Freakonomics Radio
Thursday at 3pm and Sunday at Noon
Freakonomics Radio ferrets out connections between seemingly unrelated things. The program explores the riddles of everyday life and the weird wrinkles of human nature-from cheating and crime to parenting and sports-using the tools of economics to explore real-world behavior.
Booksavers of Virginia and Gift and Thrift are proud to sponsor Freakonomics Radio on WMRA.
Credit Audrey S. Bernstein
Host Stephen J. Dubner discovers the hidden side of everything in interviews with Nobel laureates and provocateurs, social scientists and entrepreneurs-and with his "Freakonomics" co-author Steve Levitt.
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Are we living through the most revolutionary period in history? 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. The post Season 13, Episode 34 appeared first on Freakonomics.
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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.) The post Season 13, Episode 33 appeared first on Freakonomics.
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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.) The post Season 13, Episode 32 appeared first on Freakonomics.
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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.) The post Season 13, Episode 31 appeared first on Freakonomics.
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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. The post Season 13, Episode 30 appeared first on Freakonomics.
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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. The post Season 13, Episode 29 appeared first on Freakonomics.
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We conclude our series on Richard Feynman. And later: Google 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”? The post Season 13, Episode 28 appeared first on Freakonomics.
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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 series.) The post Season 13, Episode 27 appeared first on Freakonomics.
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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 series.) The post Season 13, Episode 26 appeared first on Freakonomics.
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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 series.) The post Season 13, Episode 25 appeared first on Freakonomics.
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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. The post Season 13, Episode 24 appeared first on Freakonomics.
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We conclude our series on academic fraud. And later: 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. The post Season 13, Episode 23 appeared first on Freakonomics.