Freakonomics Radio

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

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 HumphreysStephen LoydChristine Minhee RESOURCES:Court Conflicted Over Purdue Pharma Bankruptcy Plan That Shields Sacklers From LiabilitySCOTUSblog, NationalOpioidSettlement.comOpioidSettlementTracker.comThe Helios Alliance EXTRAS:The Opioid Tragedy, Part 2: 'It’s Not a Death SentenceFreakonomics Radio

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 CutlerTravis DonahoeKeith HumphreysStephen Loyd RESOURCES:Thick Market Externalities and the Persistence of the Opioid EpidemicNBER Working Paper, Responding to the Opioid Crisis in North America and Beyond: Recommendations of the Stanford-Lancet CommissionThe Lancet, When Innovation Goes Wrong: Technological Regress and the Opioid EpidemicJournal of Economic Perspectives, EXTRAS:Nuclear Power Isn’t Perfect. Is It Good Enough?Freakonomics Radio The Opioid Tragedy, Part 2: 'It’s Not a Death SentenceFreakonomics Radio The Opioid Tragedy, Part 1: 'We’ve Addicted an Entire GenerationFreakonomics Radio

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:Zachary DickensMark GutjahrAnne Mari DeCosterNikkie Riedel RESOURCES:A Fifth Of Americans Rent Self Storage, With Millennials Overtaking Gen Xers In Generational Storage WarsStorage Cafe, Lessors of Mini Warehouses and Self-Storage Units Show Significant Financial Gains During COVID-19 PandemicBASF Color Report 2023 for Automotive OEM CoatingsThe Fate of Oversupplied Self-Storage Markets and How to Pull Back From the BrinkInside Self Storage, A Pandemic Space Race: Self-Storage Roars BackThe New York Times, Beige on an S.U.V. Will Cost You, but for Pickups It’s GoldenThe New York Times, A Brief History Of Car Colors — And Why Are We So Boring Now?Consumer Reports, The Link Between the Colour of Cars and the EconomyThe Economist, Need to Store That? Booming Self-Storage Industry Says No ProblemThe Wall Street Journal, EXTRAS:Car WashesThe Economics of Everyday Things Storage Wars, Auction Hunters,

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 LouryThe Glenn Show RESOURCES:Late Admissions: Confessions of a Black Conservative, Amy Wax – The DEI Witch Hunt at Penn LawThe Glenn Show, The Conservative Line on RaceThe Atlantic, Will Affirmative-Action Policies Eliminate Negative Stereotypes?The American Economic Review, EXTRAS:Roland Fryer Refuses to Lie to Black AmericaFreakonomics Radio How Much Does Discrimination Hurt the Economy?Freakonomics Radio The Pros and Cons of ReparationsFreakonomics Radio

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 KellyCorey RosenPete Stavros RESOURCES:Private Equity Is Starting to Share With Workers, Without Taking a Financial HitThe New York Times, Private Equity Heavyweight Pushing Employee Ownership60 Minutes, Ownership Works: Scaling a Profitable Social MissionHBS Case Collection, Research on Employee OwnershipWealth Supremacy: How the Extractive Economy and the Biased Rules of Capitalism Drive Today’s Crises, Is Private Equity Joining — or Co-Opting—the Employee Ownership Movement?Fast Company, How Well Is Employee Ownership Working?Harvard Business Review, EXTRAS:Are Private Equity Firms Plundering the U.S. Economy?Freakonomics Radio Do You Know Who Owns Your Vet?Freakonomics Radio Should You Trust Private Equity to Take Care of Your Dog?Freakonomics Radio

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 CockettThe Economist RESOURCES:Vienna: How the City of Ideas Created the Modern World, Birth, Death and ShoppingThe Economist, The Hidden Persuaders, An Economist's View of 'PlanningThe New York Times, The World of Yesterday: Memoires of a European, EXTRA:Arnold Schwarzenegger Has Some Advice for YouPeople I (Mostly) Admire

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 WinklerThe Wall Street Journal.Anne Wojcicki RESOURCES:23andMe’s Fall From $6 Billion to Nearly $0The Wall Street Journal, 23andMe User Data Stolen in Targeted Attack on Ashkenazi JewsWired, Inheritance: A Memoir of Genealogy, Paternity, and Love, How To Raise Successful People: Simple Lessons for Radical Results, Diet and exercise changes following direct-to-consumer personal genomic testingBMC Medical Genomics.The impact of communicating genetic risks of disease on risk-reducing health behaviour: systematic review with meta-analysisThe British Medical Journal EXTRAS:Does Your DNA Determine Your Weight?No Stupid Questions What’s Stopping Us From Curing Rare Diseases?Freakonomics, M.D. We Can Play God NowPeople I (Mostly) Admire Susan Wojcicki: 'Hey, Let’s Go Buy YouTube!'People I (Mostly) Admire

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 RESOURCES:2024 Canadian Federal BudgetCanada to Set First-Ever Cap on Temporary ResidentsBBC News, Common Ground, EXTRAS:Why Is Everyone Moving to Canada?Freakonomics Radio

So you want to help people? That’s great — but beware the law of unintended consequences. Three stories from the modern workplace. SOURCES:Joshua AngristZoe CullenMarina Gertsberg RESOURCES:Is Pay Transparency Good?Journal of Economic Perspectives, DP18969 Economics Coauthorships in the Aftermath of MeTooCEPR Discussion Paper, The Underground Economy of Company ReviewsCareer Fair, Why Did Gender Wage Convergence in the United States Stall?NBER Working Paper, The Unintended Consequences of #MeToo: Evidence from Research CollaborationsSSRN, Outsourcing Tasks Online: Matching Supply and Demand on Peer-to-Peer Internet PlatformsManagement Science, Equilibrium Effects of Pay TransparencyNBER Working Paper, How Much Does Your Boss Make? The Effects of Salary ComparisonsNBER Working Paper, Wall Street Rule for the #MeToo Era: Avoid Women at All CostBloomberg, A Comprehensive Analysis of the Effects of US Disability Discrimination Laws on the Employment of the Disabled PopulationNBER Working Paper, Consequences of Employment Protection? The Case of the Americans with Disabilities ActJournal of Political Economy,