776 episodes

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.

Join the Freakonomics Radio Plus membership program for weekly member-only episodes of Freakonomics Radio. You’ll also get every show in our network without ads. To sign up, visit our show page on Apple Podcasts or go to freakonomics.com/plus.

Freakonomics Radio Freakonomics Radio

    • Society & Culture
    • 4.5 • 29.3K Ratings

Listen on Apple Podcasts
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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.

Join the Freakonomics Radio Plus membership program for weekly member-only episodes of Freakonomics Radio. You’ll also get every show in our network without ads. To sign up, visit our show page on Apple Podcasts or go to freakonomics.com/plus.

Listen on Apple Podcasts
Requires subscription and macOS 11.4 or higher

    Extra: Why Is 23andMe Going Under? (Update)

    Extra: Why Is 23andMe Going Under? (Update)

    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.

    • 1 hr 2 min
    Extra: Why Is 23andMe Going Under? (Update)

    Extra: Why Is 23andMe Going Under? (Update)

    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.

    585. A Social Activist in Prime Minister’s Clothing

    585. A Social Activist in Prime Minister’s Clothing

    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?

    • 52 min
    584. How to Pave the Road to Hell

    584. How to Pave the Road to Hell

    So you want to help people? That’s great — but beware the law of unintended consequences. Three stories from the modern workplace.

    • 43 min
    Extra: The Men Who Started a Thinking Revolution (Update)

    Extra: The Men Who Started a Thinking Revolution (Update)

    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.

    • 34 min
    Extra: The Men Who Started a Thinking Revolution (Update)

    Extra: The Men Who Started a Thinking Revolution (Update)

    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.

Customer Reviews

4.5 out of 5
29.3K Ratings

29.3K Ratings

J_S_<3 ,

Great!

So super cool!

pkm670218 ,

Add some balance to political topics

I’ve been listening to and loving this show for years, but am also beginning to feel a lack of balance in presentation. I have to agree with the earlier comment, that giving Trudeau what effectively was a 45 minute political infomercial calls for some balance from the other side. Perhaps Harper, who is a very thoughtful, well spoken economist and presided over a very successful decade in Canada’s history, should get 45 minutes as well.

Morgan Ward ,

Worth my precious time

I’ll start at the end. For me the show is summed up in the sign off “Take care of yourself and if possible someone else “. Week after week the shows’s subject is a matter of how we interact with each other and challenges us to think about how to improve the relationship between us all. I look forward to the next and return to listen to many previous episodes. In the glut of information this cuts through and offers real insight and value.

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