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Freakonomics Radio — Documentary
Freakonomics Radio

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.

To get every show in the Freakonomics Radio Network without ads and a monthly bonus episode of Freakonomics Radio, start a free trial for SiriusXM Podcasts+ on Apple Podcasts or by visiting siriusxm.com/podcastsplus.

Copyright: © 2024 Dubner Productions and Stitcher

Latest Episodes:

299. "How Much Brain Damage Do I Have?" Sep 07, 2017

Show notes

John Urschel was the only player in the N.F.L. simultaneously getting a math Ph.D. at M.I.T. But after a new study came out linking football to brain damage, he abruptly retired. Here's the inside story — and a look at how we make decisions in the face of risk versus uncertainty.

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Bad Medicine, Part 3: Death by Diagnosis (Rebroadcast) Aug 31, 2017

Show notes

By some estimates, medical error is the third-leading cause of death in the U.S. How can that be? And what's to be done? Our third and final episode in this series offers some encouraging answers.

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Bad Medicine, Part 2: (Drug) Trials and Tribulations (Rebroadcast) Aug 24, 2017

Show notes

How do so many ineffective and even dangerous drugs make it to market? One reason is that clinical trials are often run on "dream patients" who aren't representative of a larger population. On the other hand, sometimes the only thing worse than being excluded from a drug trial is being included.

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Bad Medicine, Part 1: The Story of 98.6 (Rebroadcast) Aug 17, 2017

Show notes

We tend to think of medicine as a science, but for most of human history it has been scientific-ish at best. In the first episode of a three-part series, we look at the grotesque mistakes produced by centuries of trial-and-error, and ask whether the new era of evidence-based medicine is the solution.

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What Are You Waiting For? (Rebroadcast) Aug 10, 2017

Show notes

Standing in line represents a particularly sloppy — and frustrating — way for supply and demand to meet. Why haven't we found a better way to get what we want? Is it possible that we secretly enjoy waiting in line? And might it even be (gulp) good for us?

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298. Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Money (But Were Afraid to Ask) Aug 03, 2017

Show notes

The bad news: roughly 70 percent of Americans are financially illiterate. The good news: all the important stuff can fit on one index card. Here's how to become your own financial superhero.

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297. The Stupidest Thing You Can Do With Your Money Jul 27, 2017

Show notes

It's hard enough to save for a house, tuition, or retirement. So why are we willing to pay big fees for subpar investment returns? Enter the low-cost index fund. The revolution will not be monetized.

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296. These Shoes Are Killing Me! Jul 20, 2017

Show notes

The human foot is an evolutionary masterpiece, far more functional than we give it credit for. So why do we encase it in "a coffin" (as one foot scholar calls it) that stymies so much of its ability — and may create more problems than it solves?

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295. When Helping Hurts Jul 13, 2017

Show notes

Good intentions are nice, but with so many resources poured into social programs, wouldn't it be even nicer to know what actually works?

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294. The Fracking Boom, a Baby Boom, and the Retreat From Marriage Jul 06, 2017

Show notes

Over 40 percent of U.S. births are to unmarried mothers, and the numbers are especially high among the less-educated. Why? One argument is that the decline in good manufacturing jobs led to a decline in "marriageable" men. Surely the fracking boom reversed that trend, right?

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