Freakonomics Radio The Suicide Paradox (Rebroadcast)
Sep 5, 2013
This podcast explores the paradox of suicide rates in the US compared to other developed countries, the impact of media reporting on suicides, the phenomenon of the Hungarian song 'Gloomy Sunday,' and the paradoxical relationship between quality of life and suicide rates.
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The Happy Pitaha
- Dan Everett, a linguist, lived with the Pitaha tribe in the Amazon.
- The tribe, despite hardships like malaria and child mortality, are remarkably happy and find the concept of suicide baffling.
The Suicide Paradox
- In the U.S., suicide is more than twice as common as homicide, exceeding 36,000 cases in 2009.
- This fact is surprising because suicides receive less media attention than homicides.
Survival Instinct
- Steve Levitt questions why suicide rates aren't higher among the world's poorest, given their hardships.
- He suggests humans possess an innate, evolutionarily driven desire to survive, even in dire conditions.