Freakonomics Radio

Only a tiny number of “supertaskers” are capable of doing two things at once. The rest of us are just making ourselves miserable, and less productive. How can we put the — hang on a second, I've just got to get this. Come see Stephen Dubner live! “A Questionable Evening: A strategic interrogation from two people who ask questions for a living,” featuring Stephen Dubner and PJ Vogt from Search Engine. Thursday, Sept. 26th, at the Bell House in Brooklyn, NY. https://www.eventbrite.com/e/a-questionable-evening-evening-with-stephen-dubner-and-pj-vogt-tickets-1002544747327 SOURCES:Olivia GraceGloria MarkDavid Strayer RESOURCES:Immersion in Nature Enhances Neural Indices of Executive AttentionNature: Scientific Reports, Contribution to the Study on the ‘Right to Disconnect’ From Work. Are France and Spain Examples for Other Countries and E.U. Law?European Labour Law Journal, Task Errors by Emergency Physicians Are Associated With Interruptions, Multitasking, Fatigue and Working Memory Capacity: A Prospective, Direct Observation StudyBMJ Quality & Safety, Supertaskers: Profiles in Extraordinary Multitasking AbilityPsychonomic Bulletin & Review, The Effects of Video Game Playing on Attention, Memory, and Executive ControlActa Psychologica, 'Constant, Constant, Multi-Tasking Craziness': Managing Multiple Working SpheresProceedings of the 2004 Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, CHI, EXTRAS:Why Is the U.S. So Good at Killing Pedestrians?Freakonomics Radio Why Did You Marry That Person?Freakonomics Radio How Much Should We Be Able to Customize Our World?No Stupid Questions

Educators and economists tell us all the reasons college enrollment has been dropping, especially for men, and how to stop the bleeding. (Part 3 of our series from 2022, “Freakonomics Radio Goes Back to School.”) SOURCES:Zachary BleemerD'Wayne EdwardsCatharine HillPano KanelosAmalia MillerDonald RuffMorton SchapiroRuth SimmonsMiguel Urquiola RESOURCES:What Gay Men’s Stunning Success Might Teach Us About the Academic Gender GapThe Washington PostWe Can't Wait for Universities to Fix Themselves. So We're Starting a New OneCommon SenseAcademic Freedom in Crisis: Punishment, Political Discrimination, and Self-CensorshipA Generation of American Men Give Up on College: ‘I Just Feel Lost’The Wall Street JournalCommunity Colleges and Upward MobilityNBER Working PaperElite Schools and Opting In: Effects of College Selectivity on Career and Family OutcomesNBER Working PaperLeaving Boys Behind: Gender Disparities in High Academic AchievementNBER Working Paper EXTRAS:Freakonomics Radio Goes Back to SchoolFreakonomics Radio 'If We’re All in It for Ourselves, Who Are We?'Freakonomics Radio

Stephen Dubner appears as a guest on Fail Better, a new podcast hosted by David Duchovny. The two of them trade stories about failure, and ponder the lessons that success could never teach. SOURCES:David Duchovny RESOURCES:Martin Seligman and the Rise of Positive PsychologyHumanities, Rick Reilly: ‘Donald Trump Will Cheat You on the Golf Course and Then Buy You LunchThe Guardian, How The X-Files Invented Modern TelevisionVox, Happiness & the GorillaNo Mercy/No Malice, EXTRAS:Fail Better with David Duchovny,How to Succeed at FailingFreakonomics Radio Annie Duke Thinks You Should QuitPeople I (Mostly) Admire The Upside of QuittingFreakonomics Radio

America’s top colleges are facing record demand. So why don’t they increase supply? (Part 2 of our series from 2022, “Freakonomics Radio Goes Back to School.”) SOURCES:Peter BlairZachary BleemerAmalia MillerMorton SchapiroMiguel Urquiola RESOURCES:Elite Schools and Opting In: Effects of College Selectivity on Career and Family OutcomesJournal of Labor EconomicsWhy Don’t Elite Colleges Expand Supply?NBER Working PaperLori Loughlin Pleads Guilty via Zoom in College Admissions CaseThe New York TimesMarkets, Minds, and Money: Why America Leads the World in University ResearchTo Cheat and Lie in L.A.: How the College-Admissions Scandal Ensnared the Richest Families in Southern CaliforniaVanity FairThe Case Against Education: Why the Education System Is a Waste of Time and MoneyThe World Might Be Better Off Without College for EveryoneThe AtlanticAre Tenure Track Professors Better Teachers?NBER Working PaperEstimating the Payoff to Attending a More Selective College: An Application of Selection on Observables and UnobservablesNBER Working PaperReport on the University’s Role in Political and Social Action EXTRAS:What Exactly Is College For? (Update)Freakonomics Radio

We think of them as intellectual enclaves and the surest route to a better life. But U.S. colleges also operate like firms, trying to differentiate their products to win market share and prestige points. In the first episode of a special series originally published in 2022, we ask what our chaotic system gets right — and wrong. (Part 1 of “Freakonomics Radio Goes Back to School.”) SOURCES:Peter BlairCatharine HillMorton SchapiroRuth SimmonsMiguel Urquiola RESOURCES:Progressivity of Pricing at U.S. Public UniversitiesNBER Working PaperCommunity Colleges and Upward MobilityNBER Working PaperHow HBCUs Can Accelerate Black Economic MobilityMarkets, Minds, and Money: Why America Leads the World in University ResearchMobility Report Cards: The Role of Colleges in Intergenerational MobilityNBER Working Paper EXTRAS:'If We’re All in It for Ourselves, Who Are We?'Freakonomics Radio 'A Low Moment in Higher EducationFreakonomics Radio The $1.5 Trillion Question: How to Fix Student-Loan Debt?Freakonomics RadioWhy Larry Summers Is the Economist Everyone Hates to LoveFreakonomics Radio

There are a lot of factors that go into greatness, many of which are not obvious. As the Olympics come to a close, we revisit a 2018 episode in which top athletes from a variety of sports tell us how they made it, and what they sacrificed. SOURCES:Lance ArmstrongDavid CantonDavid EpsteinDomonique FoxworthJustin HumphriesAndre IngramShawn JohnsonSteve LevittSimone ManuelBrandon McCarthyMike McGlincheyDaryl MoreyLauren MurphyKim NgJJ RedickMikaela ShiffrinMark TeixeiraSudhir VenkateshKerri Walsh-Jennings RESOURCES:Compromising Talent: Issues in Identifying and Selecting Talent in SportQuest, Practice and Play in the Development of German Top-Level Professional Football PlayersEuropean Journal of Sport Science, The Sports Gene, The Effect of Deliberate Play on Tactical Performance in BasketballPerceptual and Motor Skills, EXTRAS:The Hidden Side of SportsFreakonomics Radio How to Become Great at Just About AnythingFreakonomics Radio

Tania Tetlow, a former federal prosecutor and now the president of Fordham University, thinks the modern campus could use a dose of old-fashioned values. SOURCE:Tania Tetlow RESOURCES:Not a Priest, Not a Man, but Ready to Run FordhamThe New York Times, Tech Glitch Upends Financial Aid for About a Million StudentsThe Wall Street Journal, Where Protesters on U.S. Campuses Have Been Arrested or DetainedThe New York Times, 15 Arrested as NYPD Clears Protester Encampment at Fordham's Lincoln Center CampusNBC News, Inside the Week That Shook Columbia UniversityThe New York Times, Address of his Holiness Pope Francis to the Members of the Blanquerna — Universitat Ramón Llull Foundation, BarcelonaThe Holy See Press Office BulletinWhy Don’t Elite Colleges Expand Supply?NBER Working Paper, EXTRAS:Freakonomics Radio Goes Back to SchoolFreakonomics Radio

It’s not oil or water or plutonium — it’s human hours. We've got an idea for putting them to use, and for building a more human-centered economy. But we need your help. SOURCES:Nathan DietzAl RothKrista Wyatt Timebanks.orgAndrew Yang RESOURCES:The Employment Effects of a Guaranteed Income: Experimental Evidence from Two U.S. StatesNBER Working Paper, Where Are America's VolunteersBelieve in PeopleThe Pencil, No More Throw-Away People: The Co-Production Imperative, Time Dollars: The New Currency That Enables Americans to Turn Their Hidden Resource-Time-Into Personal Security and Community Renewal, EXTRAS:Why Don’t We Have Better Candidates for President?Freakonomics Radio Andrew Yang Is Not Giving Up on Politics — or the U.S. — YetPeople I (Mostly) Admire The Future of New York City Is in Question. Could Andrew Yang Be the Answer?Freakonomics Radio Why Is This Man Running for President? (Update)Freakonomics Radio Make Me a MatchFreakonomics Radio

A new proposal from the Biden administration calls for a nationwide cap on rent increases. Economists think that’s a terrible idea. We revisit a 2019 episode to hear why. SOURCES:Tommy AnderssonVicki BeenRebecca DiamondDavid EisenbachEd Glaeser RESOURCES:The State of the Nation's Housing 2024The Effects of Rent Control Expansion on Tenants, Landlords, and Inequality: Evidence from San FranciscoAmerican Economic ReviewHousing Market Spillovers: Evidence from the End of Rent Control in Cambridge, MassachusettsJournal of Political EconomyAn Econometric Analysis of Rent ControlJournal of Political EconomyRoofs or Ceilings?: The Current Housing Problem

That’s the worry. Even the humble eyeglass industry is dominated by a single firm. We look into the global spike in myopia, how the Lemtosh got its name, and what your eye doctor knows that you don’t. (Part two of a two-part series.) SOURCES:Maria LiuHarvey MoscotZachary MoscotCédric RossiTim Wu RESOURCES:Meta in Talks to Buy Stake in Eyewear Giant EssilorLuxotticaThe Wall Street Journal, The Story Behind Soaring Myopia Among KidsBody Electric, Why So Many People Need Glasses NowVox, Eyes on World Sight: Taking Action to Advance Eye Health in ChinaGlobal Prevalence of Myopia and High Myopia and Temporal Trends from 2000 through 2050Ophthalmology, Increased Prevalence of Myopia in the United States Between 1971-1972 and 1999-2004Archives of Ophthalmology, EXTRAS:The Economics of EyeglassesFreakonomics Radio

A single company, EssilorLuxottica, owns so much of the eyewear industry that it’s hard to escape their gravitational pull — or their “obscene” markups. Should regulators do something? Can Warby Parker steal market share? And how did Ray-Bans become a luxury brand? (Part one of a two-part series.) SOURCES:Neil BlumenthalDave GilboaJessica GlasscockNeil HandleyRyan McDevittCédric RossiTim Wu RESOURCES:Leonardo Del Vecchio Dies at 87; Transformed Eyeglass IndustryThe New York Times, Making a Spectacle: A Fashionable History of Glasses, Dave Gilboa and Neil Blumenthal: ‍A Vision for BusinessCNBC, The Roots of Big Tech Run Disturbingly DeepThe New York Times, The Spectacular Power of Big LensThe Guardian, The Curse of Bigness: Antitrust in the New Gilded Age, Statement of the Federal Trade Commission Concerning the Proposed Acquisition of Luxottica Group S.p.A. by Essilor International (Compagnie Generale d’Optique) S.A.Cult Eyewear: The World's Enduring Classics, A Far-Sighted Man, EXTRAS:Direct-to-Consumer MattressesThe Economics of Everyday Things Are Two C.E.O.s Better Than One?Freakonomics Radio Are We in a Mattress-Store Bubble?Freakonomics Radio

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. In an interview from 2018, 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. SOURCES:Richard Thaler RESOURCES:Behavioral EconomicsThe Past, Present, and Future of Economics: A Celebration of the 125-Year Anniversary of the JPE and of Chicago EconomicsMisbehaving: The Making of Behavioral EconomicsNudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness, EXTRAS:Farewell to a Generational TalentFreakonomics Radio Why Is Richard Thaler Such a ****ing Optimist?People I (Mostly) Admire All You Need Is NudgeFreakonomics Radio How to Launch a Behavior-Change RevolutionFreakonomics Radio How To Win A Nobel PrizeFreakonomics Radio The Big Short,

Daniel Kahneman left his mark on academia (and the real world) in countless ways. A group of his friends and colleagues recently gathered in Chicago to reflect on this legacy — and we were there, with microphones. SOURCES:Maya Bar-HillelShane FrederickThomas GilovichMatt KillingsworthBarbara MellersEldar ShafirRichard Thaler RESOURCES:Experienced Well-Being Rises With Income, Even Above $75,000 Per YearPNAS, The False Allure of Fast LuresJudgment and Decision Making, Learning Psychology From Riddles: The Case of StumpersJudgment and Decision Making, Thinking, Fast and Slow, High Income Improves Evaluation of Life but Not Emotional Well-BeingPNAS, Varieties of Regret: A Debate and Partial ResolutionPsychological Review, Some Counterfactual Determinants of Satisfaction and RegretWhat Might Have Been: The Social Psychology of Counterfactual Thinking, EXTRAS:Remembering Daniel KahnemanPeople I (Mostly) Admire Academic FraudFreakonomics Radio Here’s Why All Your Projects Are Always Late — and What to Do About ItFreakonomics Radio The Men Who Started a Thinking RevolutionFreakonomics Radio

American politics is trapped in a duopoly, with two all-powerful parties colluding to stifle competition. We revisit a 2018 episode to explain how the political industry works, and talk to a reformer (and former presidential candidate) who is pushing for change. SOURCES:Katherine GehlMichael PorterAndrew Yang RESOURCES:Why U.S. Politics Is Broken — and How to Fix ItTED, The Politics Industry: How Political Innovation Can Break Partisan Gridlock and Save Our Democracy, Why Competition in the Politics Industry is Failing AmericaHarvard Business School, Stronger Parties, Stronger Democracy: Rethinking ReformBrennan Center for Justice, On CompetitionCompetitive Strategy: Techniques for Analyzing Industries and Competitors EXTRAS:Andrew Yang Is Not Giving Up on Politics — or the U.S. — YetPeople I (Mostly) Admire The Future of New York City Is in Question. Could Andrew Yang Be the Answer?Freakonomics Radio Why Is This Man Running for President? (Update)Freakonomics Radio Ten Ideas to Make Politics Less RottenFreakonomics Radio

It’s hard to know whether the benefits of hiring a celebrity are worth the risk. We dig into one gruesome story of an endorsement gone wrong, and find a surprising result. SOURCES:John CawleyElizabeth (Zab) JohnsonAlvin Roth RESOURCES:Kanye and Adidas: Money, Misconduct and the Price of AppeasementThe New York Times, The Role of Repugnance in Markets: How the Jared Fogle Scandal Affected Patronage of SubwayNBER Working Paper, How Celebrity Status and Gaze Direction in Ads Drive Visual Attention to Shape Consumer DecisionsPsychology & Marketing, Consumer Responses to Firms’ Voluntary Disclosure of Information: Evidence from Calorie Labeling by StarbucksNBER Working Paper, Consumer Heterogeneity and Paid Search Effectiveness: A Large Scale Field ExperimentNBER Working Paper, The Economics of ObesityThe Reporter, Repugnance as a Constraint on MarketsJournal of Economic Perspectives, EXTRAS:Does Advertising Actually Work? (Part 2: Digital)Freakonomics Radio Does Advertising Actually Work? (Part 1: TV)Freakonomics Radio

Broadway operates on a winner-take-most business model. A runaway hit like Stereophonic — which just won five Tony Awards — will create a few big winners. But even the stars of the show will have to go elsewhere to make real money. (Part two of a two-part series.) SOURCES:David AdjmiSonia FriedmanJohn JohnsonTom PecinkaSarah Pidgeon RESOURCES:Tony Award Winners 2024: The Full ListThe New York Times, Everything to Know About the Stranger Things: The First Shadow Play in LondonTudum, Stereophonic EXTRAS:How to Make the Coolest Show on BroadwayFreakonomics Radio

The Berlin dance mecca Berghain is known for its eight-hour line and inscrutable door policy. PJ Vogt, host of the podcast Search Engine, joins us to crack the code. It has to do with Cold War rivalries, German tax law, and one very talented bouncer. SOURCES:Lutz LeichsenringPJ VogtSearch Engine. RESOURCES:Berghain: 36 Hours Inside the World's Most Exclusive NightclubPaper Magazine, Berlin Bouncer, High Culture Club: Berghain Secures Same Tax Status as Berlin Concert VenuesThe Guardian, One Eye on the Door, the Other on His PhotographyThe New York Times, Lost and Sound: Berlin, Techno and the Easyjet Set, EXTRA:Search Engine,

Hit by Covid, runaway costs, and a zillion streams of competition, serious theater is in serious trouble. A new hit play called Stereophonic — the most Tony-nominated play in history — has something to say about that. We speak with the people who make it happen every night. (Part one of a two-part series.) SOURCES:David AdjmiSonia FriedmanJohn JohnsonTom PecinkaSarah Pidgeon RESOURCES:StereophonicLot Six: A MemoirOn the Performing Arts: The Anatomy of Their Economic ProblemsThe American Economic Review

Every December, a British man named Tom Whitwell publishes a list of 52 things he’s learned that year. These fascinating facts reveal the spectrum of human behavior, from fraud and hypocrisy to Whitwell’s steadfast belief in progress. Should we also believe? SOURCES:Tom Whitwell RESOURCES:Supercentenarian and Remarkable Age Records Exhibit Patterns Indicative of Clerical Errors and Pension Fraud, 52 things I learned in 2023Magnetic Notes, Job Satisfaction 2023What Fax Machines and Floppy Disks Reveal About Britain’s Productivity ProblemThe Economist, Fighting Traffic: The Dawn of the Motor Age in the American City, Beyond PropagandaThe New York Times,

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’OnofrioKeith HumphreysStephen LoydNicole O’DonnellJeanmarie Perrone RESOURCES:Toward Healthy Drug Policy in the United States — The Case of SafehouseThe New England Journal of MedicineBuprenorphine Deregulation and Mainstreaming Treatment for Opioid Use DisorderJAMA PsychiatryEmergency Department–Initiated Buprenorphine/Naloxone Treatment for Opioid DependenceJAMABuprenorphine-Naloxone Therapy In Pain ManagementNational Institutes of HealthPrevalence and Correlates of Street-Obtained Buprenorphine Use Among Current and Former Injectors In Baltimore, MarylandU.S. National Library of Medicine National Institutes of HealthThe Promotion and Marketing of OxyContin: Commercial Triumph, Public Health TragedyU.S. National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health EXTRAS:Why Is the Opioid Epidemic Still Raging?Freakonomics Radio The Opioid Tragedy, Part 1: 'We’ve Addicted an Entire GenerationFreakonomics Radio The Truth About the Vaping CrisisFreakonomics Radio