654. Is the Public Ready for Private Equity?
21 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
A Trump executive order is giving retail investors more access to private markets. Is that a golden ...
653. Does Horse Racing Have a Future?
14 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Thoroughbred auction prices keep setting records. But tracks are closing, gambling revenues are fall...
What Happens When You Turn 20
12 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The world has changed a good bit since Freakonomics was first published. In this live anniversary ep...
652. Inside the Horse-Industrial Complex
07 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
How does Kentucky keep itself atop the thoroughbred industry? Is a champion stallion really worth $2...
651. The Ultimate Dance Partner
31 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
For most of human history, horsepower made the world go. Then came the machines. So why are there st...
Are Two C.E.O.s Better Than One? (Update)
29 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Spotify, Oracle, and Comcast have each recently announced they’re going with co-C.E.O.s. In this 2...
650. The Doctor Won’t See You Now
24 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The U.S. has a physician shortage, created in part by a century-old reform that shut down bad medica...
A Question-Asker Becomes a Question-Answerer
17 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
For the 20th anniversary of Freakonomics, Debbie Millman of Design Matters interviews Stephen Dubner...
How Can We Break Our Addiction to Contempt? (Update)
15 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Arthur Brooks, an economist and former head of the American Enterprise Institute, believes that ther...
649. Should Ohio State (and Michigan, and Clemson) Join the N.F.L.?
10 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Soccer leagues around the world use a promotion-and-relegation system to reward the best teams and p...
648. The Merger You Never Knew You Wanted
03 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The N.F.L. is a powerful cartel with imperial desires. College football is about to undergo a financ...
Is the U.S. Really Less Corrupt Than China? (Update)
26 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode we first published in 2021, the political scientist Yuen Yuen Ang argues that differ...
647. China Is Run by Engineers. America Is Run by Lawyers.
19 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In his new book “Breakneck,” Dan Wang argues that the U.S. has a lot to learn from China. He als...
Is the World Ready for a Guaranteed Basic Income? (Update)
17 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
A lot of jobs in the modern economy don’t pay a living wage, and some of those jobs may be wiped o...
646. An Air Traffic Controller Walks Into a Radio Studio ...
12 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
What does it take to “play 3D chess at 250 miles an hour”? And how far will $12.5 billion of “...
645. Is the Air Traffic Control System Broken?
05 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Flying in the U.S. is still exceptionally safe, but the system relies on outdated tech and is under ...
644. Has America Lost Its Appetite for the Common Good?
29 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Patrick Deneen, a political philosopher at Notre Dame, says yes. He was a Democrat for years, and ha...
Extra: A Modern Whaler Speaks Up (Update)
27 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Bjørn Andersen has killed hundreds of minke whales. He tells us how he does it, why he does it, and...
What Can Whales Teach Us About Clean Energy, Workplace Harmony, and Living the Good Life? (Update)
22 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In the final episode of our whale series, we learn about fecal plumes, shipping noise, and why Moby-...
Why Do People Still Hunt Whales? (Update)
15 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
For years, whale oil was used as lighting fuel, industrial lubricant, and the main ingredient in (yu...
The First Great American Industry (Update)
08 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Whaling was, in the words of one scholar, “early capitalism unleashed on the high seas.” How did...
Why Does Tipping Still Exist? (Update)
06 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
It’s a haphazard way of paying workers, and yet it keeps expanding. With federal tax policy shifti...
643. Why Do Candles Still Exist?
01 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
They should have died out when the lightbulb was invented. Instead they’re a $10 billion industry....
642. How to Wage Peace, According to Tony Blinken
25 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The former secretary of state isn’t a flamethrower, but he certainly has strong opinions. In this ...
Why Does One Tiny State Set the Rules for Everyone? (Update)
23 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Until recently, Delaware was almost universally agreed to be the best place for companies to incorpo...
641. What Does It Cost to Lead a Creative Life?
18 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
For years, the playwright David Adjmi was considered “polarizing and difficult.” But creating St...
640. Why Governments Are Betting Big on Sports
11 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The Gulf States and China are spending billions to build stadiums and buy up teams — but what are ...
How to Make Your Own Luck (Update)
09 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Before she decided to become a poker pro, Maria Konnikova didn’t know how many cards are in a deck...
639. “This Country Kicks My Ass All the Time”
04 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Cory Booker on the politics of fear, the politics of hope, and how to split the difference. SOURCES...
638. Are You Ready for the Elder Swell?
27 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In the U.S., there will soon be more people over 65 than there are under 18 — and it’s not just ...
What Do Medieval Nuns and Bo Jackson Have in Common? (Update)
25 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode from 2013, we look at whether spite pays — and if it even exists. SOURCES:Benedik...
637. What It’s Like to Be Middle-Aged (in the Middle Ages)
20 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The simplicity of life back then is appealing today, as long as you don’t mind Church hegemony, th...
636. Why Aren’t We Having More Babies?
13 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
For decades, the great fear was overpopulation. Now it’s the opposite. How did this happen — and...
An Economics Lesson from a Talking Pencil (Update)
11 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
A famous essay argues that “not a single person on the face of this earth” knows how to make a p...
635. Can a Museum Be the Conscience of a Nation?
06 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Nicholas Cullinan, the new director of the British Museum, seems to think so. “I'm not afraid of t...
634. “Fault-Finder Is a Minimum-Wage Job”
30 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Austan Goolsbee, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, is less reserved than the average...
633. The Most Powerful People You’ve Never Heard Of
23 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Just beneath the surface of the global economy, there is a hidden layer of dealmakers for whom war, ...
How to Succeed at Failing, Part 4: Extreme Resiliency (Update)
21 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas • Default Dataset
Everyone makes mistakes. How do we learn from them? Lessons from the classroom, the Air Force, and t...
How to Succeed at Failing, Part 3: Grit vs. Quit (Update)
16 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas • Default Dataset
Giving up can be painful. That's why we need to talk about it. Today: stories about glitchy apps, le...
How to Succeed at Failing, Part 2: Life and Death (Update)
14 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas • Default Dataset
In medicine, failure can be catastrophic. It can also produce discoveries that save millions of live...
How to Succeed at Failing, Part 1: The Chain of Events (Update)
09 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas • Default Dataset
We tend to think of tragedies as a single terrible moment, rather than the result of multiple bad de...
632. When Did We All Start Watching Documentaries?
02 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
It used to be that making documentary films meant taking a vow of poverty (and obscurity). The strea...
631. Will "3 Summers of Lincoln" Make It to Broadway?
25 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas • Default Dataset
It’s been in development for five years and has at least a year to go. On the eve of its out-of-to...
Is It a Theater Piece or a Psychological Experiment? (Update)
23 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas • Default Dataset
In an episode from 2012, we looked at what Sleep No More and the Stanford Prison Experiment can tell...
630. On Broadway, Nobody Knows Nothing
18 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas • Default Dataset
A hit like Hamilton can come from nowhere while a sure bet can lose $20 million in a flash. We speak...
629. How Is Live Theater Still Alive?
11 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas • Default Dataset
It has become fiendishly expensive to produce, and has more competition than ever. And yet the belie...
Policymaking Is Not a Science — Yet (Update)
09 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas • Default Dataset
Why do so many promising solutions in education, medicine, and criminal justice fail to scale up int...
628. Sludge, Part 2: Is Government the Problem, or the Solution?
04 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas • Default Dataset
There is no sludgier place in America than Washington, D.C. But there are signs of a change. We’ll...
627. Sludge, Part 1: The World Is Drowning in It
28 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas • Default Dataset
Insurance forms that make no sense. Subscriptions that can’t be cancelled. A never-ending blizzard...
Should America Be Run by … Trader Joe’s? (Update)
21 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas • Default Dataset
The quirky little grocery chain with California roots and German ownership has a lot to teach all of...
626. Ten Myths About the U.S. Tax System
14 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas • Default Dataset
Nearly everything that politicians say about taxes is at least half a lie. They are also dishonest w...
625. The Biden Policy That Trump Hasn’t Touched
07 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas • Default Dataset
Lina Khan, the youngest F.T.C. chair in history, reset U.S. antitrust policy by thwarting mega-merge...
EXTRA: The Downside of Disgust (Update)
05 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas • Default Dataset
It’s a powerful biological response that has preserved our species for millennia. But now it may b...
624. The Animal No One Loves, Until They Do
28 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas • Default Dataset
To most people, the rat is vile and villainous. But not to everyone! We hear from a scientist who be...
623. Can New York City Win Its War on Rats?
21 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas • Default Dataset
Even with a new rat czar, an arsenal of poisons, and a fleet of new garbage trucks, it won’t be ea...
The Show That Never Happened
20 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas • Default Dataset
A brief meditation on loss, relativity, and the vagaries of show business.RESOURCES:Billie Eilish: T...
622. Why Does Everyone Hate Rats?
14 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas • Default Dataset
New York City’s mayor calls them “public enemy number one.” History books say they caused the ...
621. Is Professional Licensing a Racket?
07 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas • Default Dataset
Licensing began with medicine and law; now it extends to 20 percent of the U.S. workforce, including...
When Is a Superstar Just Another Employee?
05 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas • Default Dataset
In 2023, the N.F.L. players’ union conducted a workplace survey that revealed clogged showers, rat...
620. Why Don’t Running Backs Get Paid Anymore?
31 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas • Default Dataset
They used to be the N.F.L.’s biggest stars, with paychecks to match. Now their salaries are near t...
619. How to Poison the A.I. Machine
24 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas • Default Dataset
When the computer scientist Ben Zhao learned that artists were having their work stolen by A.I. mode...
Is San Francisco a Failed State? (And Other Questions You Shouldn’t Ask the Mayor)
22 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas • Default Dataset
Stephen Dubner, live on stage, mixes it up with outbound mayor London Breed, and asks economists whe...
618. Are Realtors Having an Existential Crisis?
17 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas • Default Dataset
Their trade organization just lost a huge lawsuit. Their infamous commission model is under attack. ...
617. Are You Really Allergic to Penicillin?
10 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas • Default Dataset
Like tens of millions of people, Stephen Dubner thought he had a penicillin allergy. Like the vast m...
Highway Signs and Prison Labor
06 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas • Default Dataset
Incarcerated people grow crops, fight wildfires, and manufacture everything from prescription glasse...
Can Academic Fraud Be Stopped? (Update)
02 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas • Default Dataset
Probably not — the incentives are too strong. But a few reformers are trying. We check in on their...
Why Is There So Much Fraud in Academia? (Update)
26 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas • Default Dataset
Some of the biggest names in behavioral science stand accused of faking their results. Last year, an...
Your Brain Doesn’t Work the Way You Think
23 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas • Default Dataset
David Eagleman upends myths and describes the vast possibilities of a brainscape that even neuroscie...
616. How to Make Something from Nothing
19 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas • Default Dataset
Adam Moss was the best magazine editor of his generation. When he retired, he took up painting. But ...
615. Is Ozempic as Magical as It Sounds?
12 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In a wide-ranging conversation with Ezekiel Emanuel, the policymaking physician and medical gadfly, ...
How the Supermarket Helped America Win the Cold War (Update)
09 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas • Default Dataset
Last week, we heard a former U.S. ambassador describe Russia’s escalating conflict with the U.S. T...
614. Is the U.S. Sleeping on Threats from Russia and China?
05 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
John J. Sullivan, a former State Department official and U.S. ambassador, says yes: “Our politicia...
613. Dying Is Easy. Retail Is Hard.
28 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Macy’s wants to recapture its glorious past. The author of the Wimpy Kid books wants to rebuild hi...
612. Is Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade Its Most Valuable Asset?
21 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The 166-year-old chain, which is fighting extinction, calls the parade its “gift to the nation.”...
How to Stop Worrying and Love the Robot Apocalypse (Update)
18 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
It’s true that robots (and other smart technologies) will kill many jobs. It may also be true that...
611. Fareed Zakaria on What Just Happened, and What Comes Next
14 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
After a dramatic election, Donald Trump has returned from exile. We hear what to expect at home and ...
610. Who Wins and Who Loses Once the U.S. Legalizes Weed?
07 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Some people want the new cannabis economy to look like the craft-beer movement. Others are hoping to...
609. What Does It Take to Run a Cannabis Farm?
31 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Chris Weld worked for years in emergency rooms, then ditched that career and bought an old farm in M...
Abortion and Crime, Revisited (Update)
28 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
With abortion on the Nov. 5 ballot, we look back at Steve Levitt’s controversial research about an...
608. Cannabis Is Booming, So Why Isn’t Anyone Getting Rich?
24 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
There are a lot of reasons, including heavy regulations, high taxes, and competition from illegal we...
607. Is America Switching From Booze to Weed?
17 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We have always been a nation of drinkers — but now there are more daily users of cannabis than al...
606. How to Predict the Presidency
11 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Are betting markets more accurate than polls? What kind of chaos would a second Trump term bring? An...
Has the U.S. Presidency Become a Dictatorship? (Update)
10 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Sure, we all pay lip service to the Madisonian system of checks and balances. But presidents have be...
605. What Do People Do All Day?
03 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Sixty percent of the jobs that Americans do today didn’t exist in 1940. What happens as our labor ...
EXTRA: Roland Fryer Refuses to Lie to Black America (Update)
30 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
His research on police brutality and school incentives won him acclaim, but also enemies. He was sus...
604. Did the N.F.L. Solve Diversity Hiring? (Part 2)
26 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
What happened when the Rooney Rule made its way from pro football to corporate America? Some progres...
603. Did the N.F.L. Solve Diversity Hiring? (Part 1)
19 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The biggest sports league in history had a problem: While most of its players were Black, almost non...
EXTRA: In Praise of Maintenance (Update)
16 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We revisit an episode from 2016 that asks: Has our culture’s obsession with innovation led us to n...
602. Is Screen Time as Poisonous as We Think?
12 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Young people have been reporting a sharp rise in anxiety and depression. This maps neatly onto the g...
601. Multitasking Doesn’t Work. So Why Do We Keep Trying?
05 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Only a tiny number of “supertaskers” are capable of doing two things at once. The rest of us are...
What Is the Future of College — and Does It Have Room for Men? (Update)
29 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Educators and economists tell us all the reasons college enrollment has been dropping, especially fo...
EXTRA: Why Quitting Is Usually Worth It
26 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Stephen Dubner appears as a guest on Fail Better, a new podcast hosted by David Duchovny. The two of...
The University of Impossible-to-Get-Into (Update)
22 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
America’s top colleges are facing record demand. So why don’t they increase supply? (Part 2 of o...
What Exactly Is College For? (Update)
15 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We think of them as intellectual enclaves and the surest route to a better life. But U.S. colleges a...
EXTRA: Here’s Why You’re Not an Elite Athlete (Update)
12 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
There are a lot of factors that go into greatness, many of which are not obvious. As the Olympics co...
600. “If We’re All in It for Ourselves, Who Are We?”
08 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Tania Tetlow, a former federal prosecutor and now the president of Fordham University, thinks the mo...
599. The World's Most Valuable Unused Resource
01 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
It’s not oil or water or plutonium — it’s human hours. We've got an idea for putting them to u...
EXTRA: Why Rent Control Doesn’t Work (Update)
29 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
A new proposal from the Biden administration calls for a nationwide cap on rent increases. Economist...
598. Is Overconsolidation a Threat to Democracy?
25 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
That’s the worry. Even the humble eyeglass industry is dominated by a single firm. We look into t...
597. Why Do Your Eyeglasses Cost $1,000?
18 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
A single company, EssilorLuxottica, owns so much of the eyewear industry that it’s hard to escape ...