin?

January 10, 2025 1h 3m Episode 617
Like tens of millions of people, Stephen Dubner thought he had a penicillin allergy. Like the vast majority, he didn’t. This misdiagnosis costs billions of dollars and causes serious health problems,...
Freakonomics Radio

Highway Signs and Prison Labor

January 06, 2025 38m
Incarcerated people grow crops, fight wildfires, and manufacture everything from prescription glasses to highway signs — often for pennies an hour. Zachary Crockett takes the next exit, in this...
Freakonomics Radio

Can Academic Fraud Be Stopped? (Update)

January 02, 2025 1h 8m Episode 573
Probably not — the incentives are too strong. But a few reformers are trying. We check in on their progress, in an update to an episode originally published last year. (Part 2 of 2)
Freakonomics Radio

Why Is There So Much Fraud in Academia? (Update)

December 26, 2024 1h 15m Episode 572
Some of the biggest names in behavioral science stand accused of faking their results. Last year, an astonishing 10,000 research papers were retracted. In a series originally published in early 2024,...
Freakonomics Radio

Your Brain Doesn’t Work the Way You Think

December 23, 2024 47m
David Eagleman upends myths and describes the vast possibilities of a brainscape that even neuroscientists are only beginning to understand. Steve Levitt interviews him in this special episode of...
Freakonomics Radio

616. How to Make Something from Nothing

December 19, 2024 48m Episode 616
Adam Moss was the best magazine editor of his generation. When he retired, he took up painting. But he wasn’t very good, and that made him sad. So he wrote a book about how creative people work— and,...
Freakonomics Radio

615. Is Ozempic as Magical as It Sounds?

December 12, 2024 56m Episode 615
In a wide-ranging conversation with Ezekiel Emanuel, the policymaking physician and medical gadfly, we discuss the massive effects of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic, Wegovy, and Mounjaro. We also talk about...
Freakonomics Radio

How the Supermarket Helped America Win the Cold War (Update)

December 09, 2024 38m Episode 386
Last week, we heard a former U.S. ambassador describe Russia’s escalating conflict with the U.S. Today, we revisit a 2019 episode about an overlooked front in the Cold War — a “farms race” that,...
Freakonomics Radio

614. Is the U.S. Sleeping on Threats from Russia and China?

December 05, 2024 51m Episode 614
John J. Sullivan, a former State Department official and U.S. ambassador, says yes: “Our politicians aren’t leading — Republicans or Democrats.” He gives a firsthand account of a fateful Biden-Putin...
613. Dying Is Easy. Retail Is Hard.

613. Dying Is Easy. Retail Is Hard.

November 28, 2024 1h 1m Episode 613
Macy’s wants to recapture its glorious past. The author of the Wimpy Kid books wants to rebuild his dilapidated hometown. We just want to listen in. (Part two of a two-part series.)
612. Is Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade Its Most Valuable Asset?

612. Is Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade Its Most Valuable Asset?

November 21, 2024 53m Episode 612
The 166-year-old chain, which is fighting extinction, calls the parade its “gift to the nation.” With 30 million TV viewers, it’s also a big moneymaker. At least we think it is — Macy’s is famously...
Freakonomics Radio

How to Stop Worrying and Love the Robot Apocalypse (Update)

November 18, 2024 48m Episode 461
It’s true that robots (and other smart technologies) will kill many jobs. It may also be true that newer collaborative robots (“cobots”) will totally reinvigorate how work gets done. That, at least,...
Freakonomics Radio

611. Fareed Zakaria on What Just Happened, and What Comes Next

November 14, 2024 59m Episode 611
After a dramatic election, Donald Trump has returned from exile. We hear what to expect at home and abroad — and what to do if you didn’t vote for Trump.
Freakonomics Radio

610. Who Wins and Who Loses Once the U.S. Legalizes Weed?

November 07, 2024 43m Episode 610
Some people want the new cannabis economy to look like the craft-beer movement. Others are hoping to build the Amazon of pot. And one expert would prefer a government-run monopoly. We listen in as...
Freakonomics Radio

609. What Does It Take to Run a Cannabis Farm?

October 31, 2024 40m Episode 609
Chris Weld worked for years in emergency rooms, then ditched that career and bought an old farm in Massachusetts. He set up a distillery and started making prize-winning spirits. When cannabis was...
Freakonomics Radio

Abortion and Crime, Revisited (Update)

October 28, 2024 54m Episode 384
With abortion on the Nov. 5 ballot, we look back at Steve Levitt’s controversial research about an unintended consequence of Roe v. Wade.
Freakonomics Radio

608. Cannabis Is Booming, So Why Isn’t Anyone Getting Rich?

October 24, 2024 50m Episode 608
There are a lot of reasons, including heavy regulations, high taxes, and competition from illegal weed shops. Most operators are losing money and waiting for Washington to get out of the way. In the...
Freakonomics Radio

607. Is America Switching From Booze to Weed?

October 17, 2024 46m Episode 607
We have always been a nation of drinkers — but now there are more daily users of cannabis than alcohol. Considering alcohol’s harms, maybe that’s a good thing. But some people worry that the...
Freakonomics Radio

606. How to Predict the Presidency

October 11, 2024 55m Episode 606
Are betting markets more accurate than polls? What kind of chaos would a second Trump term bring? And is U.S. democracy really in danger, or just “sputtering on”? (Part two of a two-part series.)
Freakonomics Radio

Has the U.S. Presidency Become a Dictatorship? (Update)

October 10, 2024 46m Episode 260
Sure, we all pay lip service to the Madisonian system of checks and balances. But presidents have been steadily expanding the reach of the job. With an election around the corner, we updated our 2016...
Freakonomics Radio

605. What Do People Do All Day?

October 03, 2024 1h 0m Episode 605
Sixty percent of the jobs that Americans do today didn’t exist in 1940. What happens as our labor becomes more technical and less physical? And what kinds of jobs will exist in the future?
Freakonomics Radio

EXTRA: Roland Fryer Refuses to Lie to Black America (Update)

September 30, 2024 1h 0m Episode 514
His research on police brutality and school incentives won him acclaim, but also enemies. He was suspended for two years by Harvard, during which time he took a hard look at corporate diversity...
Freakonomics Radio

604. Did the N.F.L. Solve Diversity Hiring? (Part 2)

September 26, 2024 47m Episode 604
What happened when the Rooney Rule made its way from pro football to corporate America? Some progress, some backsliding, and a lot of controversy. (Second in a two-part series.)
Freakonomics Radio

603. Did the N.F.L. Solve Diversity Hiring? (Part 1)

September 19, 2024 47m Episode 603
The biggest sports league in history had a problem: While most of its players were Black, almost none of its head coaches were. So the N.F.L. launched a hiring policy called the Rooney Rule. In the...
Freakonomics Radio

EXTRA: In Praise of Maintenance (Update)

September 16, 2024 42m Episode 263
We revisit an episode from 2016 that asks: Has our culture’s obsession with innovation led us to neglect the fact that things also need to be taken care of?
Freakonomics Radio

602. Is Screen Time as Poisonous as We Think?

September 12, 2024 40m Episode 602
Young people have been reporting a sharp rise in anxiety and depression. This maps neatly onto the global rise of the smartphone. Some researchers are convinced that one is causing the other. But how...
Freakonomics Radio

601. Multitasking Doesn’t Work. So Why Do We Keep Trying?

September 05, 2024 58m Episode 601
Only a tiny number of “supertaskers” are capable of doing two things at once. The rest of us are just making ourselves miserable, and less productive. How can we put the — hang on a second, I've just...
Freakonomics Radio

What Is the Future of College — and Does It Have Room for Men? (Update)

August 29, 2024 49m Episode 503
Educators and economists tell us all the reasons college enrollment has been dropping, especially for men, and how to stop the bleeding. (Part 3 of our series from 2022, “Freakonomics Radio Goes Back...
Freakonomics Radio

EXTRA: Why Quitting Is Usually Worth It

August 26, 2024 40m
Stephen Dubner appears as a guest on "Fail Better," a new podcast hosted by David Duchovny. The two of them trade stories about failure, and ponder the lessons that success could never teach.
Freakonomics Radio

The University of Impossible-to-Get-Into (Update)

August 22, 2024 1h 11m Episode 501
America’s top colleges are facing record demand. So why don’t they increase supply? (Part 2 of our series from 2022, “Freakonomics Radio Goes Back to School.”)
Freakonomics Radio

What Exactly Is College For? (Update)

August 15, 2024 50m Episode 500
We think of them as intellectual enclaves and the surest route to a better life. But U.S. colleges also operate like firms, trying to differentiate their products to win market share and prestige...
Freakonomics Radio

EXTRA: Here’s Why You’re Not an Elite Athlete (Update)

August 12, 2024 1h 5m Episode 351
There are a lot of factors that go into greatness, many of which are not obvious. As the Olympics come to a close, we revisit a 2018 episode in which top athletes from a variety of sports tell us how...
Freakonomics Radio

600. “If We’re All in It for Ourselves, Who Are We?”

August 08, 2024 44m Episode 600
Tania Tetlow, a former federal prosecutor and now the president of Fordham University, thinks the modern campus could use a dose of old-fashioned values.
Freakonomics Radio

599. The World's Most Valuable Unused Resource

August 01, 2024 40m Episode 599
It’s not oil or water or plutonium — it’s human hours. We've got an idea for putting them to use, and for building a more human-centered economy. But we need your help.
Freakonomics Radio

EXTRA: Why Rent Control Doesn’t Work (Update)

July 29, 2024 48m Episode 373
A new proposal from the Biden administration calls for a nationwide cap on rent increases. Economists think that’s a terrible idea. We revisit a 2019 episode to hear why.

About this Podcast

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2024 Dubner Productions and Stitcher
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