More or Less Were there really Three Wise Men?
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Dec 24, 2025 
Stephen Dubner, journalist and co-author of Freakonomics, joins to discuss the book's 20th anniversary and its surprising insights. He explores why drug dealers often live with their moms, connecting economic theory to unexpected lifestyles. The conversation shifts to controversial topics like abortion's impact on crime. Adding a festive twist, the team debunks the myth of the three wise men, revealing they were never called kings in Matthew's account and discussing their historical context. Expect laughter and unexpected facts throughout!
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Census Revealed Hidden Workforces
- The 1841 UK census revealed widespread female and child labor previously hidden from policymakers.
- Censuses forced politicians to confront social realities that administrative assumptions had obscured.
Population Registers Replace Censuses Elsewhere
- Some European countries replaced ten-year censuses with continuous population registers.
- The UK debated this but chose to keep a 2031 census to validate admin-data methods first.
History Shaped Census Policy
- The UK once had a population register (1939–1952) but abandoned it over civil-liberties and cost worries.
- Fears of totalitarian surveillance and expense shaped postwar data policy.