Freakonomics Radio

With abortion on the Nov. 5 ballot, we look back at Steve Levitt’s controversial research about an unintended consequence of Roe v. Wade .   SOURCES: John Donohue , professor of law at Stanford Law School. Steve Levitt , professor emeritus of economics at the University of Chicago and host of People I (Mostly) Admire . Jessica Wolpaw Reyes , professor of economics at Amherst College.   RESOURCES:...

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 meantime, it’s not that easy being green. (Part two of a four-part series .)   SOURCES: Jon Caulkins , professor of operations research and public policy at Carnegie Mellon University. Adam Goers , sen...

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 legalization of cannabis has outpaced the research. (Part one of a four-part series .)   SOURCES: Jon Caulkins , professor of operations research and public policy at Carnegie Mellon University. Yasmin Hurd ,...

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 .)   SOURCES: Eric Posner , professor of law at the University of Chicago Law School. Koleman Strumpf , professor of economics at Wake Forest University.   RESOURCES: " A Trump Dictatorship Won’t Happen ,"...

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 conversation with the legal scholar Eric Posner — who has some good news and some not-so-good news about the power of the presidency. (Part one of a two-part series .)   SOURCE: Eric Posner , professo...

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?    SOURCES: David Autor , professor of economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Paula Barmaimon , manager of coverage and audience analytics at The New York Times. Ellen Griesedieck , artist and p...

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 programs. As a follow-up to our recent series on the Rooney Rule, we revisit our 2022 conversation with the controversial economist.   SOURCE: Roland Fryer , professor of economics at Harvard University.  ...

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 .)   SOURCES: Tynesia Boyea-Robinson , president and C.E.O. of CapEQ. N. Jeremi Duru , professor of law at American University. Herm Edwards , former N.F.L. player and head coach. Christopher Rider , professor of entrepreneu...

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 first episode of a two-part series , we look at how the rule succeeded — until it failed.   SOURCES: N. Jeremi Duru , professor of law at American University. Herm Edwards , former N.F.L. player and hea...

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?    SOURCES: Martin Casado , general partner at Andreessen Horowitz. Ruth Schwartz Cowan , professor emerita of history and sociology of science at University of Pennsylvania. Edward Glaeser , professor of economics at Harvard University. Chris...

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 strong is the evidence?   SOURCES: David Blanchflower , professor of economics at Dartmouth College. Lauren Oyler , novelist and cultural critic. Andrew Przybylski , professor of human behavior and te...

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 got to get this . Come see Stephen Dubner live!  “A Questionable Evening: A strategic interrogation from two people who ask questions for a living,” featuring Stephen Dubner and PJ Vogt from Search En...

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 to School .”)   SOURCES: Zachary Bleemer , assistant professor of economics at Princeton University and faculty research fellow at the National Bureau of Economic Research. D'Wayne Edwards , founder...

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.   SOURCES: David Duchovny , actor, director, writer, and musician.   RESOURCES: " Martin Seligman and the Rise of Positive Psychology ," by Peter Gibbon ( Humanities, 2020). " Rick Reilly: ‘Donald Trump Will C...

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 .”)   SOURCES: Peter Blair , professor of education at Harvard University and faculty research fellow at the National Bureau of Economic Research. Zachary Bleemer , assistant professor of economics at Princeton University and faculty research...

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 points. In the first episode of a special series originally published in 2022, we ask what our chaotic system gets right — and wrong. (Part 1 of “ Freakonomics Radio Goes Back to School .”)   SOURCES: Pet...

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 they made it, and what they sacrificed.   SOURCES: Lance Armstrong , former professional cyclist. David Canton , director of African American studies and professor of history at the University of Flor...

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.   SOURCE: Tania Tetlow , president of Fordham University.   RESOURCES: " Not a Priest, Not a Man, but Ready to Run Fordham ," by David Waldstein ( The New York Times, 2024). " Tech Glitch Upends Financial Aid for About a Million Students ," by Oy...

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.   SOURCES: Nathan Dietz , research director at the Do Good Institute at the University of Maryland. Al Roth , professor of economics at Stanford University. Krista Wyatt , C.E.O. of Timebanks.org . Andrew Yang , co-chair of the For...

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.   SOURCES: Tommy Andersson , professor of economics at Lund University. Vicki Been , professor of law at New York University and former deputy mayor for housing and economic development in New York City. Rebecca Diamond , profess...

That’s the worry. Even the humble eyeglass industry is dominated by a single firm.  We look into the global spike in myopia, how the Lemtosh got its name, and what your eye doctor knows that you don’t. (Part two of a two-part series .)   SOURCES: Maria Liu , professor of clinical optometry at the University of California, Berkeley. Harvey Moscot , C.E.O. of MOSCOT Eyewear and Eyecare. Zachary Mosc...

A single company, EssilorLuxottica, owns so much of the eyewear industry that it’s hard to escape their gravitational pull — or their “obscene” markups. Should regulators do something? Can Warby Parker steal market share? And how did Ray-Bans become a luxury brand? (Part one of a two-part series .)   SOURCES: Neil Blumenthal , co-founder and co-CEO of Warby Parker. Dave Gilboa , co-founder and co-...

You wouldn’t think you could win a Nobel Prize for showing that humans tend to make irrational decisions. But that’s what Richard Thaler has done. In an interview from 2018, the founder of behavioral economics describes his unlikely route to success; his reputation for being lazy; and his efforts to fix the world — one nudge at a time.   SOURCES: Richard Thaler , professor of behavioral science an...

Daniel Kahneman left his mark on academia (and the real world) in countless ways. A group of his friends and colleagues recently gathered in Chicago to reflect on this legacy — and we were there, with microphones.   SOURCES: Maya Bar-Hillel , professor emeritus of psychology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Shane Frederick , professor of marketing at the Yale School of Management. Thomas Gil...

American politics is trapped in a duopoly, with two all-powerful parties colluding to stifle competition. We revisit a 2018 episode to explain how the political industry works, and talk to a reformer (and former presidential candidate) who is pushing for change.   SOURCES: Katherine Gehl , former president and C.E.O. of Gehl Foods. Michael Porter , professor at Harvard Business School. Andrew Yang...