This week on freconomics radio, will a long snapper record a tackle oranasis? Why does the richest country in the world have so many poor children? And why do we spend about one per cent of g d p on family benefits.
Adam Smith famously argued that specialization is the key to prosperity. In the N.F.L., the long snapper is proof of that argument. Just in time for the Super Bowl, here’s everything there is to know about a job that didn’t used to exist.