Freakonomics Radio
Recent Episodes
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627. Sludge, Part 1: The World Is Drowning in It
Mar 28, 2025 – 00:54:34 -
Should America Be Run by … Trader Joe’s? (Update)
Mar 21, 2025 – 00:48:01 -
626. Ten Myths About the U.S. Tax System
Mar 14, 2025 – 01:03:55 -
625. The Biden Policy That Trump Hasn’t Touched
Mar 7, 2025 – 01:03:14 -
EXTRA: The Downside of Disgust (Update)
Mar 5, 2025 – 00:44:28 -
624. The Animal No One Loves, Until They Do
Feb 28, 2025 – 00:45:19 -
623. Can New York City Win Its War on Rats?
Feb 21, 2025 – 00:50:23 -
The Show That Never Happened
Feb 20, 2025 – 00:13:49 -
622. Why Does Everyone Hate Rats?
Feb 14, 2025 – 00:41:23 -
621. Is Professional Licensing a Racket?
Feb 7, 2025 – 00:55:15 -
When Is a Superstar Just Another Employee? (Update)
Feb 5, 2025 – 01:08:38 -
620. Why Don’t Running Backs Get Paid Anymore?
Jan 31, 2025 – 01:01:21 -
619. How to Poison the A.I. Machine
Jan 24, 2025 – 00:52:05 -
Is San Francisco a Failed State? (And Other Questions You Shouldn’t Ask the Mayor)
Jan 22, 2025 – 00:59:01 -
618. Are Realtors Having an Existential Crisis?
Jan 17, 2025 – 00:53:07 -
617. Are You Really Allergic to Penicillin?
Jan 10, 2025 – 01:03:50 -
Highway Signs and Prison Labor
Jan 6, 2025 – 00:38:36 -
Can Academic Fraud Be Stopped? (Update)
Jan 2, 2025 – 01:08:57 -
Why Is There So Much Fraud in Academia? (Update)
Dec 26, 2024 – 01:15:08 -
Your Brain Doesn’t Work the Way You Think
Dec 23, 2024 – 00:47:53 -
616. How to Make Something from Nothing
Dec 19, 2024 – 00:48:12 -
615. Is Ozempic as Magical as It Sounds?
Dec 12, 2024 – 00:56:49 -
How the Supermarket Helped America Win the Cold War (Update)
Dec 9, 2024 – 00:38:53 -
614. Is the U.S. Sleeping on Threats from Russia and China?
Dec 5, 2024 – 00:51:24 -
613. Dying Is Easy. Retail Is Hard.
Nov 28, 2024 – 01:01:34 -
612. Is Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade Its Most Valuable Asset?
Nov 21, 2024 – 00:53:18 -
How to Stop Worrying and Love the Robot Apocalypse (Update)
Nov 18, 2024 – 00:48:36 -
611. Fareed Zakaria on What Just Happened, and What Comes Next
Nov 14, 2024 – 00:59:13 -
610. Who Wins and Who Loses Once the U.S. Legalizes Weed?
Nov 7, 2024 – 00:43:21 -
609. What Does It Take to Run a Cannabis Farm?
Oct 31, 2024 – 00:40:08 -
Abortion and Crime, Revisited (Update)
Oct 28, 2024 – 00:54:46 -
608. Cannabis Is Booming, So Why Isn’t Anyone Getting Rich?
Oct 24, 2024 – 00:50:50 -
607. Is America Switching From Booze to Weed?
Oct 17, 2024 – 00:46:08 -
606. How to Predict the Presidency
Oct 11, 2024 – 00:55:38 -
Has the U.S. Presidency Become a Dictatorship? (Update)
Oct 10, 2024 – 00:46:59 -
605. What Do People Do All Day?
Oct 3, 2024 – 01:00:48 -
EXTRA: Roland Fryer Refuses to Lie to Black America (Update)
Sep 30, 2024 – 01:00:29 -
604. Did the N.F.L. Solve Diversity Hiring? (Part 2)
Sep 26, 2024 – 00:47:19 -
603. Did the N.F.L. Solve Diversity Hiring? (Part 1)
Sep 19, 2024 – 00:47:51 -
EXTRA: In Praise of Maintenance (Update)
Sep 16, 2024 – 00:42:37 -
602. Is Screen Time as Poisonous as We Think?
Sep 12, 2024 – 00:40:29 -
601. Multitasking Doesn’t Work. So Why Do We Keep Trying?
Sep 5, 2024 – 00:58:04 -
What Is the Future of College — and Does It Have Room for Men? (Update)
Aug 29, 2024 – 00:49:17 -
EXTRA: Why Quitting Is Usually Worth It
Aug 26, 2024 – 00:40:04 -
The University of Impossible-to-Get-Into (Update)
Aug 22, 2024 – 01:11:10 -
What Exactly Is College For? (Update)
Aug 15, 2024 – 00:50:15 -
EXTRA: Here’s Why You’re Not an Elite Athlete (Update)
Aug 12, 2024 – 01:05:34 -
600. “If We’re All in It for Ourselves, Who Are We?”
Aug 8, 2024 – 00:44:47 -
599. The World's Most Valuable Unused Resource
Aug 1, 2024 – 00:40:08 -
EXTRA: Why Rent Control Doesn’t Work (Update)
Jul 29, 2024 – 00:48:22
Recent Reviews
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Saibot81The very best that podcast can offer!!This podcast has dramatically changed my life over that last few years. This podcast is literally the best podcast! If you ever wanted to try listening to a podcast … one that you hope may radically inform your mind and help you learn how to think… and I dare say reframe your world view. This is the one to listen to. Give it 6 episodes and will forever be changed!
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Snow_man100InterestingI often come away fascinated by a topic that ex ante I figured would be boring.
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Honest-FeedbackkDon’t bring disgusting transtrash on the showNobody wants to listen to a no nothing disgusting piece of transtrash Pechin worthless information
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whst donyou wnatNo one believes you lost the tapeShame on you for losing your journalistic integrity to Ari Emanuel! Never in your history have you lost a recording of a show but you lost it to the most powerful man in Hollywood! You’re just as bad as the NYT. I’m done with you.
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@Adrienne.Fascinating episode on taxesI learned so much from this episode. Thank you to Jessica Reidl for being one of a few remaining people brave enough to research and speak the truth, regardless of which political party it benefits.
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superbloomieUnsubscribed after 15 yearsIt’s been a fun ride, but more and more episodes recently are ‘facts only, bipartisan explanations’ where right wing talking points are the only thing discussed. My breaking point was ep 626 where the guest explained that Republicans spend twice as much as Democrats and her solve is to cut down government programs. No data based explanation of why, no follow up questions, just a ‘it’s a big number, it must be bad’…what are we doing here? Have a nuanced discussion on the value of those programs, by all means. At this point, I can’t hear any more dishonesty from the right and freakonomics is platforming them without any journalistic integrity.
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stoplookingatmyhandle!Good on micsFreakonomics Radio will change your life... for the better
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bblatlbblatlLove this podcastListening since around 2013 and love this pod, but This is about the Jessica Reidle episode. While I get what the purpose was in explaining that most Americans don’t have a clue about what the deficit is or how it works (myself included), the thing is that the deficit means nothing to most of us IRL. SO YES, the top 1% may technically pay most taxes, but then why is it virtually impossible for a typical middle class person to ever amass that much wealth? That’s a rhetorical question BTW. Also, she gave a very understandably personal response to her experience transitioning, but again tone deaf. Her experience seems positive in a place in our society where the public message is the opposite. Why? Bc she brings some direct value to these politicians. Not bc of equality which is SUPPOSED to be the American way.
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TexsvenTaxes and the debtThis was a great episode. Jessica—the person being interviewed—had great/astounding views/facts to share. If her facts are true both the Dems and Republicans have been lying to us all about taxes, the deficit, the realities of funding Social Security and Medicare. Neither side is being realistic about taxes. Just “taxing the rich” isn’t going to save us. The US is in big trouble unless we can get real
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nite owl 3Still getting it doneThis was one of the first pods I started listening to on the regular. It was great back the. It still is great.
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TedNotAllergicEpisode 617 on amoxicillin will improve my life!I came for the economics but stayed for the medicine. Two months after listening to this fascinating episode, I was cleared by an allergist. Like 90% of others who believe they are allergic to amoxicillin, I am not. Thank you, Steve Dubner.
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KimD from Cali“Lost” Interview LieDo you really expect people to believe you “lost” the Ari Emmanuel interview? lol no. You are garbage and complicit and that’s plain to anyone following the Baldoni v. Liveky case.
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vze22jjwLost live show episode??Dubious indeed. Nah unsubscribed.
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Stu VwxyzOften interesting, but interest-conflictingOn episode 625: The Biden Policy That Trump Hasn’t Touched, Lina Khan describes the danger in corporate consolidation and monopolization and cites Amazon as a bad actor, even calls them out on their illegal practices, then this show airs a commercial for Whole Foods which is owned by Amazon. Shameful.
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browngangbcBureaucracy Rules the WorldLina Khan is a great example of someone who has never worked in business telling business people how to run their business. In her world, benevolent experts would make all the rules about how markets and business should work. The US is the only country in which the free market has been allowed to work, mostly without the visible hand of government, and has done so successfully. Give me any day the entrepreneurs to run markets rather than “expert” bureaucrats.
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S. QueLina KhanAn excellent conversation, especially thoughtful that it appears during Women's History Month.
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Jack 204Self-Loathing American PodcastAddendum: what was billed as a podcast about disgust became an infomercial for eating bugs, which is apparently the latest ultra liberal project. And you folks wonder why people voted for Trump. Unsubscribing. The repeated theme in this podcast of most other, particularly European, countries being better than the US in some regard is so simplistic and trite. Reminds me of the kids in college who studied abroad for a semester and came back in black leather pants and saying how much better those countries were. Fast forward 30 years and they are all living, working and raising their families in the USA and often with coworkers and neighbors who were born and schooled in those European paradise countries but for some reason opted to come here. Where was polio cured? Who put a man on the moon? Who developed the personal computer? Poverty in the US bears no resemblance to real poverty in most of the world. Who saved most of Asia from Imperial Japan in WWII? Sweden? Nope. And, of course, if it were not for the USA all those lovely gentle European countries - except for, maybe, the UK - would be hellholes under the domination of a fascist or Marxist regime. USA is far from perfect, but still pretty great. Please stop being useful idiots.
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roadready2Long timer hereRead the books and got hooked. Now I’ve been a listener for at least 10 years and in that time, I’m not sure I’ve ever actually heard a conservative perspective on anything. If y’all are lacking anywhere, it’s definitely balance.
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Kc4313My favoriteRead the original book when it first came out and the podcast continues to be my go to favorite listen. Thanks and keep up the good work.
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MissQVegasLying is not okay in 2025I used to love this podcast, but the idea that the Ari Emmanuel interview was SO CONVENIENTLY lost is so unbelievable - I’m just done. It’s 2025 and an allegedly professional podcast knows how to capture sound and check in real time. I’m in the court reporting industry which is decades (literally) behind modern media and even we know this. Stop lying to us and just say Ari paid you off. I hope you go down in a figurative ball of flames - you had my trust and you lost it.
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BriBean00RatsI really enjoyed the series on rats! A topic I never would have thought about. Which is why I always look forward to this podcast. You are always teaching me new things.
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Pya3gZero integrityYou mysteriously lost the entire audio content of the Ari Emmanuel interview in a “black swan” event? You’re documentarians with no integrity. Unsubscribing
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RSFP2028The “Lost” PodcastThe dog ate their homework and now the Ari Emanuel episode isn’t dropping. Have some integrity. Letting the most powerful people bully Justin on your mics is despicable. Do better with your platform.
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Chelseamarie082SelloutDisappointed to learn y’all have a price and Ari has the $. Unfollowing and will never listen/support again.
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kamikazemommySJd Disappointed Apologize & Tell the truth Ari Emmanuel WME episodeI heard leaked audio… ooofffff….🤬😳😑20+ yr sub, own the books… the doc. Apologize to Justin for your role getting caught trying to be a cool kid & give him a platform too. Guilty until proven innocent man. sad you got caught up in this nonsense. I don’t come to you for gossip but facts/logic. I’m speechless yall let yourself get used like this for evil but it happens.. please make it right, redeem yourself. You’re better than this.
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TMR Alfred Morris RantOutstanding content!I really enjoy listening to the Freakonomics Radio podcast. Stephen Dubner does an excellent job of finding intelligent, interesting, and thought-provoking guests on a wide variety of topics. I always feel smarter and more capable of intelligently discussing whatever topic is being discussed (even though I’m probably not) after listening to an episode. I have been a fan of Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner since I read the first Freakonomics book, and I feel like a learn something new or am challenged to think about something differently after each episode. Please keep up the great work! Love your podcast guys!
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Nut4WineEntertaining and EnlighteningI love this show. It’s almost always entertaining and it’s always enlightening. The topics are fascinating, the guests are often outstanding people in their field, etc. Well worth a listen if you haven’t yet.
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nikenamenytOverall goodThe only issue I’ve had is when the host gets overly glib or combative. It’s rare but the few times it’s happened have been very off putting.
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Delnora LoydEpisode 621Holy anti-doctor! How interesting for a lawyer and academic to take shots at physicians, but not investigate the bar association and self regulation of attorneys by their associations. She wants more regulation of doctors but less of nurse practitioners/PAs citing access to care, but doesn’t want a path back to practice for docs who have mental health issues/substance abuse history? Also she claims substance abuse counselors have less clinical hours than a doctor? I’d love to see the math on that. To get an unrestricted medical license you get at least 3 years of clinic work (last two yrs of med school + internship = 7200-9600 hrs) Maybe I need to read the book to better understand her position. Overall love the podcast!
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Heels in the SandCaptivatingSmart people talking about interesting topics, at times with sensible solutions. Great listen.
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Amy V ChicagoAlways interestingI have a bunch of episodes saved that I listened to a second time. You might not be allergic to Penicillin even if you have been told you are. America’s political system is a duopoly. Want to learn more? Listen to this podcast!
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WAcartman79I love this podcast!I feel smarter every time I listen.
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Youreallydon’twantmyreviewGreat PodcastJust discovered this podcast. Love it!
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UhOhStinkyGodGOATTTSteven Dubner = 🐐
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magickobe3224Did the NFL Solve DiversityWhat an insightful episode! Very informative thoughtful and clearly communicated! I recently was sent Freakonomics from a friend and it is by far one of the best podcasts I have ever listened to!
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Dill1Dom2Steven is the bestAlways so refreshing to listen to such a clear explanation in such a complex world.
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jdjdmsAcademic research & corporate fundersThe academic fraud investigation is excellent. The problematic incentives created by industry-funded research doesn’t get much attention — and seem most impervious to the remedies proposed here. Can you go deep in thus for an episode? Thanks!!
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NurseBecqueRevelatory RadioFreakonomics Radio is a fascinating exploration of the background of so many human endeavors. I particularly enjoyed the shows on 1) the eyeglass industry, 2) the growing marijuana industry in the US and 3) the series about academic fraud. I would highly recommend this podcast for anyone with an inquiring mind.
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anonymoushorillaAlways insightfulThank you for pronouncing Willamette correctly. 5 stars.
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Twinsmom0726Love- thought provokingLoved hearing Dr. Emanuel
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KariCrawDalyTsk tsk Fareed….Some of us care about people less fortunate than us, and it’s not always about money and which candidate can make us the most.
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ricardoreina06Very solid podcastI really enjoy all content from Freakonomics and I appreciate their unbiased, fair, respectful and logic way of presenting data and their points of view.
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Count the innocent lives lostNeocon bootlickerSullivan is a warmonger that’s been involved in starting most evil U.S. foreign affairs since GHWBush. Used to like this pod for its dedication to the data.
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Beverly HoskThings I didn’t know I needed to knowConsistently intriguing. Consistently informative. Bless you.
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Dyingh3578Macy's ParadeI haven't enjoyed the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade this much in years, lol. Love all the behind the scenes insights and context.
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Whimsical DewdropMy Main PodcastI don’t listen to a lot of podcasts. But this is one I never miss.
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hmerino13Possibly the best podcast out there.Listening to this show always is time we’ll spent. It’s genuine journalism. So thorough, deep, and fun too. Dubner and team always treats their audience like able, interesting, thinking grown ups. An honest spirit of inquiry underpins every episode. So good.
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BM in ViennaResponse to Zakaria interviewPlease don’t conflate Trumpism with Republican /GOP politics. The two governing philosophies are diametrically opposed. He will surely brand his reign with his name, not an ideology.
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pattyvoHelpful!I just listened to the episode with Mr Zakaria. I didn’t agree with some of his theories but overall, I learned and felt my listen was helpful. I plan to play it again. Thanks.
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solid investorLeft leaningIf you are easily led, this is the liberal show for you.
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