An update of our 2020 series, in which we spoke with physicians, researchers, and addicts about the root causes of the crisis — and the tension between abstinence and harm reduction. SOURCES: Gail D’Onofrio , professor and chair of emergency medicine at the Yale School of Medicine and chief of emergency services at Yale-New Haven Health. Keith Humphreys , professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Stanford University. Stephen Loyd , chief medical officer of Cedar Recovery and chair of th...
Jun 03, 2024•42 min
Thanks to legal settlements with drug makers and distributors, states have plenty of money to boost prevention and treatment. Will it work? (Part two of a two-part series .) SOURCES: Keith Humphreys , professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Stanford University. Stephen Loyd , chief medical officer of Cedar Recovery and chair of the Tennessee Opioid Abatement Council. Christine Minhee , founder of OpioidSettlementTracker.com. RESOURCES: " Court Conflicted Over Purdue Pharma Bankruptcy ...
May 30, 2024•41 min•Ep. 590
Most epidemics flare up, do their damage, and fade away. This one has been raging for almost 30 years. To find out why, it’s time to ask some uncomfortable questions. (Part one of a two-part series .) SOURCES: David Cutler , professor of economics at Harvard University. Travis Donahoe , professor of health policy and management at the University of Pittsburgh. Keith Humphreys , professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Stanford University. Stephen Loyd , chief medical officer of Cedar R...
May 23, 2024•49 min•Ep. 589
Presenting two stories from The Economics of Everyday Things: Why does it seem like every car is black, white, or gray these days? And: How self-storage took over America. SOURCES: Tom Crockett, classic car enthusiast. Zachary Dickens , executive vice president and chief investment officer of Extra Space Storage. Mark Gutjahr , global head of design at BASF. Kara Kolodziej, self-storage unit tenant. Anne Mari DeCoster , self-storage consultant. Nikkie Riedel , carline planning manager at Subaru ...
May 20, 2024•35 min
The economist and social critic Glenn Loury has led a remarkably turbulent life, both professionally and personally. In a new memoir, he has chosen to reveal just about everything. Why? SOURCE: Glenn Loury , professor of economics at Brown University and host of The Glenn Show . RESOURCES: Late Admissions: Confessions of a Black Conservative , by Glenn Loury (2024). " Amy Wax – The DEI Witch Hunt at Penn Law ," by Glenn Loury ( The Glenn Show, 2024). " The Conservative Line on Race ," by Glenn L...
May 16, 2024•57 min•Ep. 588
The employee ownership movement is growing, and one of its biggest champions is also a private equity heavyweight. Is this meaningful change, or just window dressing? SOURCES: Marjorie Kelly , distinguished senior fellow at The Democracy Collaborative. Corey Rosen , founder and senior staff member of the National Center for Employee Ownership. Pete Stavros , co-head of Global Private Equity at KKR. RESOURCES: " Private Equity Is Starting to Share With Workers, Without Taking a Financial Hit ," b...
May 09, 2024•47 min•Ep. 587
From politics and economics to psychology and the arts, many of the modern ideas we take for granted emerged a century ago from a single European capital. In this episode of the Freakonomics Radio Book Club, the historian Richard Cockett explores all those ideas — and how the arrival of fascism can ruin in a few years what took generations to build. SOURCE: Richard Cockett , author and senior editor at The Economist . RESOURCES: Vienna: How the City of Ideas Created the Modern World , by Richard...
May 02, 2024•57 min•Ep. 586
Five years ago, we published an episode about the boom in home DNA testing kits, focusing on the high-flying firm 23andMe and its C.E.O. Anne Wojcicki. Their flight has been extremely bumpy since then. This update includes an additional interview with the Wall Street Journal reporter who has been investigating the firm’s collapse. SOURCES: Rolfe Winkler , reporter at The Wall Street Journal. Anne Wojcicki , co-founder and C.E.O. of 23andMe. RESOURCES: " 23andMe’s Fall From $6 Billion to Nearly $...
Apr 29, 2024•1 hr 2 min
Justin Trudeau, facing record-low approval numbers, is doubling down on his progressive agenda. But he is so upbeat (and Canada-polite) that it’s easy to miss just how radical his vision is. Can he make it work? SOURCE: Justin Trudeau , Prime Minister of Canada. RESOURCES: 2024 Canadian Federal Budget . " Canada to Set First-Ever Cap on Temporary Residents ," by Nadine Yousif ( BBC News, 2023). Common Ground , by Justin Trudeau (2014). EXTRAS: " Why Is Everyone Moving to Canada? " by Freakonomic...
Apr 25, 2024•52 min•Ep. 585
So you want to help people? That’s great — but beware the law of unintended consequences. Three stories from the modern workplace. SOURCES: Joshua Angrist , professor of economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Zoe Cullen , professor of business administration at Harvard Business School. Marina Gertsberg , senior lecturer in finance at the University of Melbourne. RESOURCES: " Is Pay Transparency Good? " by Zoë Cullen ( Journal of Economic Perspectives, 2024). " DP18969 Economics ...
Apr 18, 2024•44 min•Ep. 584
The psychologist Daniel Kahneman — a Nobel laureate and the author of Thinking, Fast and Slow — recently died at age 90. Along with his collaborator Amos Tversky, he changed how we all think about decision-making. The journalist Michael Lewis told the Kahneman-Tversky story in a 2016 book called The Undoing Project. In this episode, Lewis explains why they had such a profound influence. SOURCE: Michael Lewis , writer. RESOURCES: The Undoing Project , by Michael Lewis (2016). Thinking, Fast and S...
Apr 14, 2024•35 min
People who are good at their jobs routinely get promoted into bigger jobs they’re bad at. We explain why firms keep producing incompetent managers — and why that’s unlikely to change. SOURCES: Nick Bloom , professor of economics at Stanford University. Katie Johnson , freelance data and analytics coach. Kelly Shue , professor of finance at the Yale University School of Management. Steve Tadelis , professor of economics at the University of California, Berkeley Haas School of Business. RESOURCES:...
Apr 11, 2024•50 min•Ep. 495
Fareed Zakaria says yes. But it’s not just political revolution — it’s economic, technological, even emotional. He doesn’t offer easy solutions but he does offer some hope. SOURCES: Fareed Zakaria , journalist and author. RESOURCES: Age of Revolutions: Progress and Backlash from 1600 to the Present , by Fareed Zakaria (2024). " The Ultimate Election Year: All the Elections Around the World in 2024 ," by Koh Ewe ( TIME, 2023). " The Tea Party and the Remaking of Republican Conservatism ," by Vane...
Apr 04, 2024•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 583
The political debates over immigration can generate a lot of fuzzy facts. We wanted to test Americans’ knowledge — so, to wrap up our special series on immigration , we called some Freakonomics Radio listeners and quizzed them. SOURCES: Zeke Hernandez , professor at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. RESOURCES: The Truth About Immigration: Why Successful Societies Welcome Newcomers , by Zeke Hernandez (2024, available for pre-order). EXTRA: “ The True Story of America’s Suprem...
Apr 01, 2024•28 min
As the U.S. tries to fix its messy immigration system, our neighbor to the north is scooping up more talented newcomers every year. Are the Canadians stealing America’s bacon? (Part three of a three-part series .) SOURCES: Zeke Hernandez , professor at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. William Kerr , professor of business administration at Harvard Business School. David Leonhardt , senior writer at the New York Times . Sindhu Mahadevan , creator of This Immigrant Life newslet...
Mar 28, 2024•50 min•Ep. 582
The U.S. immigration system is a massively complicated machine, with a lot of worn-out parts. How to fix it? Step one: Get hold of some actual facts and evidence. (We did this step for you.) (Part two of a three-part series .) SOURCES: Zeke Hernandez , professor at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. David Leonhardt , senior writer at the New York Times . Sindhu Mahadevan , creator of This Immigrant Life newsletter. RESOURCES: The Truth About Immigration: Why Successful Societi...
Mar 21, 2024•56 min•Ep. 581
She arrived in the U.S. as an 11-year-old refugee, then rose to become Secretary of State. Her views on immigration, nationalism, and borders, from this 2015 interview, are almost strangely appropriate to the present moment. SOURCE: Madeleine Albright , U.S. Secretary of State under President Bill Clinton and former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations. RESOURCES: " Madeleine Albright, First Woman to Serve as Secretary of State, Dies at 84 ," by Robert D. McFadden ( The New York Times, 2022). "...
Mar 18, 2024•29 min
How did a nation of immigrants come to hate immigration? We start at the beginning, sort through the evidence, and explain why your grandfather was lying about Ellis Island. (Part one of a three-part series .) SOURCES: Leah Boustan , professor of economics at Princeton University. Zeke Hernandez , professor at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. Roger Nam , professor of Hebrew Bible at Emory University. RESOURCES: The Truth About Immigration: Why Successful Societies Welcome Ne...
Mar 14, 2024•55 min•Ep. 580
Economists have discovered an odd phenomenon: many people who use social media (even you, maybe?) wish it didn’t exist. But that doesn’t mean they can escape. SOURCES: Leonardo Bursztyn , professor of economics at the University of Chicago. Benjamin Handel , professor of economics at the University of California, Berkeley. RESOURCES: " When Product Markets Become Collective Traps: The Case of Social Media ," by Leonardo Bursztyn, Benjamin Handel, Rafael Jimenez, and Christopher Roth ( NBER Worki...
Mar 07, 2024•42 min•Ep. 579
In ancient Rome, it was bread and circuses. Today, it’s a World Cup, an Olympics, and a new Saudi-backed golf league that’s challenging the PGA Tour. Can a sporting event really repair a country’s reputation — or will it trigger the dreaded Streisand Effect? Also: why the major U.S. sports leagues are warming up to the idea of foreign investment. SOURCES: Jodi Balsam , professor of clinical law at Brooklyn Law School. Brandel Chamblee , Golf Channel analyst. Karen Crouse , sports journalist. Bom...
Mar 04, 2024•1 hr 5 min•Ep. 506
What surprises lurk in our sewage? How did racist city planners end up saving Black lives? Why does Arizona grow hay for cows in Saudi Arabia? Three strange stories about the most fundamental substance we all take for granted. SOURCES: Brian Beach , professor of economics at Vanderbilt University. Marc Johnson , professor of molecular microbiology and immunology at the University of Missouri School of Medicine. Amy Kirby , program lead for the National Wastewater Surveillance System at the Cente...
Feb 29, 2024•52 min•Ep. 578
It used to feel like magic. Now it can feel like a set of cheap tricks. Is the problem with Google — or with us? And is Google Search finally facing a real rival, in the form of A.I.-powered “answer engines”? SOURCES: Marissa Mayer , co-founder of Sunshine; former C.E.O. of Yahoo! and vice president at Google. Ryan McDevitt ; professor of economics at Duke University. Tim Hwang , media researcher and author; former Google employee. Elizabeth Reid , vice president of Search at Google. Aravind Sri...
Feb 22, 2024•57 min•Ep. 522
A wide-open conversation with three women who guided Richard Feynman through some big adventures at the Esalen Institute. (Part of our Feynman series .) SOURCES: Barbara Berg, friend of Richard Feynman. Cheryl Haley, friend of Richard Feynman. Debby Harlow, friend of Richard Feynma Sam Stern, content creator at the Esalen Institute. EXTRAS: Richard Feynman Series , by Freakonomics Radio (2024). " The Future of Therapy Is Psychedelic ," by People I (Mostly) Admire (2023)....
Feb 19, 2024•48 min
In his final years, Richard Feynman's curiosity took him to some surprising places. We hear from his companions on the trips he took — and one he wasn’t able to. (Part three of a three-part series .) SOURCES: Alan Alda , actor and screenwriter. Barbara Berg, friend of Richard Feynman. Helen Czerski , physicist and oceanographer at University College London. Michelle Feynman , photographer and daughter of Richard Feynman. Cheryl Haley, friend of Richard Feynman. Debby Harlow, friend of Richard Fe...
Feb 15, 2024•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 577
What happens when an existentially depressed and recently widowed young physicist from Queens gets a fresh start in California? We follow Richard Feynman out west, to explore his long and extremely fruitful second act. (Part two of a three-part series .) SOURCES: Seamus Blackley , video game designer and creator of the Xbox. Carl Feynman , computer scientist and son of Richard Feynman. Michelle Feynman , photographer and daughter of Richard Feynman. Ralph Leighton , biographer and film producer....
Feb 08, 2024•53 min•Ep. 576
They’re heading to the Super Bowl for the second time in five years. But back in 2018, they were coming off a long losing streak — and that’s the year we sat down with 49ers players, coaches, and executives to hear their turnaround plans. It’s probably time to consider the turnaround a success. SOURCES: Jimmy Garoppolo , quarterback for the Las Vegas Raiders; former quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers. Al Guido , president of the San Francisco 49ers. Kyle Juszczyk , fullback for the San Fran...
Feb 05, 2024•1 hr 4 min
From the Manhattan Project to the Challenger investigation, the physicist Richard Feynman loved to shoot down what he called “lousy ideas.” Today, the world is awash in lousy ideas — so maybe it’s time to get some more Feynman in our lives? (Part one of a three-part series.) SOURCES: Helen Czerski , physicist and oceanographer at University College London. Michelle Feynman , photographer and daughter of Richard Feynman. Ralph Leighton , biographer and film producer. Charles Mann , science journa...
Feb 01, 2024•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 575
Michael Roth of Wesleyan University doesn’t hang out with other university presidents. He also thinks some of them have failed a basic test of good sense and decency. It’s time for a conversation about college, and courage. SOURCE: Michael S. Roth , president of Wesleyan University. RESOURCES: " Opinion: College Presidents Are Supposed to Be Moral Leaders, Not Evasive Bureaucrats ," by Michael S. Roth ( Los Angeles Times, 2023). " Transcript: What Harvard, MIT and Penn Presidents Said at Antisem...
Jan 25, 2024•47 min•Ep. 574
We all like to throw around terms that describe human behavior — “bystander apathy” and “steep learning curve” and “hard-wired.” Most of the time, they don’t actually mean what we think they mean. But don’t worry — the experts are getting it wrong, too. SOURCES: Sharon Begley , senior science writer for Stat at The Boston Globe . Jerome Kagan , emeritus professor of psychology at Harvard University. Bibb Latané , social psychologist and senior fellow at the Center for Human Science. Scott Lilien...
Jan 22, 2024•49 min
Probably not — the incentives are too strong. Scholarly publishing is a $28 billion global industry, with misconduct at every level. But a few reformers are gaining ground. (Part 2 of 2) SOURCES: Max Bazerman , professor of business administration at Harvard Business School. Leif Nelson , professor of business administration at the University of California, Berkeley Haas School of Business. Brian Nosek , professor of psychology at the University of Virginia and executive director at the Center f...
Jan 18, 2024•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 573
