Freakonomics Radio
Freakonomics Radio + Stitcher
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.
To get every show in the Freakonomics Radio Network without ads and a monthly bonus episode of Freakonomics Radio, start a free trial for SiriusXM Podcasts+ on Apple Podcasts or by visiting siriusxm.com/podcastsplus.
To get every show in the Freakonomics Radio Network without ads and a monthly bonus episode of Freakonomics Radio, start a free trial for SiriusXM Podcasts+ on Apple Podcasts or by visiting siriusxm.com/podcastsplus.
Episodes
Mentioned books
Aug 16, 2018 • 38min
345. How to Be Happy
The U.N.’s World Happiness Report — created to curtail our unhealthy obsession with G.D.P. — is dominated every year by the Nordic countries. We head to Denmark to learn the secrets of this happiness epidemic (and to see if we should steal them).
Aug 9, 2018 • 38min
344. Who Decides How Much a Life Is Worth?
Guest is a man who’s allocated compensation money to victims of tragedies. The podcast discusses the challenges of assigning a dollar value to victims, exploring emotional impact, complexities of valuing life, and issues faced in distributing compensation.
Aug 7, 2018 • 46min
A Conversation With PepsiCo C.E.O. Indra Nooyi (Ep. 316 Update)
One of the world’s biggest and best-known companies just announced that its C.E.O. would be stepping down in the fall. We interviewed her as part of our series “The Secret Life of a C.E.O.," and we thought you might like to hear that episode again, or for the first time if you missed it back then.
Aug 2, 2018 • 54min
343. An Astronaut, a Catalan, and Two Linguists Walk Into a Bar…
In this live episode of “Tell Me Something I Don’t Know,” we learn why New York has skinny skyscrapers, how to weaponize water, and what astronauts talk about in space. Joining Stephen J. Dubner as co-host is the linguist John McWhorter; Bari Weiss (The New York Times) is the real-time fact-checker.
Jul 26, 2018 • 51min
342. Has Lance Armstrong Finally Come Clean?
He was once the most lionized athlete on the planet, with seven straight Tour de France wins and a victory over cancer too. Then the doping charges caught up with him. When he finally confessed to Oprah, he admits, “it didn’t go well at all.” That’s because he wasn’t actually contrite yet. Now, five years later, he says he is. Do you believe him?
Jul 19, 2018 • 45min
341. Why We Choke Under Pressure (and How Not To)
It happens to just about everyone, whether you’re going for Olympic gold or giving a wedding toast. We hear from psychologists, economists, and the golfer who some say committed the greatest choke of all time.
Jul 12, 2018 • 57min
340. People Aren’t Dumb. The World Is Hard.
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. 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.
Jul 3, 2018 • 36min
339. The Future of Freakonomics Radio
After 8 years and more than 300 episodes, it was time to either 1) quit, or 2) make the show bigger and better. We voted for number 2. Here’s a peek behind the curtain and a preview of what you’ll be hearing next.
Jun 28, 2018 • 49min
In Praise of Incrementalism (Rebroadcast)
What do Renaissance painting, civil-rights movements, and Olympic cycling have in common? In each case, huge breakthroughs came from taking tiny steps. In a world where everyone is looking for the next moonshot, we shouldn’t ignore the power of incrementalism.
Jun 21, 2018 • 42min
In Praise of Maintenance (Rebroadcast)
The podcast discusses the societal bias towards innovation over maintenance, highlighting the importance of preserving creations. It explores the undervalued realm of maintenance work in engineering and the economic implications of infrastructure neglect. The dynamic between innovation and maintenance is explored, emphasizing the essential role of upkeep in sustaining infrastructure and facilitating innovation.
