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    Society & Culture

    People I (Mostly) Admire – Freakonomics Radio + Stitcher

    Freakonomics co-author Steve Levitt tracks down other high achievers for surprising, revealing conversations about their lives and obsessions. Join Levitt as he goes through the most interesting midlife crisis you’ve ever heard — and learn how a renegade sheriff is transforming Chicago’s jail, how a biologist is finding the secrets of evolution in the Arctic tundra, and how a trivia champion memorized 160,000 flashcards.

    To get every show in our network without ads and a monthly bonus episode of Freakonomics Radio, sign up for SiriusXM Podcasts+ on Apple Podcasts at http://apple.co/SiriusXM.

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    Copyright: © 2024 All Rights Reserved

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    Latest Episodes:
    143. Why Are Boys and Men in Trouble? Oct 26, 2024

    Boys and men are trending downward in education, employment, and mental health. Richard Reeves, author of the book Of Boys and Men, has some solutions that don’t come at the expense of women and girls. Steve pushes him to go further.

    • SOURCE:
      • Richard Reeves, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, president of the American Institute for Boys and Men, and author.
    • RESOURCES:
      • Of Boys and Men: Why the Modern Male Is Struggling, Why It Matters, and What to Do About It, by Richard Reeves (2022).
      • "The Crisis of Men and Boys," by David Brooks (The New York Times, 2022).
      • Dream Hoarders: How the American Upper Middle Class Is Leaving Everyone Else in the Dust, Why That Is a Problem, and What to Do About It, by Richard Reeves (2017).
      • "An Empirical Analysis of the Gender Gap in Mathematics," by Roland Fryer and Steven Levitt (American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 2010).
      • John Stuart Mill: Victorian Firebrand, by Richard Reeves (2007)
    • EXTRA:
      • "What Is the Future of College — and Does It Have Room for Men? (Update)," by Freakonomics Radio (2024).
    Nobel Laureate Daron Acemoglu on Economics, Politics, and Power (REPLAY) Oct 19, 2024

    Daron Acemoglu was just awarded the 2024 Nobel Prize in economics. Earlier this year, he and Steve talked about his groundbreaking research on what makes countries succeed or fail.

    • SOURCES:
      • Daron Acemoglu, professor of economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
    • RESOURCES:
      • The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel 2024.
      • Power and Progress: Our Thousand-Year Struggle Over Technology and Prosperity, by Daron Acemoglu and Simon Johnson (2023).
      • "Economists Pin More Blame on Tech for Rising Inequality," by Steve Lohr (The New York Times, 2022).
      • "America’s Slow-Motion Wage Crisis: Four Decades of Slow and Unequal Growth," by John Schmitt, Elise Gould, and Josh Bivens (Economic Policy Institute, 2018).
      • "A Machine That Made Stockings Helped Kick Off the Industrial Revolution," by Sarah Laskow (Atlas Obscura, 2017).
      • "The Long-Term Jobs Killer Is Not China. It’s Automation," by Claire Cain Miller (The New York Times, 2016).
      • Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty, by Daron Acemoglu and James A. Robinson (2012).
      • "The Colonial Origins of Comparative Development: An Empirical Investigation," by Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson, and James A. Robinson (American Economic Review, 2001).
      • "Learning about Others' Actions and the Investment Accelerator," by Daron Acemoglu (The Economic Journal, 1993).
      • "A Friedman Doctrine — The Social Responsibility of Business Is to Increase Its Profits," by Milton Friedman (The New York Times, 1970).
    • EXTRAS:
      • "What’s Impacting American Workers?" by People I (Mostly) Admire (2024).
      • "'My God, This Is a Transformative Power,'" by People I (Mostly) Admire (2023).
      • "New Technologies Always Scare Us. Is A.I. Any Different?" by Freakonomics Radio (2023).
      • "How to Prevent Another Great Depression," by Freakonomics Radio (2020).
      • "Is Income Inequality Inevitable?" by Freakonomics Radio (2017).
    142. What’s Impacting American Workers? Oct 12, 2024

    David Autor took his first economics class at 29 years old. Now he’s one of the central academics studying the labor market. The M.I.T. economist and Steve dissect the impact of technology on labor, spar on A.I., and discuss why economists can sometimes be oblivious.

    • SOURCES:
      • David Autor, professor of economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
    • RESOURCES:
      • "Does Automation Replace Experts or Augment Expertise? The Answer Is Yes," by David Autor (Joseph Schumpeter Lecture at the European Economic Association Annual Meeting, 2024).
      • “Applying AI to Rebuild Middle Class Jobs,” by David Autor (NBER Working Paper, 2024).
      • “New Frontiers: The Origins and Content of New Work, 1940–2018,” by David Autor, Caroline Chin, Anna Salomons, and Bryan Seegmiller (The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 2024).
      • “Bottlenecks: Sectoral Imbalances and the US Productivity Slowdown,” by Daron Acemoglu, David Autor, and Christina Patterson (NBER Macroeconomics Annual, 2024).
      • "Good News: There’s a Labor Shortage," by David Autor (The New York Times, 2021).
      • "David Autor, the Academic Voice of the American Worker," (The Economist, 2019).
      • “Why Are There Still So Many Jobs? The History and Future of Workplace Automation,” by David Autor (The Journal of Economic Perspectives, 2015).
      • “The Growth of Low-Skill Service Jobs and the Polarization of the US Labor Market,” by David Autor and David Dorn (The American Economic Review, 2013).
      • “The China Syndrome: Local Labor Market Effects of Import Competition in the United States,” by David Autor, David Dorn, and Gordon H. Hanson (The American Economic Review, 2013).
    • EXTRAS:
      • "What Do People Do All Day?" by Freakonomics Radio (2024).
      • "Daron Acemoglu on Economics, Politics, and Power," by People I (Mostly) Admire (2024).
      • "You Make Me Feel Like a Natural Experiment," by People I (Mostly) Admire (2022).
      • "In Search of the Real Adam Smith," series by Freakonomics Radio (2022).
      • "Max Tegmark on Why Superhuman Artificial Intelligence Won’t be Our Slave," by People I (Mostly) Admire (2021).
      • "Automation," by Last Week Tonight With John Oliver (2019).
    EXTRA: Using Data to Win Gold Oct 05, 2024

    Kate Douglass is a world-class swimmer and data scientist who’s used mathematical modeling to help make her stroke more efficient. She and Steve talk about why the Olympics were underwhelming, how she won gold, and why she won’t be upset to say goodbye to the pool.

    • SOURCE:
      • Kate Douglass, Olympic swimmer and graduate student.
      • RESOURCES:
      • "Kate Douglass HOLDS OFF Tatjana Smith to win 200m breaststroke | Paris Olympics" (NBC Sports, 2024).
      • “The Plane Partition Function Abides by Benford’s Law,” by Katherine Douglass and Ken Ono (UPB Scientific Bulletin, Series A, 2024).
      • “Swimming in Data,” by Katherine Douglass, Augustus Lamb, Jerry Lu, Ken Ono, and William Tenpas (The Mathematical Intelligencer, 2024).
      • "Why Some Olympic Swimmers Think About Math in the Pool," by Jenny Vrentas (The New York Times, 2024).
    • EXTRAS:
      • "The Language of the Universe," by People I (Mostly) Admire (2024).
    141. The Language of the Universe Sep 28, 2024

    Ken Ono is a math prodigy whose skills have helped produce a Hollywood movie and made Olympic swimmers faster. The number theorist tells Steve why he sees mathematics as art — and about his unusual path to success, which came without a high school diploma.

    • SOURCE:
      • Ken Ono, professor of mathematics and STEM adviser to the provost at the University of Virginia.
    • RESOURCES:
      • "‘Digital Twins’ Give Olympic Swimmers a Boost," by Katherine Douglass, Augustus Lamb, Jerry Lu, Ken Ono, and William Tenpas (Scientific American, 2024).
      • "Swimming in Data," by Katherine Douglass, Augustus Lamb, Jerry Lu, Ken Ono, and William Tenpas (The Mathematical Intelligencer, 2024).
      • "Integer Partitions Detect the Primes," by William Craig, Jan-Willem van Ittersum, and Ken Ono (PNAS, 2024).
      • The Man Who Knew Infinity, film by Matt Brown (2015).
      • "Proof of the Umbral Moonshine Conjecture," by John F. R. Duncan, Michael J. Griffin, and Ken Ono (Research in the Mathematical Sciences, 2015).
      • "Ramanujan's Ternary Quadratic Form," by Ken Ono and K. Soundararajan (Inventiones Mathematicae, 1997).
    • EXTRA:
      • "Richard Dawkins on God, Genes, and Murderous Baby Cuckoos," by People I (Mostly) Admire (2024).
    UPDATE: Drawing from Life (and Death) Sep 21, 2024

    Artist Wendy MacNaughton knows the difficulty of sitting in silence and the power of having fun. She explains to Steve the lessons she’s gleaned from drawing hospice residents, working in Rwanda, and reporting from Guantanamo Bay.

    • SOURCE:
      • Wendy MacNaughton, artist and graphic journalist.
    • RESOURCES:
      • "What Happens if Two Complete Strangers Draw Each Other?" video by the National Gallery of Art (2024).
      • How to Say Goodbye, by Wendy MacNaughton (2023).
      • "How to Have Fun Again," by Wendy MacNaughton (The New York Times, 2022).
      • "Inside America’s War Court: Clothing and Culture at Guantánamo Bay," by Carol Rosenberg and Wendy MacNaughton (The New York Times, 2019).
      • "Drawing the Guantánamo Bay War Court," by Wendy MacNaughton (The New York Times, 2019).
      • Think Like a Freak, by Steve Levitt and Stephen Dubner (2014).
      • DrawTogether.
      • The Grown-Ups Table.
      • Zen Caregiving Project.
      • DrawTogether Strangers.
    • EXTRAS:
      • "Rick Rubin on How to Make Something Great," by People I (Mostly) Admire (2023).
      • "Does Death Have to Be a Death Sentence?" by People I (Mostly) Admire (2022).
      • "Sendhil Mullainathan Explains How to Generate an Idea a Minute (Part 2)," by People I (Mostly) Admire (2021).
      • "Sendhil Mullainathan Thinks Messing Around Is the Best Use of Your Time," by People I (Mostly) Admire (2021).
    140. How to Breathe Better Sep 14, 2024

    Bestselling author James Nestor believes that we can improve our lives by changing the way we breathe. He’s persuasive enough to get Steve taping his mouth shut at night. He explains how humans dive to depths of 300 feet without supplemental oxygen, and describes what it’s like to be accepted into a pod of whales.

    • SOURCES:
      • James Nestor, author and journalist.
    • RESOURCES:
      • Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art, by James Nestor (2020).
      • Deep: Freediving, Renegade Science, and What the Ocean Tells Us about Ourselves, by James Nestor (2014).
      • "Open Your Mouth and You’re Dead," by James Nestor (Outside Magazine, 2012).
      • "The Brain on Sonar — How Blind People Find Their Way Around With Echoes," by Ed Yong (National Geographic, 2011).
      • "How I Held My Breath for 17 Minutes," by David Blaine (TED Talk, 2009).
      • Project CETI.
    • EXTRA:
      • Data Science for Everyone Survey.
    139. How PETA Made Radical Ideas Mainstream Aug 31, 2024

    People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals founder Ingrid Newkirk has been badgering meat-eaters, fur-wearers, and circus-goers for more than 40 years. For a woman who’s leaving her liver to the president of France in her will, she sounds quite sensible when she tells Steve what we can learn from animals, why she supports euthanasia, and who’ll get her other organs.

    • SOURCE:
      • Ingrid Newkirk, founding president of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.
    • RESOURCES:
      • "Paradoxical Gender Effects in Meat Consumption Across Cultures," by Christopher J. Hopwood, Jahn N. Zizer, Wiebke Bleidorn, et al. (Nature Scientific Reports, 2024).
      • "PETA President Bequeaths Her Rump to a Reality Show," (PETA.org, 2023).
      • Animalkind: Remarkable Discoveries about Animals and Revolutionary New Ways to Show Them Compassion, by Ingrid Newkirk (2020).
      • "One Last U.S. Medical School Still Killed Animals to Teach Surgery. But No More," by Darryl Fears (The Washington Post, 2016).
      • "The Naked and the Dead," by Katie Glass (The Times, 2013).
      • "The Betrayal of 'No-Kill' Sheltering," by Ingrid Newkirk (PETA YouTube channel, 2013).
      • "The Lab-Monkey Controversy That Launched the Animal-Rights Movement," by Caroline Fraser (The New Yorker, 1993).
    • EXTRAS:
      • "Suleika Jaouad’s Survival Mechanisms," by People I (Mostly) Admire (2024).
      • "Jane Goodall Changed the Way We See Animals. She’s Not Done," by People I (Mostly) Admire (2022).
      • "Peter Singer Isn’t a Saint, But He’s Better Than Steve Levitt," by People I (Mostly) Admire (2022).
      • "Bruce Friedrich Thinks There’s a Better Way to Eat Meat," by People I (Mostly) Admire (2021).
      • Project Donor.
    UPDATE: Sendhil Mullainathan Thinks Messing Around Is the Best Use of Your Time Aug 24, 2024

    Revisiting Steve’s 2021 conversation with the economist and MacArthur “genius” about how to make memories stickier, why change is undervalued, and how to find something new to say on the subject of scarcity.

    • SOURCE:
      • Sendhil Mullainathan, university professor of computation and behavioral science at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.
    • RESOURCES:
      • "Fictional Money, Real Costs: Impacts of Financial Salience on Disadvantaged Students," by Claire Duquennois (American Economic Review, 2022).
      • "Do Financial Concerns Make Workers Less Productive?" by Supreet Kaur, Sendhil Mullainathan, Suanna Oh, and Frank Schilbach (NBER Working Paper, 2022).
      • Subtract: The Untapped Science of Less, by Leidy Klotz (2021).
      • "Heads or Tails: The Impact of a Coin Toss on Major Life Decisions and Subsequent Happiness," by Steve Levitt (NBER Working Paper, 2016).
      • Scarcity: Why Having Too Little Means So Much, by Sendhil Mullainathan and Eldar Shafir (2013).
      • "The End of History Illusion," by Jordi Quoidbach, Daniel T. Gilbert, and Timothy D. Wilson (Science, 2013).
    • EXTRAS:
      • "Leidy Klotz on Why the Best Solutions Involve Less — Not More," by People I (Mostly) Admire (2021).
      • "Sendhil Mullainathan Explains How to Generate an Idea a Minute," by People I (Mostly) Admire (2021).
    138. Chris Anderson on the Power of TED Aug 17, 2024

    Under his helm, the TED Conference went from a small industry gathering to a global phenomenon. Chris and Steve talk about how to build lasting institutions, how to make generosity go viral, and what Chris has learned about public speaking.

    • SOURCE:
      • Chris Anderson, head of TED.
    • RESOURCES:
      • Infectious Generosity: The Ultimate Idea Worth Spreading, by Chris Anderson (2024).
      • TED Talks: The Official TED Guide to Public Speaking, by Chris Anderson (2016).
      • "The Best Stats You've Ever Seen," by Hans Rosling (TED, 2006).
      • "Do Schools Kill Creativity?" by Sir Ken Robinson (TED, 2006).
      • "Close-Up Card Magic With a Twist," by Lennart Green (TED, 2005).
      • "The Freakonomics of Crack Dealing," by Steve Levitt (TED, 2004).
      • ZoeCoral.com.
    • EXTRAS:
      • "Giving It Away," by People I (Mostly) Admire (2022).
      • "We Can Play God Now," by People I (Mostly) Admire (2022).
      • "Self-Help for Data Nerds," by People I (Mostly) Admire (2022).
      • "Steven Pinker: 'I Manage My Controversy Portfolio Carefully,'" by People I (Mostly) Admire (2020).
    EXTRA: Remembering Susan Wojcicki Aug 13, 2024

    The former YouTube C.E.O. — and sixteenth Google employee — died on August 9, 2024. Steve talked with her in 2020 about her remarkable career, and how her background in economics shaped her work.

    • SOURCES:
      • Susan Wojcicki, former C.E.O. of YouTube.
    • RESOURCES:
      • "Susan Wojcicki, Former Chief of YouTube, Dies at 56," by John Yoon and Mike Isaac (The New York Times, 2024).
    137. Richard Dawkins on God, Genes, and Murderous Baby Cuckoos Aug 03, 2024

    The author of the classic The Selfish Gene is still changing the way we think about evolution.

    • SOURCE:
      • Richard Dawkins, professor emeritus of the public understanding of science at Oxford University.
    • RESOURCES:
      • The Genetic Book of the Dead, by Richard Dawkins (2024).
      • Flights of Fancy: Defying Gravity by Design and Evolution, by Richard Dawkins (2021).
      • "About Three-in-Ten U.S. Adults Are Now Religiously Unaffiliated," by Gregory A. Smith (Pew Research Center, 2021).
      • Cuckoo: Cheating by Nature, by Nick Davies (2015).
      • The God Delusion, by Richard Dawkins (2006).
      • "Why the Universe Seems So Strange," by Richard Dawkins (TED Global, 2005).
      • "Surprising Stats About Child Carseats," by Steve Levitt (TED Global, 2005).
      • "Genes and Memes," by John Maynard Smith (London Review of Books, 1982).
      • The Extended Phenotype: The Long Reach of the Gene, by Richard Dawkins (1982).
      • The Selfish Gene, by Richard Dawkins (1976).
      • "Child Endowments and the Quantity and Quality of Children," by Gary Becker and Nigel Tomes (Journal of Political Economy, 1976).
      • "Selective Pecking in the Domestic Chick," by Richard Dawkins (University of Oxford Ph.D. thesis, 1966).
    • EXTRAS:
      • "The World’s Most Controversial Ornithologist," by People I (Mostly) Admire (2024).
      • "Is Gynecology the Best Innovation Ever?" by People I (Mostly) Admire (2024).
    UPDATE: What It Takes to Know Everything Jul 27, 2024

    Victoria Groce is the best trivia contestant on earth. The winner of the 2024 World Quizzing Championship explains the structure of a good question, why she knits during competitions, and how to memorize 160,000 flashcards.

    • SOURCE:
      • Victoria Groce, “The Queen” on the television game show The Chase.
    • RESOURCES:
      • The Chase, TV series (2013-2015, 2021-present).
      • LearnedLeague.
      • Anki.
    • EXTRAS:
      • "Ken Jennings on How a Midlife Crisis Led Him to Jeopardy! (Replay)," by People I (Mostly) Admire (2021).
      • "Mayim Bialik on the Surprising Risks of Academia and Stability of Show Biz (Replay)," by People I (Mostly) Admire (2021).
    136. The World’s Most Controversial Ornithologist Jul 20, 2024

    Richard Prum says there's a lot that traditional evolutionary biology can't explain. He thinks a neglected hypothesis from Charles Darwin — and insights from contemporary queer theory — hold the answer. Plus: You won't believe what female ducks use for contraception.

    • SOURCE:
      • Richard Prum, professor of ornithology, ecology and evolutionary biology at Yale University.
    • RESOURCES:
      • "Stop Your Populist Grandstanding Over Wendy’s ‘Surge Pricing’," by Catherine Rampell (The Washington Post, 2024).
      • "Dynamic Pricing Tech May Brighten Retail Bottom Lines and Put Consumers in the Dark," by Kristin Schwab and Sofia Terenzio (Marketplace, 2024).
      • Performance All the Way Down: Genes, Development, and Sexual Difference, by Richard Prum (2023).
      • The Evolution of Beauty: How Darwin's Forgotten Theory of Mate Choice Shapes the Animal World — and Us, by Richard Prum (2017).
      • "Duck Sex and the Patriarchy," by Richard Prum (The New Yorker, 2017).
      • "Dinosaur Feathers Came before Birds and Flight," by Richard Prum and Alan Brush (Scientific American, 2014).
      • "How Chickens Lost Their Penises (And Ducks Kept Theirs)," by Ed Yong (National Geographic, 2013).
      • "Media Attacks Duck Genitalia Research," by Emma Goldberg (Yale Daily News, 2013).
      • "Mate Choice and Sexual Selection: What Have We Learned Since Darwin?" by Adam G. Jones and Nicholas L. Ratterman (PNAS, 2009).
      • "Development and Evolutionary Origin of Feathers," by Richard O. Prum (Journal of Experimental Zoology, 2002).
      • The Blind Watchmaker: Why the Evidence of Evolution Reveals a Universe without Design, by Richard Dawkins (1986).
      • "Display Behavior, Foraging Ecology, and Systematics of the Golden-Winged Manakin (Masius chrysopterus)," by Richard Prum and Ann Johnson (The Wilson Bulletin, 1987).
      • The Selfish Gene, by Richard Dawkins (1976).
      • The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex, by Charles Darwin (1871).
    • EXTRAS:
      • "Is Gynecology the Best Innovation Ever?" by People I (Mostly) Admire (2024).
      • "The Price of Doing Business with John List," by People I (Mostly) Admire (2022).
    135. How to Grow a White Rhino Jul 06, 2024

    Thomas Hildebrandt is trying to bring the northern white rhinoceros back from the brink of extinction. The wildlife veterinarian tells Steve about the far-out techniques he employs, why we might see woolly mammoths in the future, and why he was frustrated the day the Berlin Wall came down.

    • SOURCES:
      • Thomas Hildebrandt, head of the department of reproduction management at the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research and professor of wildlife reproduction medicine at the veterinary faculty of the Freie Universität Berlin.
    • RESOURCES:
      • "An Inside Look at the Embryo Transplant That May Help Save the Northern White Rhino," by Jeffrey Kluger (TIME, 2024).
      • "Mud, Bugs, and Dung: How Rhinos Shape Their World," by Rinjan Shrestha (World Wildlife Fund, 2022).
      • "The Last Two Northern White Rhinos On Earth," by Sam Anderson (The New York Times Magazine, 2021).
      • "Embryos and Embryonic Stem Cells From the White Rhinoceros," by Thomas B. Hildebrandt, Robert Hermes, Cesare Galli, et al. (Nature Communications, 2018).
      • "Loss of a Species – A Giant, Extinct," by Thomas Hildebrandt (TED, 2017).
      • Colossal.
    • EXTRAS:
      • "Why Do We Still Teach People to Calculate?" by People I (Mostly) Admire (2024).
      • "What’s Stopping Us From Curing Rare Diseases?" by Freakonomics, M.D. (2023).
      • "We Can Play God Now," by People I (Mostly) Admire (2022).
    REPLAY Sue Bird: “You Have to Pay the Superstars.” Jun 29, 2024

    She is one of the best basketball players ever. She’s won multiple championships, including five Olympic gold medals and four W.N.B.A. titles. She also helped negotiate a landmark contract for the league’s players. Sue Bird tells Steve Levitt the untold truth about clutch players, her thoughts about the pay gap between male and female athletes, and what it means to be part of the first gay couple in ESPN The Magazine’s Body Issue.

    • SOURCE:
      • Sue Bird, former professional basketball player.
    • RESOURCES:
      • "‘We’re Betting on Ourselves’: Why WNBA’s Landmark New Deal Is a Huge Win for Women’s Professional Sports," by Percy Allen (The Seattle Times, 2020).
      • "Sue Bird & Megan Rapinoe," (ESPN The Magazine Body Issue, 2018).
      • "Missed Shots at the Free-Throw Line: Analyzing the Determinants of Choking Under Pressure," by Mattie Toma (Journal of Sports Economics, 2015).
    • EXTRAS:
      • "Marc Davis Can’t Stop Watching Basketball — But He Doesn’t Care Who Wins," by People I (Mostly) Admire (2021).
      • "The Hidden Side of Sports," series by Freakonomics Radio (2018-19).
      • "The True Story of the Gender Pay Gap," by Freakonomics Radio (2016).
    134. Why Do We Still Teach People to Calculate? Jun 22, 2024

    Conrad Wolfram wants to transform the way we teach math — by taking advantage of computers. The creator of Computer-Based Maths convinced the Estonian government to give his radical curriculum a try — so why is the rest of the world so resistant?

    SOURCE:

    Conrad Wolfram, strategic director and European cofounder/C.E.O. of Wolfram Research, and founder of computerbasedmath.org.

    RESOURCES:

    "In California, a Math Problem: Does Data Science = Algebra II?" by Amy Harmon (The New York Times, 2023).
    The Math(s) Fix: An Education Blueprint for the AI Age, by Conrad Wolfram (2020).
    "The Movement to Modernize Math Class," by Yoree Koh (The Wall Street Journal, 2020).
    "Math Rebels Invade Estonia With Computerized Education," by Klint Finley (Wired, 2013).
    "Do Left-Handed People Really Die Young?" by Hannah Barnes (BBC News, 2013).
    "Teaching Kids Real Math With Computers," by Conrad Wolfram (TED Talk, 2010).

    EXTRAS:

    "Bringing Data to Life," by People I (Mostly) Admire (2023).
    "Steven Strogatz Thinks You Don’t Know What Math Is," by People I (Mostly) Admire (2023).
    "Mathematician Sarah Hart on Why Numbers are Music to Our Ears," by People I (Mostly) Admire (2021).
    "America’s Math Curriculum Doesn’t Add Up," by People I (Mostly) Admire (2021).

    133. Pay Attention! (Your Body Will Thank You) Jun 08, 2024

    Ellen Langer is a psychologist at Harvard who studies the mind-body connection. She’s published some of the most remarkable scientific findings Steve has ever encountered. Can we really improve our physical health by changing our mind?

    • SOURCE:
      • Ellen Langer, professor of psychology at Harvard University.
    • RESOURCES:
      • Brave New Words: How AI Will Revolutionize Education (and Why That's a Good Thing), by Sal Khan (2024).
      • "F.D.A.’s Review of MDMA Cites Health Risks and Study Flaws," by Andrew Jacobs and Christina Jewett (The New York Times, 2024).
      • The Mindful Body: Thinking Our Way to Chronic Health, by Ellen Langer (2023).
      • "Physical Healing as a Function of Perceived Time," by Peter Aungle and Ellen Langer (Nature: Scientific Reports, 2023).
      • "Aging as a Mindset: A Study Protocol to Rejuvenate Older Adults With a Counterclockwise Psychological Intervention," by Francesco Pagnini, Cesare Cavalera, Ellen Langer, et al. (BMJ Open, 2019).
      • Counterclockwise: Mindful Health and the Power of Possibility, by Ellen Langer (2009).
      • "Mind-Set Matters: Exercise and the Placebo Effect," by Alia Crum and Ellen Langer (2007).
      • "The Effects of Choice and Enhanced Personal Responsibility for the Aged: A Field Experiment in an Institutional Setting," by Ellen Langer and Judith Rodin (Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1976).
    • EXTRAS:
      • "The Future of Therapy Is Psychedelic," by People I (Mostly) Admire (2023).
      • "Extra: An Update on the Khan World School," by People I (Mostly) Admire (2023).
      • "Is This the Future of High School?" by People I (Mostly) Admire (2022).
      • "What It Takes to Know Everything," by People I (Mostly) Admire (2022).
      • "Sal Khan: 'If It Works for 15 Cousins, It Could Work for a Billion People,'" by People I (Mostly) Admire (2021).
      • "Greg Norman & Mark Broadie: Why Golf Beats an Orgasm and Why Data Beats Everything," by People I (Mostly) Admire (2021).
      • "Caverly Morgan: 'I Am Not This Voice. I Am Not This Narrative,'" by People I (Mostly) Admire (2020).
      • "Does 'As If' Thinking Really Work?" by No Stupid Questions (2020).
      • "Havana Wild Weekend," S28.E7 of The Simpsons (2016).
    UPDATE: John Green’s Reluctant Rocket Ship Ride Jun 01, 2024

    Author and YouTuber John Green thought his breakout bestseller wouldn’t be a commercial success, wrote 40,000 words for one sentence, and brought Steve to tears.

    • SOURCE:
      • John Green, best-selling author and YouTube creator.
    • RESOURCES:
      • "The Deadliest Infectious Disease Isn’t a Science Problem. It’s a Money Problem," by John Green (The Washington Post, 2024).
      • “Tuition Inflation Isn’t as Bad as You Think,” by Felix Salmon (Axios, 2022).
      • “Fast Facts: Expenditures,” by the National Center for Education Statistics (2022).
      • “Trends in College Pricing and Student Aid 2021,” by the College Board (2021).
      • “#37 John,” by Heavyweight (2021).
      • The Anthropocene Reviewed: Essays on a Human-Centered Planet, by John Green (2021).
      • “Scratch ‘n’ Sniff Stickers and the Indianapolis 500,” by The Anthropocene Reviewed Podcast (2019).
      • “How Joan of Arc Conquered Mark Twain,” by Ted Gioia (America: The Jesuit Review, 2018).
      • Turtles All the Way Down, by John Green (2017).
      • The Fault in Our Stars, film (2014).
      • The Fault in Our Stars, by John Green (2012).
      • Looking for Alaska, by John Green (2005).
      • All the King’s Men, by Robert Penn Warren and Noel Polk (1946).
      • Harvey, film (1950).
      • vlogbrothers, YouTube channel by John and Hank Green.
      • Crash Course, YouTube channel by John and Hank Green.
    • EXTRAS:
      • “Peter Singer Isn’t a Saint, But He’s Better Than Steve Levitt,” by People I (Mostly) Admire (2022).
      • “Freakonomics Radio Goes Back To School,” series by Freakonomics Radio (2022).
    132. Suleika Jaouad’s Survival Mechanisms May 25, 2024

    Suleika Jaouad was diagnosed with cancer at 22. She made her illness the subject of a New York Times column and a memoir, Between Two Kingdoms. She and Steve talk about what it means to live with a potentially fatal illness, how to talk to people who've gone through a tragedy, and ways to encourage medical donations.

    • SOURCE:
      • Suleika Jaouad, author.
    • RESOURCES:
      • "The Art of Survival," by Jennifer Senior (The Atlantic, 2024).
      • American Symphony, film by Matthew Heineman (2023).
      • Between Two Kingdoms: A Memoir of a Life Interrupted, by Suleika Jaouad (2021).
      • "Max Ritvo, Poet Who Chronicled His Cancer Fight, Dies at 25," by John Schwartz (The New York Times, 2016).
      • “Life, Interrupted,” column by Suleika Jaouad (The New York Times, 2012-2015).
      • The Fault in Our Stars, by John Green (2012).
      • Bright-sided: How Positive Thinking Is Undermining America, by Barbara Ehrenreich (2009).
      • The Isolation Journals, newsletter by Suleika Jaouad.
    • EXTRAS:
      • "John Green’s Reluctant Rocket Ship Ride," by People I (Mostly) Admire (2022).
      • "Does Death Have to Be a Death Sentence?" by People I (Mostly) Admire (2022).
    131. Getting Old, Adventurously May 11, 2024

    Caroline Paul is a thrill-seeker and writer who is on a quest to encourage women to get outside and embrace adventure as they age. She and Steve talk about fighting fires, walking on airplane wings, and finding awe in birdwatching.

    • SOURCE:
      • Caroline Paul, author and former firefighter.
    • RESOURCES:
      • Tough Broad: From Boogie Boarding to Wing Walking ― How Outdoor Adventure Improves Our Lives as We Age, by Caroline Paul (2024).
      • "FAA Halts Sequim Wing-Walking Flights, Revokes Owner’s Pilot License," by Dominic Gates (The Seattle Times, 2024).
      • "How a Bit of Awe Can Improve Your Health," by Hope Reese (The New York Times, 2023).
      • The Gutsy Girl: Escapades for Your Life of Epic Adventure, by Caroline Paul (2016).
      • "Why Do We Teach Girls That It’s Cute to Be Scared?" by Caroline Paul (The New York Times, 2016).
      • "What if Age Is Nothing but a Mind-Set?" by Bruce Grierson (The New York Times Magazine, 2014).
      • Lost Cat: A True Story of Love, Desperation, and GPS Technology, by Caroline Paul (2013).
      • "The Cognitive Benefits of Interacting With Nature," by Marc G. Berman, John Jonides, and Stephen Kaplan (Psychological Science, 2008).
      • "Longevity Increased by Positive Self-Perceptions of Aging," by Becca R. Levy, Martin D. Slade, Suzanne R. Kunkel, and Stanislav V. Kasl (Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 2002).
      • Fighting Fire, by Caroline Paul (1998).
    • EXTRAS:
      • "Is Fear Running Your Life?" by No Stupid Questions (2024).
      • "Arnold Schwarzenegger Has Some Advice for You," by People I (Mostly) Admire (2024).
      • "Should You Spend More Time in Nature?" by No Stupid Questions (2023).
      • "Steven Pinker: 'I Manage My Controversy Portfolio Carefully,'" by People I (Mostly) Admire (2020).
    UPDATE: What It’s Like to Be Steve Levitt’s Daughters May 04, 2024

    Steve shows a different side of himself in very personal interviews with his two oldest daughters. Amanda talks about growing up with social anxiety and her decision not to go to college, while Lily speaks candidly about her battle with anorexia and the conversation she had with Steve that led her to seek treatment.

    • SOURCES:
      • Lily Levitt, daughter of Steve Levitt.
      • Amanda Levitt, daughter of Steve Levitt.
    • RESOURCES:
      • Can I Ask You a Question? by Amanda Levitt (2020).
      • "Does “Early Education” Come Way Too Late?" Freakonomics Radio (2018).
    • EXTRAS:
      • NEDA Crisis Support.
    130. Is Our Concept of Freedom All Wrong? Apr 27, 2024

    The economist Joseph Stiglitz has devoted his life to exposing the limits of markets. He tells Steve about winning an argument with fellow Nobel laureate Milton Friedman, why small governments don’t lead to more freedom, and why he’s not afraid to be an advocate.

    • SOURCE:
      • Joseph Stiglitz, professor at Columbia University and chief economist at the Roosevelt Institute.
    • RESOURCES:
      • The Road to Freedom: Economics and the Good Society, by Joseph Stiglitz (2024).
      • "Equilibrium in Competitive Insurance Markets: An Essay on the Economics of Imperfect Information," by Michael Rothschild and Joseph Stiglitz (The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 2010).
      • "Hirsh: The Missing Link on Obama's Economic Team," by Michael Hirsh (Newsweek, 2008).
      • Globalization and Its Discontents, by Joseph Stiglitz (2002).
      • Two Lucky People: Memoirs, by Milton Friedman and Rose Friedman (1998).
      • "On Value Maximization and Alternative Objectives of the Firm," by Sanford Grossman and Joseph Stiglitz (The Journal of Finance, 1977).
    • EXTRAS:
      • "Remembering Daniel Kahneman," by People I (Mostly) Admire (2024).
      • "Ninety-Eight Years of Economic Wisdom," by People I (Mostly) Admire (2023).
    129. How to Fix Medical Research Apr 13, 2024

    Monica Bertagnolli went from a childhood on a cattle ranch to a career as a surgeon to a top post in the Biden administration. As director of the National Institutes of Health, she’s working to improve the way we find new treatments — despite regulatory constraints and tight budgets.

    • SOURCE:
      • Monica Bertagnolli, director of the National Institutes of Health.
    • RESOURCES:
      • "Steven Levitt and John Donohue Defend a Finding Made Famous by 'Freakonomics'," by Steven Levitt and John Donohue (The Economist, 2024).
      • "Why 'Freakonomics' Failed to Transform Economics," (The Economist, 2024).
      • "Steven D. Levitt (Freakonomics Co-Author and U Chicago Econ Prof) on His Career and Decision to Retire From Academic Economics," by Jon Hartley (The Capitalism and Freedom in the Twenty-First Century Podcast, 2024).
      • "Why Autoimmune Disease Is More Common in Women: X Chromosome Holds Clues," by Elie Dolgin (Nature, 2024).
      • "Casgevy and Lyfgenia: Two Gene Therapies Approved for Sickle Cell Disease," by Carrie MacMillan (Yale Medicine News, 2023).
      • "Fact Sheet: President Biden Reignites Cancer Moonshot to End Cancer as We Know It," (2022).
      • "Mini-Antibodies Discovered in Sharks and Camels Could Lead to Drugs for Cancer and Other Diseases," by Mitch Leslie (Science, 2018).
    • EXTRAS:
      • "Who Pays for Multimillion-Dollar Miracle Cures?" by Freakonomics, M.D. (2023).
      • "What’s Stopping Us From Curing Rare Diseases?" by Freakonomics, M.D. (2023).
      • "Abortion and Crime, Revisited (Update)," by Freakonomics Radio (2022).
      • "John Donohue: 'I’m Frequently Called a Treasonous Enemy of the Constitution,'" by People I (Mostly) Admire (2021).
    EXTRA: Remembering Daniel Kahneman Apr 06, 2024

    Nobel laureate, bestselling author, and groundbreaking psychologist Daniel Kahneman died in March. In 2021 he talked with Steve Levitt — his friend and former business partner — about his book Noise: A Flaw in Human Judgment (cowritten with Olivier Sibony and Cass Sunstein) and much more.

    • SOURCES:
      • Daniel Kahneman, professor emeritus of psychology and public affairs at Princeton University.
    • RESOURCES:
      • Noise: A Flaw in Human Judgment, by Olivier Sibony, Daniel Kahneman, and Cass R. Sunstein (2021).
      • Thinking, Fast and Slow, by Daniel Kahneman (2011).
    • EXTRAS:
      • "What’s the Secret to Making a Great Prediction?" by No Stupid Questions (2021).
      • "The Men Who Started a Thinking Revolution," by Freakonomics Radio (2017).
      • "How to Be Less Terrible at Predicting the Future," by Freakonomics Radio (2016).
    128. Are Our Tools Becoming Part of Us? Mar 30, 2024

    Google researcher Blaise Agüera y Arcas spends his work days developing artificial intelligence models and his free time conducting surveys for fun. He tells Steve how he designed an algorithm for the U.S. Navy at 14, how he discovered the truth about printing-press pioneer Johannes Gutenberg, and when A.I. first blew his mind.

    • SOURCE:
      • Blaise Agüera y Arcas, fellow at Google Research.
    • RESOURCES:
      • Who Are We Now?, by Blaise Agüera y Arcas (2023).
      • "Artificial General Intelligence Is Already Here," by Blaise Agüera y Arcas and Peter Norvig (Noema Magazine, 2023).
      • "Transformer: A Novel Neural Network Architecture for Language Understanding," by Jakob Uszkoreit (Google Research Blog, 2017).
      • "Communication-Efficient Learning of Deep Networks from Decentralized Data," by H. Brendan McMahan, Eider Moore, Daniel Ramage, Seth Hampson, and Blaise Agüera y Arcas (arXiv, 2016).
      • "How PhotoSynth Can Connect the World's Images," by Blaise Agüera y Arcas (TED Talk, 2007).
      • "Has History Been Too Generous to Gutenberg?" by Dinitia Smith (The New York Times, 2001).
    • EXTRAS:
      • "'My God, This Is a Transformative Power,'" by People I (Mostly) Admire (2023).
      • "How to Think About A.I.," series by Freakonomics Radio (2023).
      • "Satya Nadella’s Intelligence Is Not Artificial," by Freakonomics Radio (2023).
      • "Yul Kwon (Part 2): 'Hey, Do You Have Any Bright Ideas?'" by People I (Mostly) Admire (2021).
      • "Yul Kwon: 'Don’t Try to Change Yourself All at Once,'" by People I (Mostly) Admire (2021).
    127. Rajiv Shah Never Wastes a Crisis Mar 16, 2024

    After Haiti’s devastating earthquake, Rajiv Shah headed the largest humanitarian effort in U.S. history. As chief economist of the Gates Foundation he tried to immunize almost a billion children. He tells Steve why it’s important to take big gambles, follow the data, and own up to your mistakes.

    • SOURCE:
      • Rajiv Shah, president of the Rockefeller Foundation.
    • RESOURCES:
      • Big Bets: How Large-Scale Change Really Happens, by Rajiv Shah (2023).
      • "The Root of Haiti’s Misery: Reparations to Enslavers," by Catherine Porter, Constant Méheut, Matt Apuzzo, and Selam Gebrekidan (The New York Times, 2022).
      • "Testing Is Our Way Out," by Paul Romer and Rajiv Shah (The Wall Street Journal, 2020).
      • "How to Get Millions of People to Take Coronavirus Tests and Stay Home if They're Positive," by Steven Levitt, Paul Romer, and Jeff Severts (USA Today, 2020).
      • "Haiti In Ruins: A Look Back At The 2010 Earthquake," by The Picture Show (2020).
      • "Vaccine for a Global Childhood Illness Passes Last Big Hurdle," (The New York Times, 1997).
    • EXTRAS:
      • "Dambisa Moyo Says Foreign Aid Can’t Solve Problems, but Maybe Corporations Can," by People I (Mostly) Admire (2021).
      • "Moncef Slaoui: 'It’s Unfortunate That It Takes a Crisis for This to Happen,'" by People I (Mostly) Admire (2020).
    126. How to Have Great Conversations Mar 02, 2024

    The Power of Habit author Charles Duhigg wrote his new book in an attempt to learn how to communicate better. Steve shares how the book helped him understand his own conversational weaknesses.

    • SOURCES:
      • Charles Duhigg, journalist and author.
    • RESOURCES:
      • Supercommunicators: How to Unlock the Secret Language of Connection, by Charles Duhigg (2024).
      • "2023 Word of the Year Is 'Enshittification,'" by the American Dialect Association (2024).
      • "When Someone You Love Is Upset, Ask This One Question," by Jancee Dunn (The New York Times, 2023).
      • Smarter Faster Better: The Secrets of Being Productive in Life and Business, by Charles Duhigg (2016).
      • "The 36 Questions That Lead to Love," by Daniel Jones (The New York Times, 2015).
      • The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business, by Charles Duhigg (2012).
      • "The Experimental Generation of Interpersonal Closeness: A Procedure and Some Preliminary Findings," by Arthur Aron, Edward Melinat, Elaine N. Aron, Robert Darrin Vallone, and Renee J. Bator (Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 1997).
    • EXTRAS:
      • "How Can You Get Closer to the People You Care About?" by No Stupid Questions (2023).
      • "How Do You Connect With Someone You Just Met?" by No Stupid Questions (2023).
      • "Can I Ask You a Ridiculously Personal Question?" by Freakonomics Radio (2021).
      • "Amanda & Lily Levitt Share What It’s Like to be Steve’s Daughters," by People I (Mostly) Admire (2021).
      • "Marina Nitze: 'If You Googled ‘Business Efficiency Consultant,’ I Was the Only Result,'" by People I (Mostly) Admire (2021).
      • "How to Be More Productive," by Freakonomics Radio (2016).
      • Frozen, film (2013).
    125. Is Gynecology the Best Innovation Ever? Feb 17, 2024

    Cat Bohannon’s new book puts female anatomy at the center of human evolution. She tells Steve why it takes us so long to give birth, what breast milk is really for, and why the human reproductive system is a flaming pile of garbage.

    • SOURCE:
      • Cat Bohannon, researcher and author.
    • RESOURCES:
      • Eve: How the Female Body Drove 200 Million Years of Human Evolution, by Cat Bohannon (2023).
      • “Genomic Inference of a Severe Human Bottleneck During the Early to Middle Pleistocene Transition,” by Wangjie Hu, Ziqian Hao, Pengyuan Du, Fabio Di Vincenzo, Giorgio Manzi, Jialong Cui, Yun-Xin Fu, Yi-Hsuan, and Haipeng Li (Science, 2023).
      • “The Greatest Invention in the History of Humanity,” by Cat Bohannon (The Atlantic, 2023).
      • “A Newborn Infant Chimpanzee Snatched and Cannibalized Immediately After Birth: Implications for ‘Maternity Leave’ in Wild Chimpanzee,” by Hitonaru Nishie and Michio Nakamura (American Journal of Biological Anthropology, 2018).
      • “War in the Womb,” by Suzanne Sadedin (Aeon, 2014).
      • “Timing of Childbirth Evolved to Match Women’s Energy Limits,” by Erin Wayman (Smithsonian Magazine, 2012).
      • “Bonobo Sex and Society,” by Frans B. M. de Waal (Scientific American, 2006).
    • EXTRAS:
      • “Ninety-Eight Years of Economic Wisdom,” by People I (Mostly) Admire (2023).
      • “We Can Play God Now,” by People I (Mostly) Admire (2022).
      • “Yuval Noah Harari Thinks Life Is Meaningless and Amazing,” by People I (Mostly) Admire (2022).
      • “Jared Diamond on the Downfall of Civilizations — and His Optimism for Ours,” by People I (Mostly) Admire (2021).
    124. Daron Acemoglu on Economics, Politics, and Power Feb 03, 2024

    Economist Daron Acemoglu likes to tackle big questions. He tells Steve how colonialism still affects us today, who benefits from new technology, and why democracy wasn’t always a sure thing.

    • SOURCE:
      • Daron Acemoglu, professor of economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
    • RESOURCES:
      • Power and Progress: Our Thousand-Year Struggle Over Technology and Prosperity, by Daron Acemoglu and Simon Johnson (2023).
      • "Economists Pin More Blame on Tech for Rising Inequality," by Steve Lohr (The New York Times, 2022).
      • "America’s Slow-Motion Wage Crisis: Four Decades of Slow and Unequal Growth," by John Schmitt, Elise Gould, and Josh Bivens (Economic Policy Institute, 2018).
      • "Why Mental Health Advocates Use the Words 'Died by Suicide,'" by Nicole Spector (NBC News, 2018).
      • "A Machine That Made Stockings Helped Kick Off the Industrial Revolution," by Sarah Laskow (Atlas Obscura, 2017).
      • "The Long-Term Jobs Killer Is Not China. It’s Automation," by Claire Cain Miller (The New York Times, 2016).
      • Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty, by Daron Acemoglu and James A. Robinson (2012).
      • "The Colonial Origins of Comparative Development: An Empirical Investigation," by Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson, and James A. Robinson (American Economic Review, 2001).
      • "Learning about Others' Actions and the Investment Accelerator," by Daron Acemoglu (The Economic Journal, 1993).
      • "A Friedman Doctrine — The Social Responsibility of Business Is to Increase Its Profits," by Milton Friedman (The New York Times, 1970).
    • EXTRAS:
      • "'My God, This Is a Transformative Power,'" by People I (Mostly) Admire (2023).
      • "New Technologies Always Scare Us. Is A.I. Any Different?" by Freakonomics Radio (2023).
      • "Max Tegmark on Why Superhuman Artificial Intelligence Won’t be Our Slave," by People I (Mostly) Admire (2021).
      • "How to Prevent Another Great Depression," by Freakonomics Radio (2020).
      • "Is Income Inequality Inevitable?" by Freakonomics Radio (2017).
    123. Walt Hickey Wants to Track Your Eyeballs Jan 20, 2024

    Journalist Walt Hickey uses data to understand how culture works. He and Steve talk about why China hasn’t produced any hit movies yet and how he got his own avatar in the Madden NFL video game.

    • SOURCE:
      • Walter Hickey, author, journalist, and data expert.
    • RESOURCES:
      • You Are What You Watch: How Movies and TV Affect Everything, by Walter Hickey (2023).
      • "France Gave Teenagers $350 for Culture. They’re Buying Comic Books," by Aurelien Breeden (The New York Times, 2021).
      • "How I Escaped a Chinese Internment Camp," by Fahmida Azim, Anthony Del Col, and Josh Adams (Business Insider, 2021).
      • "Why You Should Stop Binge-Watching," by Alan Jern (Psychology Today, 2021).
      • "China Wants Soft Power. But Censorship Is Stifling Its Film Industry," by Eduardo Baptista (CNN, 2019).
      • "The Economic Impact of On-Screen Tourism: The Case of The Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit," by ShiNa Li, Hengyun Li, Haiyan Song, Christine Lundberg, and Shujie Shen (Tourism Management, 2017).
      • "A Lazy, Out-Of-Shape Amateur Won Two More Super Bowls Than Tony Romo," by Walter Hickey and Jody Avirgan (FiveThirtyEight, 2015).
      • "How Madden Helped a Schlub Like Me Make It Into the NFL," by Walter Hickey (FiveThirtyEight, 2015).
      • "'Kung Fu Panda' Prompts Soul-Searching in China," by Simon Rabinovitch (Reuters, 2008).
      • Numlock News, by Walter Hickey.
    • EXTRAS:
      • "Nate Silver Says We’re Bad at Making Predictions," by People I (Mostly) Admire (2023).
      • "Adding Ten Healthy Years to Your Life," by People I (Mostly) Admire (2023).
      • "David Epstein Knows Something About Almost Everything," by People I (Mostly) Admire (2021).
      • "Professor Carl Hart Argues All Drugs Should Be Legal — Can He Convince Steve?" by People I (Mostly) Admire (2021).
      • "Sendhil Mullainathan Thinks Messing Around Is the Best Use of Your Time," by People I (Mostly) Admire (2021).
      • "Sue Bird: 'You Have to Pay the Superstars,'" by People I (Mostly) Admire (2021).
    122. Arnold Schwarzenegger Has Some Advice for You Jan 06, 2024

    Arnold Schwarzenegger has been a bodybuilder, an actor, a governor, and, now, an author. He tells Steve how he’s managed to succeed in so many fields — and what to do when people throw eggs at you.

    • SOURCE:
      • Arnold Schwarzenegger, professional bodybuilder, actor, and former governor of California.
    • RESOURCES:
      • Be Useful: Seven Tools for Life, by Arnold Schwarzenegger (2023).
      • "Arnold Schwarzenegger: Environmentalists Are Behind the Times. And Need to Catch Up Fast," by Arnold Schwarzenegger (USA Today, 2023).
      • Arnold, Netflix documentary (2023).
      • "Gubernatorial Recall Election Debate," (C-SPAN, 2003).
      • "Cinema: Best of '84: Cinema," (TIME, 1985).
    • EXTRAS:
      • "This Is Your Brain on Pollution (Update)," by Freakonomics Radio (2022).
      • Twins, film by Ivan Reitman (1988).
      • The Terminator, film by James Cameron (1984).
    121. Exploring Physics, from Eggshells to Oceans Dec 23, 2023

    Physicist Helen Czerski loves to explain how the world works. She talks with Steve about studying bubbles, setting off explosives, and how ocean waves have changed the course of history.

    • SOURCE:
      • Helen Czerski, physicist and oceanographer at University College London.
    • RESOURCES:
      • The Blue Machine: How the Ocean Works, by Helen Czerski (2023).
      • "Ocean Bubbles Under High Wind Conditions – Part 1: Bubble Distribution and Development," by Helen Czerski, Ian M. Brooks, Steve Gunn, Robin Pascal, Adrian Matei, and Byron Blomquist (Ocean Science, 2022).
      • "When It Comes to Sucking Up Carbon Emissions, ‘The Ocean Has Been Forgiving.’ That Might Not Last," by Bella Isaacs-Thomas (PBS NewsHour, 2022).
      • "Ocean's Hidden Heat Measured With Earthquake Sounds," by Paul Voosen (Science, 2020).
      • "Why Is the Ocean so Important for Climate Change?" by Kathryn Tso (MIT Climate Portal, 2020).
      • "Issues Brief: Ocean Deoxygenation," by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (2019).
      • "Behold the Bubbly Ocean," by Helen Czerski (Physics World, 2017).
      • Storm in a Teacup: The Physics of Everyday Life, by Helen Czerski (2016).
      • "Research Highlight: Scripps and the Science Behind the D-Day Landings," by James Vazquez and Mario C. Aguilera (Scripps Institution of Oceanography, 2014).
      • "A Mechanism Stimulating Sound Production From Air Bubbles Released From a Nozzle," by Grant B. Deane and Helen Czerski (Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 2008).
      • "β-δ Phase Transition During Dropweight Impact on Cyclotetramethylene-Tetranitroamine," by Helen Czerski, M. W. Greenaway, William G. Proud, and John E. Field (Journal of Applied Physics, 2004).
    • EXTRAS:
      • "Reading Dostoevsky Behind Bars," by People I (Mostly) Admire (2023).
      • "Can Data Keep People Out of Prison?" by People I (Mostly) Admire (2023).
      • "Joshua Jay: 'Humans Are So, So Easy to Fool,'" by People I (Mostly) Admire (2021).
    120. Werner Herzog Thinks His Films Are a Distraction Dec 09, 2023

    The filmmaker doesn’t want to be known only for his movies. He tells Steve why he considers himself a writer first, how it feels to be recognized for his role in The Mandalorian, and why he once worked as a rodeo clown.

    • SOURCE:
      • Werner Herzog, filmmaker, author, and actor.
    • RESOURCES:
      • Every Man for Himself and God Against All, by Werner Herzog (2023).
      • The Mandalorian, TV show (2019-2023).
      • The Twilight World, by Werner Herzog (2021).
      • Family Romance, LLC, film by Werner Herzog (2019).
      • Fitzcarraldo, film by Werner Herzog (1982).
      • Of Walking in Ice, by Werner Herzog (1978).
      • Aguirre, the Wrath of God, film by Werner Herzog (1972).
      • Rogue Film School.
    • EXTRAS:
      • "David Simon Is On Strike. Here’s Why," by People I (Mostly) Admire (2023).
      • "Will A.I. Make Us Smarter?" by People I (Mostly) Admire (2023).
      • Freakonomics: The Movie (2010).
    119. Higher Education Is Broken. Can It Be Fixed? Nov 25, 2023

    Economist Michael D. Smith says universities are scrambling to protect a status quo that deserves to die. He tells Steve why the current system is unsustainable, and what’s at stake if nothing changes.

    RESOURCES:

    • The Abundant University: Remaking Higher Education for a Digital World, by Michael D. Smith (2023).
    • "Diversifying Society’s Leaders? The Determinants and Causal Effects of Admission to Highly Selective Private Colleges," by Raj Chetty, David J. Deming, and John N. Friedman (NBER Working Paper, 2023).
    • "Are Universities Going the Way of CDs and Cable TV?" by Michael D. Smith (The Atlantic, 2020).
    • "For Sale: SAT-Takers’ Names. Colleges Buy Student Data and Boost Exclusivity," by Douglas Belkin (The Wall Street Journal, 2019).
    • "High School GPAs and ACT Scores as Predictors of College Completion: Examining Assumptions About Consistency Across High Schools," by Elaine M. Allensworth and Kallie Clark (Educational Researcher, 2020).
    • "Mobility Report Cards: The Role of Colleges in Intergenerational Mobility," by Raj Chetty, John N. Friedman, Emmanuel Saez, Nicholas Turner, and Danny Yagan (NBER Working Paper, 2017).
    • "How U.S. News College Rankings Promote Economic Inequality on Campus," by Benjamin Wermund (Politico, 2017).
    • Streaming, Sharing, Stealing: Big Data and the Future of Entertainment, by Michael D. Smith (2016).
    • "Higher Education's Work Preparation Paradox," by Brandon Busteed (Gallup, 2014).
    • "Let’s Level the Playing Field for SAT Prep," by Sal Khan (Khan Academy, 2014).
    • "Race, Poverty and SAT Scores: Modeling the Influences of Family Income on Black and White High School Students' SAT Performance," by Ezekiel J. Dixon-Roman, Howard Everson, and John J Mcardle (Teachers College Record, 2013).

    EXTRAS:

    • "The Professor Who Said 'No' to Tenure," by People I (Mostly) Admire (2022).
    • "Freakonomics Radio Goes Back to School," series by Freakonomics Radio (2022).
    • "Is This the Future of High School?" by People I (Mostly) Admire (2022).
    • "America’s Math Curriculum Doesn’t Add Up," by People I (Mostly) Admire (2021).
    • “Sal Khan: ‘If It Works for 15 Cousins, It Could Work for a Billion People.’” by People I (Mostly) Admire (2021).

    SOURCES:

    • Michael D. Smith, professor of information technology and marketing at Carnegie Mellon University.
    118. “My God, This Is a Transformative Power” Nov 11, 2023

    Computer scientist Fei-Fei Li had a wild idea: download one billion images from the internet and teach a computer to recognize them. She ended up advancing the state of artificial intelligence — and she hopes that will turn out to be a good thing for humanity.

    RESOURCES:

    • The Worlds I See: Curiosity, Exploration, and Discovery at the Dawn of A.I., by Fei-Fei Li (2023).
    • "Fei-Fei Li's Quest to Make AI Better for Humanity," by Jessi Hempel (Wired, 2018).
    • "ImageNet Large Scale Visual Recognition Challenge," by Olga Russakovsky, Li Fei-Fei, et al. (International Journal of Computer Vision, 2015).

    EXTRAS:

    • “How to Think About A.I." series by Freakonomics Radio (2023).
    • “Will A.I. Make Us Smarter?” by People I (Mostly) Admire (2023).
    • “Satya Nadella’s Intelligence Is Not Artificial,” by Freakonomics Radio (2023).
    • “Max Tegmark on Why Superhuman Artificial Intelligence Won’t be Our Slave,” by People I (Mostly) Admire (2021).

    SOURCES:

    • Fei-Fei Li, professor of computer science and co-director of the Human-Centered A.I. Institute at Stanford University.
    117. Nate Silver Says We're Bad at Making Predictions Oct 28, 2023

    Data scientist Nate Silver gained attention for his election predictions. But even the best prognosticators get it wrong sometimes. He talks to Steve about making good decisions with data, why he’d rather write a newsletter than an academic paper, and how online poker led him to the world of politics.

    RESOURCES

    • "Not Everyone Who Disagrees With You Is a Closet Right-Winger," by Nate Silver (Silver Bulletin, 2023).
    • "The 2 Key Facts About U.S. Covid Policy That Everyone Should Know," by Nate Silver (Silver Bulletin, 2023).
    • "Excess Death Rates for Republican and Democratic Registered Voters in Florida and Ohio During the Covid-19 Pandemic," by Jacob Wallace, Paul Goldsmith-Pinkham, Jason L. Schwartz (JAMA Internal Medicine, 2023).
    • "Why Weather Forecasting Keeps Getting Better," by Hannah Fry (The New Yorker, 2019).
    • "Why FiveThirtyEight Gave Trump A Better Chance Than Almost Anyone Else," by Nate Silver (FiveThirtyEight, 2016).
    • The Signal and the Noise: Why So Many Predictions Fail — but Some Don't, by Nate Silver (2012).

    EXTRAS

    • "Steven Strogatz Thinks You Don’t Know What Math Is," by People I (Mostly) Admire (2023).
    • "A Rockstar Chemist and Her Cancer-Attacking 'Lawn Mower,'" by People I (Mostly) Admire (2022).
    • "What’s the Secret to Making a Great Prediction?" by No Stupid Questions (2021).
    • "How to Be Less Terrible at Predicting the Future," by Freakonomics Radio (2016).
    • "Nate Silver Says: 'Everyone Is Kind of Weird,'" by Freakonomics Radio (2015).
    • "The Folly of Prediction," by Freakonomics Radio (2011).

    SOURCES:

    • Nate Silver, founder of FiveThirtyEight and author of the Silver Bulletin.
    116. Abraham Verghese Thinks Medicine Can Do Better Oct 14, 2023

    Abraham Verghese is a physician and a best-selling author — in that order, he says. He explains the difference between curing and healing, and tells Steve why doctors should spend more time with patients and less with electronic health records.

    RESOURCES:

    • The Covenant of Water, by Abraham Verghese (2023).
    • "Abraham Verghese’s Sweeping New Fable of Family and Medicine,” by Andrew Solomon (The New York Times, 2023).
    • “Watch Oprah’s Emotional Conversation with Abraham Verghese, Author of the 101st Oprah’s Book Club Pick” (Oprah Daily, 2023).
    • "How Indian Teachers Have Shaped Ethiopia's Education System," by Mariam Jafri (The Quint, 2023).
    • “How Tech Can Turn Doctors Into Clerical Workers,” by Abraham Verghese (The New York Times Magazine, 2018).
    • Cutting for Stone, by Abraham Verghese (2009).
    • "Culture Shock — Patient as Icon, Icon as Patient," by Abraham Verghese (The New England Journal of Medicine, 2008).
    • “The Cowpath to America,” by Abraham Verghese (The New Yorker, 1997).
    • My Own Country: A Doctor's Story, by Abraham Verghese (1994).
    • "Urbs in Rure: Human Immunodeficiency Virus Infection in Rural Tennessee," by Abraham Verghese, Steven L. Berk, and Felix Sarubbi (The Journal of Infectious Diseases, 1989).

    EXTRAS:

    • "Are You Suffering From Burnout?" by No Stupid Questions (2023).
    • "Would You Rather See a Computer or a Doctor?" by Freakonomics, M.D. (2022).
    • “How Do You Cure a Compassion Crisis?” by Freakonomics Radio (2020).
    • The Citadel, by A. J. Cronin (1937).
    • Uncle Tom's Cabin, by Harriet Beecher Stowe (1852).

    SOURCES:

    • Abraham Verghese, professor of medicine at Stanford University and best-selling novelist.
    EXTRA: Nobel Laureate Claudia Goldin on "Greedy Work" and the Wage Gap Oct 09, 2023

    Claudia Goldin is the newest winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics. Steve spoke to her in 2021 about how inflexible jobs and family responsibilities make it harder for women to earn wages equal to their male counterparts.

    SOURCES:

    • Claudia Goldin, professor of economics at Harvard University.
    115. The Future of Therapy Is Psychedelic Sep 30, 2023

    For 37 years, Rick Doblin has been pushing the F.D.A. to approve treating post-traumatic stress disorder with MDMA, better known as Ecstasy. He tells Steve why he persisted for so long, why he doesn’t like calling drug use “recreational,” and what he learned from his pet wolf.

    RESOURCES:

    • "MDMA-Assisted Therapy for Moderate to Severe PTSD: A Randomized, Placebo-Controlled Phase 3 Trial," by Jennifer M. Mitchell, Marcela Ot’alora G., Bessel van der Kolk, Scott Shannon, Michael Bogenschutz, Rick Doblin, et al. (Nature Medicine, 2023).
    • "MDMA Therapy Inches Closer to Approval," by Rachel Nuwer (The New York Times, 2023).
    • "Psychedelics Reopen the Social Reward Learning Critical Period," by Romain Nardou, Edward Sawyer, Young Jun Song, Gül Dölen, et al. (Nature, 2023).
    • "The Social Costs of Keystone Species Collapse: Evidence from the Decline of Vultures in India," by Eyal Frank and Anant Sudarshan (SSRN, 2023).
    • "Global Health, Climate Change and Migration: The Need for Recognition of 'Climate Refugees,'" by Saverio Bellizzi, Christian Popescu, Catello M. Panu Napodano, Maura Fiamma, and Luca Cegolon (Journal of Global Health, 2023).
    • "Comparison of Prolonged Exposure vs Cognitive Processing Therapy for Treatment of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Among U.S. Veterans," by Paula P. Schnurr, Kathleen M. Chard, Josef I. Ruzek, et al. (JAMA Network Open, 2022).
    • "MDMA-Assisted Therapy for Severe PTSD: A Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Phase 3 Study," Jennifer M. Mitchell, Michael Bogenschutz, Alia Lilienstein, Charlotte Harrison, Rick Doblin, et al. (Nature Medicine, 2021).
    • "Inner City Blues: Children Raised in Inner-Cities Face Comparable PTSD Causing Conditions and Consequences as Military Veterans and Deserve Our Attention," by Eric Citizen (SSRN, 2019).
    • "Intergenerational Transmission of Trauma Effects: Putative Role of Epigenetic Mechanisms," by Rachel Yehuda and Amy Lehrner (World Psychiatry, 2018).
    • "Durability of Improvement in Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Symptoms and Absence of Harmful Effects or Drug Dependency After 3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine-Assisted Psychotherapy: A Prospective Long-Term Follow-Up Study," by Michael C. Mithoefer, Mark T. Wagner, Rick Doblin, et al. (Journal of Psychopharmacology, 2013).
    • "RETRACTED: Severe Dopaminergic Neurotoxicity in Primates After a Common Recreational Dose Regimen of MDMA ('Ecstasy')," by George A. Ricaurte, Jie Yuan, George Hatzidimitriou, Branden J. Cord, and Una D. McCann (Science, 2002).

    EXTRAS:

    • "Why Aren’t All Drugs Legal? (Replay)," by People I (Mostly) Admire (2022).
    • "Can the Big Bad Wolf Save Your Life?" by Freakonomics Radio (2022).
    • "How Are Psychedelics and Other Party Drugs Changing Psychiatry?" by Freakonomics Radio (2020).

    SOURCES:

    • Rick Doblin, founder and president of the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS).
    114. Is Perfectionism Ruining Your Life? Sep 16, 2023

    Psychologist Thomas Curran argues that perfectionism isn’t about high standards — it’s about never being enough. He explains how the drive to be perfect is harming education, the economy, and our mental health.

    113. Do We Have Evidence of Alien Life? Sep 02, 2023

    Avi Loeb is a Harvard astronomer who argues that we’ve already encountered extraterrestrial technology. His approach to the search for interstellar objects is scientific, but how plausible is his argument?

    112. Reading Dostoevsky Behind Bars Aug 19, 2023

    Reginald Dwayne Betts spent more than eight years in prison. Today he's a Yale Law graduate, a MacArthur Fellow, and a poet. His nonprofit works to build libraries in prisons so that more incarcerated people can find hope.

    111. Can a Moonshot Approach to Mental Health Work? Aug 05, 2023

    Obi Felten used to launch projects for X, Google’s innovation lab, but she’s now tackling mental health. She explains why Steve’s dream job was soul-destroying for her, and how peer support could transform the therapeutic industry.

    110. Drawing from Life (and Death) Jul 22, 2023

    Artist Wendy MacNaughton knows the difficulty of sitting in silence and the power of having fun. She explains to Steve the lessons she’s gleaned from drawing hospice residents, working in Rwanda, and reporting from Guantanamo Bay.

    Extra: An Update on the Khan World School Jul 15, 2023

    Sal Khan returns to discuss his innovative online high school’s first year — and Steve grills a member of the school’s class of 2026 about what it’s really like.

    109. David Simon Is On Strike. Here’s Why. Jul 08, 2023

    The creator of "The Wire", "The Deuce", and other shows is leading the Writers Guild on the picket lines. He and Steve break down the economics of TV writing, how A.I. could change television, and why he’s taking a stand even though he’s at the top of the game.

    The Economics of Everyday Things: T. rex Skeletons Jul 01, 2023

    In the newest show from the Freakonomics Radio Network, host Zachary Crockett explores the hidden side of the things around us. This week: How do dinosaur bones emerge from the Upper Cretaceous period to end up in natural-history museums and private collections?

    108. Ninety-Eight Years of Economic Wisdom Jun 24, 2023

    Robert Solow is 98 years old and a giant among economists. He tells Steve about cracking German codes in World War II, why it’s so hard to reduce inequality, and how his field lost its way.

    107. Bringing Data to Life Jun 10, 2023

    Talithia Williams thinks you should rigorously track your body's data. She and Steve Levitt trade birth stories and bemoan the state of STEM education.

    106. Will A.I. Make Us Smarter? May 27, 2023

    Kevin Kelly believes A.I. will create more problems for humanity — and help us solve them. He talks to Steve about embracing complexity, staying enthusiastic, and taking the 10,000-year view.

    105. Can Data Keep People Out of Prison? May 13, 2023

    Clementine Jacoby went from performing in a circus to founding a nonprofit that works to shrink the prison population.

    104. The Joy of Math With Sarah Hart Apr 29, 2023

    Steve is on a mission to reform math education, and Sarah Hart is ready to join the cause. In her return visit to the show, Sarah explains how patterns are everywhere, constraints make us more creative, and literature is surprisingly mathematical.

    103. Rick Rubin on How to Make Something Great Apr 15, 2023

    From recording some of the first rap hits to revitalizing Johnny Cash's career, the legendary producer has had an extraordinary creative life. In this episode he talks about his new book and his art-making process — and helps Steve get in touch with his own artistic side.

    102. Adding Ten Healthy Years to Your Life Apr 01, 2023

    Physician Peter Attia returns to the show to talk about the science of longevity — which focuses not only on extending life but on maintaining good health into old age. He explains the possibilities and limits of current medicine and gives Steve his best advice on how to defeat the aging process.

    101. Celebrating 100 People I (Mostly) Admire Mar 18, 2023

    Steve and producer Morgan Levey look back at the first 100 episodes of the podcast, including surprising answers, spectacular explanations, and listeners who heard the show and changed their lives.

    100. Chicago’s Renegade Sheriff Wants to Fix Law Enforcement Mar 04, 2023

    Tom Dart is transforming Cook County’s jail, reforming evictions, and, with Steve Levitt, trying a new approach to electronic monitoring.

    99. Greg Norman Takes On the P.G.A. Tour Feb 18, 2023

    Since his last visit to People I (Mostly) Admire, the formerly top-ranked golfer has become the sport's most controversial figure. Why has he partnered with the Saudi government — and can his new golf league unseat a monopoly?

    98. Searching for Our Aquatic Ancestors Feb 04, 2023

    Neil Shubin hunts for fossils in the Arctic and experiments with D.N.A. in the lab, hoping to find out how fish evolved to walk on land. He explains why unlocking these answers could help humans today.

    97. How Smart Is a Forest? Jan 21, 2023

    Ecologist Suzanne Simard studies the relationships between trees in a forest: they talk to each other, punish each other, and depend on each other. What can we learn from them?

    96. Steven Strogatz Thinks You Don’t Know What Math Is Jan 07, 2023

    The mathematician and author sees mathematical patterns everywhere — from DNA to fireflies to social connections.

    95. The One Thing Stephen Dubner Hasn’t Quit Dec 24, 2022

    When Freakonomics co-authors Steve Levitt and Stephen Dubner first met, one of them hated the other. Two decades later, Levitt grills Dubner about asking questions, growing the pie, and what he learned from Bruce Springsteen.

    94. The Price of Doing Business with John List Dec 10, 2022

    From baseball card conventions to Walmart, John List has always used field experiments to say revolutionary things about economics. He explains the value of an apology, why scaling shouldn’t be an afterthought, and why he moved to the private sector to stay at the forefront of science.

    93. Annie Duke Thinks You Should Quit Nov 26, 2022

    Former professional poker player Annie Duke has a new book on Steve’s favorite subject: quitting. They talk about why quitting is so hard, how to do it sooner, and why we feel shame when we do something that’s good for us.

    92. John Green’s Reluctant Rocket Ship Ride Nov 12, 2022

    Author and YouTuber John Green thought his breakout bestseller wouldn’t be a commercial success, wrote 40,000 words for one sentence, and brought Steve to tears.

    91. Jane Goodall Changed the Way We See Animals. She’s Not Done. Oct 29, 2022

    The ethologist and conservationist discusses the thrill of observing chimpanzees in the wild, the value of challenging orthodoxy, and why dying is her next great adventure.

    90. Peter Singer Isn’t a Saint, But He’s Better Than Steve Levitt Oct 15, 2022

    The philosopher known for his rigorous ethics explains why Steve is leading a morally inconsistent life.

    Extra: A Rockstar Chemist Wins the Nobel Prize Oct 08, 2022

    Stanford professor Carolyn Bertozzi’s imaginative ideas for treating disease have led to ten start-ups. She talks with Steve about the next generation of immune therapy she’s created, and why she might rather be a musician.

    89. A Cross Between Sherlock Holmes and Indiana Jones Oct 01, 2022

    Heeding the warnings of public health officer Charity Dean about Covid-19 could have saved lives. Charity explains why she loves infectious diseases and why she moved to the private sector.

    88. Ken Burns on Heroism, Horror, and History Sep 17, 2022

    The documentary filmmaker, known for The Civil War, Jazz, and Baseball, turns his attention to the Holocaust, and asks what we can learn from the evils of the past.

    87. How Much Are the Right Friends Worth? Sep 03, 2022

    Harvard economist Raj Chetty uses tax data to study inequality, kid success, and social mobility. He explains why you should be careful when choosing your grade school teachers — and your friends.

    86. A Million-Year View on Morality Aug 20, 2022

    Philosopher Will MacAskill thinks about how to do as much good as possible. But that's really hard, especially when you're worried about humans who won't be born for many generations.

    85. What It Takes to Know Everything Aug 06, 2022

    Victoria Groce is one of the best trivia contestants on earth. She explains the structure of a good question, why she knits during competitions, and how to memorize 160,000 flashcards.

    84. Yuval Noah Harari Thinks Life Is Meaningless and Amazing Jul 23, 2022

    The author of Sapiens has a knack for finding the profound in the obvious. He tells Steve why money is fiction, traffic can be mind-blowing, and politicians have a right to say stupid things in private.

    83. “There's So Many Problems — Which Ones Can I Make a Difference On?” Jul 09, 2022

    When she's not rescuing chickens from coyotes, Susan Athey uses economics to address real-world challenges — from online ad auctions to carbon capture technology.

    82. Is This the Future of High School? Jul 02, 2022

    Khan Academy founder Sal Khan returns to share his vision for a new way to learn — and the conversation inspires Steve to make a big announcement.

    81. Why Bother Searching for Aliens? Jun 25, 2022

    Astronomer Jill Tarter spent her career searching for extraterrestrial intelligence. She explains what civilizations from other planets could teach us about our own future.

    80. Get Your Share of the Pie Jun 18, 2022

    Game theorist Barry Nalebuff explains how he used basic economics to build Honest Tea into a multimillion-dollar business, and shares his innovative approach to negotiation.

    79. Solar Geoengineering Would Be Radical. It Might Also Be Necessary. Jun 11, 2022

    David Keith has spent his career studying ways to reflect sunlight away from the earth. It could reduce the risks of climate change — but it won’t save us.

    78. Giving It Away Jun 04, 2022

    Billionaire John Arnold is figuring out how to do as much good as he can with his wealth. It takes hard work, risk tolerance, and a lot of spending.

    77. Can Games Prepare Us for Catastrophes? (Part 2) May 28, 2022

    Many of us hate to think about future crises. Game designer Jane McGonigal wants to make it fun.

    76. Is Gaming Good for You? May 21, 2022

    Jane McGonigal designed a game to help herself recover from a traumatic brain injury — and she thinks playing games can help us all lead our best lives.

    75. Self-Help for Data Nerds May 14, 2022

    Seth Stephens-Davidowitz combs through mountains of information to find advice for everyday life.

    74. Getting Our Hands Dirty May 07, 2022

    Soil scientist Asmeret Asefaw Berhe could soon hold one of the most important jobs in science. She explains why the ground beneath our feet is one of our greatest resources — and, possibly, one of our deadliest threats.

    73. Turning Work into Play Apr 30, 2022

    How psychologist Dan Gilbert went from high school dropout to Harvard professor, found the secret of joy, and inspired Steve Levitt's divorce.

    72. “Leaving Black People in the Lurch” Apr 23, 2022

    Linguist and social commentator John McWhorter explains how good intentions may be hurting Black America — and where the word “motherf*cker” comes from.

    71. Bombs Away Apr 16, 2022

    Beatrice Fihn wants to rid the world of nuclear weapons. As Russian aggression raises the prospect of global conflict, can she put disarmament on the world's agenda?

    70. You Make Me Feel Like a Natural Experiment Apr 09, 2022

    Nobel Prize winner Joshua Angrist explains how the draft lottery, the Talmud, and West Point let economists ask — and answer — tough questions.

    69. Does Death Have to Be a Death Sentence? Apr 02, 2022

    Palliative physician B.J. Miller asks: Is there a better way to think about dying? And can death be beautiful?

    68. “No One Can Resist a Jolly, Happy Pig.” Mar 26, 2022

    Naturalist Sy Montgomery explains how she learned to be social from a pig, discovered octopuses have souls, and came to love a killer that will never love her back.

    67. We Can Play God Now Mar 19, 2022

    Gene-editing pioneer Jennifer Doudna worries that humanity might not be ready for the technology she helped develop.

    66. The Professor Who Said “No” to Tenure Mar 12, 2022

    Columbia astrophysicist David Helfand is an academic who does things his own way — from turning down job security to helping found a radically unconventional university.

    65. A Rockstar Chemist and Her Cancer-Attacking “Lawn Mower” Mar 05, 2022

    Stanford professor Carolyn Bertozzi’s imaginative ideas for treating disease have led to ten start-ups. She talks with Steve about the next generation of immune therapy she’s created, and why she might rather be a musician.

    64. How Larry Miller Went from Prison Valedictorian to Nike Executive Feb 26, 2022

    Climbing the corporate ladder to become head of Nike’s Jordan brand, he kept his teenage murder conviction a secret from employers. Larry talks about living in fear, accepting forgiveness, and why it was easier to be bookish behind bars.

    63. The Only Covid-19 Book Worth Reading Feb 19, 2022

    Steve loved Michael Lewis’s latest, The Premonition, but has one critique: Why aren’t there even more villains? Also, why the author of best-sellers Moneyball and The Big Short can barely read a page of his first book without cringing.

    62. How Does Historian Brad Gregory Make a Boring Topic So Mind-Blowing? Feb 12, 2022

    A leading expert on the Reformation era, Brad, a University of Notre Dame professor, tells Steve about how the “blood gets sucked out of history,” and why historians and economists don’t quite see eye to eye.

    61. Was Austan Goolsbee’s First Visit to the Oval Office Almost His Last? Feb 05, 2022

    The former chairman of the Obama administration’s Council of Economic Advisors tells Steve how improv comedy was a better training ground for teaching than a Ph.D. from M.I.T., and why he’s glad he was wrong about the automotive-industry bailout.

    60. Cassandra Quave Thinks the Way Antibiotics Are Developed Might Kill Us Jan 29, 2022

    By mid-century, 10 million people a year are projected to die from untreatable infections. Can Cassandra, an ethnobotanist at Emory University convince Steve that herbs and ancient healing are key to our medical future?

    Why Aren’t All Drugs Legal? (Replay Ep. 28) Jan 22, 2022

    The Columbia neuroscientist and psychology professor Carl Hart believes that recreational drug use, even heroin, methamphetamines, and cocaine, is an inalienable right. Can he convince Steve?

    Are We Under Threat from a New Kind of Terror? (Replay Ep. 24) Jan 15, 2022

    Amaryllis Fox is a former C.I.A. operative and host of the Netflix show The Business of Drugs. She explains why intelligence work requires empathy, and she soothes Steve’s fears about weapons of mass destruction.

    59. Who Gives the Worst Advice? Jan 08, 2022

    Steve usually asks his guests for advice, whether they’re magicians or Nobel laureates. After nearly 60 episodes, is any of it worth following — or should we just ask listeners instead?

    58. Why Is Richard Thaler Such a ****ing Optimist? Jan 01, 2022

    The Nobel laureate and pioneering behavioral economist spars with Steve over what makes a nudge a nudge, and admits that even economists have plenty of blind spots.

    57. What Makes John Doerr Think He Can Save the Planet? Dec 25, 2021

    The legendary venture capitalist believes the same intuition that led him to bet early on Google can help us reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. But Steve wonders why his plan doesn’t include a carbon tax.

    56. Claudia Goldin: What’s “Greedy Work” and Why Is It a Problem? Dec 18, 2021

    Harvard economist Claudia Goldin and Steve talk about how inflexible jobs and family responsibilities make it harder for women to earn wages equal to their male counterparts. But could Covid actually level the playing field?

    55. Jared Diamond on the Downfall of Civilizations — and His Optimism for Ours Dec 11, 2021

    He’s the award-winning author of hugely popular books like Guns, Germs, and Steel; Collapse; and Upheaval. But Jared actually started his varied career as an expert on gallbladders and birds. The physiologist turned geographer talks with Steve about his brushes with death, why the Norse Greenlanders wouldn’t eat fish, and why he has never been invited to a cannibal ceremony.

    54. Andrew Yang Is Not Giving Up on Politics — or the U.S. — Yet Dec 04, 2021

    He’s tried to shake up the status quo — as a Democratic presidential candidate, a New York City mayoral candidate, and now the founder of the Forward party. Will his third try be the charm? Andrew talks with Steve about what it’s like to lose an election and why a third political party might be the best chance for avoiding a new civil war.

    53. The Simple Economics of Saving the Amazon Rainforest Nov 27, 2021

    Everyone agrees that massive deforestation is an environmental disaster. But most of the standard solutions — scolding the Brazilians, invoking universal morality — ignore the one solution that might actually work. Originally released on Freakonomics Radio, Steve gives an update on what’s happened in the two years since this episode first ran.

    52. Max Tegmark on Why Superhuman Artificial Intelligence Won’t be Our Slave (Part 2) Nov 20, 2021

    He’s an M.I.T. cosmologist, physicist, and machine-learning expert, and once upon a time, almost an economist. Max and Steve continue their conversation about the existential threats facing humanity, and what Max is doing to mitigate our risk. The co-founder of the Future of Life Institute thinks that artificial intelligence can be the greatest thing to ever happen to humanity — if we don’t screw it up.

    51. Max Tegmark on Why Treating Humanity Like a Child Will Save Us All Nov 13, 2021

    How likely is it that this conversation is happening in more than one universe? Should we worry more about Covid or about nuclear war? Is economics a form of “intellectual prostitution?” Steve discusses these questions, and more, with Max, an M.I.T cosmologist, physicist, and machine-learning expert — who was once almost an economist. He also tells Steve why we should be optimistic about the future of humanity (assuming we move Earth to a larger orbit before the sun evaporates our oceans).

    50. Edward Miguel on Collecting Economic Data by Canoe and Correlating Conflict with Rainfall Nov 06, 2021

    He’s a pioneer of using randomized control experiments in economics — studying the long-term benefits of a $1 health intervention in Africa. Steve asks Edward, a Berkeley professor, about Africa’s long-term economic prospects, and how a parking-ticket-scandal in New York City led to a major finding on corruption around the world.

    49. Mathematician Sarah Hart on Why Numbers are Music to Our Ears Oct 30, 2021

    Playing notes on her piano, she demonstrates for Steve why whole numbers sound pleasing, why octaves are mathematically imperfect, and how math underlies musical composition. Sarah, a professor at the University of London and Gresham College, also talks with Steve about the gender gap in mathematics and why being interested in everything can be a problem.

    48. Marc Davis Can’t Stop Watching Basketball — But He Doesn’t Care Who Wins Oct 23, 2021

    His childhood dream of playing in the N.B.A. led him to a career as a referee. Marc is one of the league’s top performers after over 20 seasons, but he still reviews every single one of his calls. He talks with Steve about being scrutinized by players, fans, and management; how much work — and data — go into being fair; and why he talks about race with his colleagues and his kids.

    Ken Jennings on How a Midlife Crisis Led Him to Jeopardy! (People I (Mostly) Admire, Ep. 4 Replay) Oct 16, 2021

    It was only in his late twenties that America’s favorite brainiac began to seriously embrace his love of trivia. Jeopardy!’s newest host also holds the show’s “Greatest of All Time” title. Steve digs into how Ken trained for the show, what it means to have a "geographic memory," and why we lie to our children.

    Mayim Bialik on the Surprising Risks of Academia and Stability of Show Biz (People I (Mostly) Admire, Ep. 2 Replay) Oct 09, 2021

    This new Jeopardy! host is best known for playing neurobiologist Amy Farrah Fowler on The Big Bang Theory, but she has a rich life outside of her acting career too, as a teacher, mother — and a real-life neuroscientist. Steve learns more about this one-time academic and Hollywood non-conformist, who is both very similar to him and also quite his opposite.

    47. Robert Axelrod on Why Being Nice, Forgiving, and Provokable are the Best Strategies for Life Oct 02, 2021

    The prisoner’s dilemma is a classic game-theory problem. Robert, a political scientist at the University of Michigan, has spent his career studying it — and the ways humans can cooperate, or betray each other, for their own benefit. He and Steve talk about the best way to play it and how it shows up in real world situations, from war zones to Steve’s own life.

    46. Amanda & Lily Levitt Share What It’s Like to be Steve’s Daughters Sep 25, 2021

    Steve shows a different side of himself in very personal interviews with his two oldest daughters. Amanda talks about growing up with social anxiety and her decision to not go to college, while Lily speaks candidly about her battle with anorexia and the conversation she had with Steve that led her to finally seek treatment.

    45. Leidy Klotz on Why the Best Solutions Involve Less — Not More Sep 18, 2021

    When we try to improve things, our first thought is often: What can we add to make this better? But Leidy, a professor of engineering, says we tend to overlook the fact that a better solution might be to take something away. He and Steve talk about examples from Leidy’s book Subtract: The Untapped Science of Less, and from their own lives.

    44. Edward Glaeser Explains Why Some Cities Thrive While Others Fade Away Sep 11, 2021

    An expert on urban economics and co-author of the new book Survival of the City, Ed says cities have faced far worse than Covid. Steve talks with the Harvard professor about why the slums of Mumbai function so well, high-quality housing in China sits empty, and declining cities hang on for so long.

    43. Arne Duncan Says All Kids Deserve a Chance — and Criminals Deserve a Second One Sep 04, 2021

    Former U.S. Secretary of Education, 3x3 basketball champion, and leader of an anti-gun violence organization are all on Arne’s resume. He’s also Steve’s neighbor. The two talk about teachers caught cheating in Chicago public schools and Steve shares a story he’s never told Arne, about a defining moment in the educator’s life.

    42. America’s Math Curriculum Doesn’t Add Up Aug 28, 2021

    A special episode: Steve reports on a passion of his. Most high-school math classes are still preparing students for the Sputnik era. Steve wants to get rid of the “geometry sandwich” and instead have kids learn what they really need in the modern era: data fluency. Originally broadcast on Freakonomics Radio, this episode includes an update from Steve about a project he launched to revamp the education system.

    41. Dr. Bapu Jena on Why Freakonomics Is the Best Medicine Aug 21, 2021

    He’s a Harvard physician and economist who just started a third job: host of the new podcast Freakonomics, M.D. He’s also Steve’s former student. The two discuss why medicine should embrace econ-style research, the ethics of human-challenge trials, and Bapu’s role in one of Steve’s, ahem, less-than-successful experiments.

    40. Harold Pollack on Why Managing Your Money Is as Easy as Taking Out the Garbage Aug 14, 2021

    He argues that personal finance is so simple all you need to know can fit on an index card. How will he deal with Steve’s suggestion that Harold’s nine rules for managing money are overly complicated? Harold and Steve also talk about gun violence — a topic Harold researches as a public-policy professor at the University of Chicago — and they propose some radical ideas for reducing it.

    39. Aicha Evans Wants You to Take Your Eyes Off the Road Aug 07, 2021

    She’s the C.E.O. of Zoox, an autonomous vehicle company. Steve asks Aicha about the big promises the A.V. industry hasn’t yet delivered — and the radical bet Zoox is making on a driverless future. Plus, Steve wants to know how she’s maintained her spark.

    38. Sendhil Mullainathan Explains How to Generate an Idea a Minute (Part 2) Jul 31, 2021

    Steve continues his conversation with his good friend, MacArthur “Genius Grant” recipient, and fellow University of Chicago economist. Sendhil breaks down the hypothesis of his book Scarcity, explains why machines aren’t competition for human intelligence, and tells Steve why it’s important to appreciate other people’s good ideas before developing your own.

    37. Sendhil Mullainathan Thinks Messing Around Is the Best Use of Your Time Jul 24, 2021

    He’s a professor of computation and behavioral science at the University of Chicago, MacArthur “Genius Grant” recipient, and author. Steve and Sendhil laugh their way through a conversation about the importance of play, the benefits of change, and why we remember so little about the books we’ve read — and how Sendhil’s new app solves this problem.

    36. How Rahm Emanuel Would Run the World Jul 17, 2021

    In this interview, first heard on Freakonomics Radio last year, Steve talks with the former top adviser to presidents Clinton and Obama, about his record — and his reputation. And Rahm explains that while he believes in the power of the federal government, as former mayor of Chicago, he says that cities are where problems really get solved.

    35. David Epstein Knows Something About Almost Everything Jul 10, 2021

    He’s been an Arctic scientist, a sports journalist, and is now a best-selling author of science books. His latest, Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World, makes the argument that early specialization does not give you a head start in life. David and Steve talk about why frustration is a good sign, and why the 10,000-hour rule is definitely not a rule.

    34. Maya Shankar Is Changing People’s Behavior — and Her Own Jul 03, 2021

    She used to run a behavioral unit in the Obama administration, and now has a similar role at Google. Maya and Steve talk about the power (and limits) of behavioral economics and also how people respond to change — the topic of her new podcast A Slight Change of Plans.

    33. Travis Tygart Is Coming for Cheaters — Just Ask Lance Armstrong Jun 26, 2021

    He’s the C.E.O. of the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA), which, under his charge, exposed the most celebrated American cyclist as a cheater. And Steve’s been studying cheaters for the last 25 years, so he’s also excited to talk to Travis about the incentives to cheat and the advances in testing technology — and offers his services as an anti-doping data detective for the sport of horse racing.

    32. Angela Duckworth Explains How to Manage Your Goal Hierarchy Jun 19, 2021

    She’s the author of the bestselling book Grit, and a University of Pennsylvania professor of psychology — a field Steve says he knows nothing about. But once Angela gives Steve a quick tutorial on “goal conflict,” he is suddenly a fan. They also talk parenting, self-esteem, and how easy it is to learn econometrics if you feel like it.

    31. Peter Leeson on Why Trial-by-Fire Wasn’t Barbaric and Why Pirates Were Democratic Jun 12, 2021

    He’s an economist who studies even weirder things than Steve. They discuss whether economics is the best of the social sciences, and why it’s a good idea to get a tattoo of a demand curve on your bicep.

    30. Dambisa Moyo Says Foreign Aid Can’t Solve Problems, but Maybe Corporations Can Jun 05, 2021

    The African-born economist has written four bestselling books, including Dead Aid, which Bill Gates described as “promoting evil.” In her new book about corporate boards, Dambisa uses her experience with global corporations to explore how they can better meet society’s demands. And she explains to Steve why, even as a Harvard and Oxford-educated economist, her goal in life might sound “a little bit like a Miss America pageant.”

    29. Bruce Friedrich Thinks There’s a Better Way to Eat Meat May 29, 2021

    Levitt rarely interviews advocates, but the founder of the Good Food Institute is different. Once an outspoken — and sometimes outlandish — animal-rights activist, Bruce has come to believe that market-driven innovation and scientific advancement are the best ways to reduce global meat consumption. Steve and Bruce talk about the negative externalities of factory-farmed meat, and why Bruce gave up antics like streaking at Buckingham Palace.

    28. Professor Carl Hart Argues All Drugs Should Be Legal — Can He Convince Steve? May 22, 2021

    As a neuroscientist and psychology professor at Columbia University who studies the immediate and long-term effects of illicit substances, Carl Hart believes that all drugs — including heroin, methamphetamines, and cocaine — should be legalized. Steve talks to Carl about his new book, Drug Use for Grown-Ups, and Carl tells Steve why decriminalizing drugs is as American as apple pie.

    27. Daniel Kahneman on Why Our Judgment is Flawed — and What to Do About It May 15, 2021

    Nobel laureate, best-selling author, and groundbreaking psychologist Daniel Kahneman is also a friend and former business partner of Steve’s. In discussing Danny’s new book Noise: A Flaw in Human Judgment, the two spar over inconsistencies in criminal sentencing and Danny tells Steve that “Your attitude is unusual” — no surprise there.

    26. Memory Champion Nelson Dellis Helps Steve Train His Brain May 08, 2021

    He’s one of the world’s leading competitors, having won four U.S. memory tournaments and holding the record for most names memorized in 15 minutes (235!). But Nelson Dellis claims he was born with an average memory and that anyone can learn his tricks. Steve gives Nelson’s techniques a shot, without much hope — and is surprised by the result.

    25. Sam Harris: “Spirituality Is a Loaded Term.” May 01, 2021

    He’s a cognitive neuroscientist and philosopher who has written five best-selling books. Sam Harris also hosts the Making Sense podcast and helps people discover meditation through his Waking Up app. Sam explains to Steve how to become spiritual as a skeptic and commit to never lying again.

    Nathan Myhrvold: “I Am Interested in Lots of Things, and That's Actually a Bad Strategy.” (Episode 6 Rebroadcast) Apr 24, 2021

    He graduated high school at 14, and by 23 had several graduate degrees and was a research assistant with Stephen Hawking. He became the first chief technology officer at Microsoft (without having ever studied computer science) and then started a company focused on big questions — like how to provide the world with clean energy and how to optimize pizza-baking. Find out what makes Nathan Myhrvold’s fertile mind tick, and which of his many ideas Steve Levitt likes the most.

    24. Amaryllis Fox: “What Does This New Version of Mutually Assured Destruction Look Like?” Apr 17, 2021

    She spent nearly a decade as an undercover C.I.A. operative working to prevent terrorism. More recently, she hosted The Business of Drugs on Netflix. Amaryllis Fox — now Kennedy — explains why intelligence work requires empathy, and she soothes Steve’s fears about weapons of mass destruction.

    23. Greg Norman & Mark Broadie: Why Golf Beats an Orgasm and Why Data Beats Everything Apr 10, 2021

    Steve Levitt is obsessed with golf — and he’s pretty good at it too. As a thinly-veiled ploy to improve his own game, Steve talks to two titans of the sport: Greg “The Shark” Norman, who was the world’s top-ranked golfer for more than six years; and Mark Broadie, a Columbia professor whose data analysis changed how pros play the game.

    22. Sal Khan: “If It Works for 15 Cousins, It Could Work for a Billion People.” Apr 03, 2021

    Khan Academy grew out of Sal Khan’s online math tutorials for his extended family. It’s now a platform used by more than 115 million people in 190 countries. So what does Khan want to do next? How about reinventing in-school learning, too? Find out why Steve nearly moved to Silicon Valley to be part of Khan's latest venture.

    21. Pete Docter: “What If Monsters Really Do Exist?” Mar 27, 2021

    He’s the chief creative officer of Pixar, and the Academy Award-winning director of Soul, Inside Out, Up, and Monsters, Inc. Pete Docter and Steve talk about Pixar’s scrappy beginnings, why it costs $200 million to make an animated film, and the movie moment that changed Steve’s life.

    20. John Donohue: “I'm Frequently Called a Treasonous Enemy of the Constitution.” Mar 20, 2021

    He’s a law professor with a Ph.D. in economics and a tendency for getting into fervid academic debates. Over 20 years ago, he and Steve began studying the impact of legalized abortion on crime. John and Steve talk about guns, the death penalty, the heat they took from their joint research, and why it’s frustratingly difficult to prove truth in the social sciences.

    19. Marina Nitze: “If You Googled ‘Business Efficiency Consultant,’ I Was the Only Result.” Mar 13, 2021

    At 27— and without a college degree — she was named chief technology officer of the Department of Veterans Affairs. Today, Marina Nitze is trying to reform the foster care system. She tells Steve how she hacked the V.A.’s bureaucracy, opens up about her struggle with Type 1 diabetes, and explains how she was building websites for soap opera stars when she was just 12 years old.

    18. Robert Sapolsky: “I Don’t Think We Have Any Free Will Whatsoever.” Mar 06, 2021

    He’s one of the world’s leading neuroscientists, with a focus on the physiological effects of stress. (For years, he spent his summers in Kenya, alone except for the baboons he was observing.) Steve asks Robert why we value human life over animals, why he’s lost faith in the criminal-justice system, and how to look casual when you’re about to blow-dart a very large and potentially unhappy primate.

    17. Emily Oster: “I Am a Woman Who Is Prominently Discussing Vaginas.” Feb 27, 2021

    In addition to publishing best-selling books about pregnancy and child-rearing, Emily Oster is a respected economist at Brown University. Over the course of the pandemic, she’s become the primary collector of data about Covid-19 in schools. Steve and Emily discuss how she became an advocate for school reopening, how economists think differently from the average person, and whether pregnant women really need to avoid coffee.

    16. Joshua Jay: “Humans Are So, So Easy to Fool.” Feb 20, 2021

    He’s a world-renowned magician who’s been performing since he was seven years old. But Joshua Jay is also an author, toy maker, and consultant for film and television. Steve Levitt talks to him about how magicians construct tricks, how Joshua’s academic studies of magic have influenced Levitt’s life, and whether Jesus might have been a magician.

    15. Tim Harford: “If You Can Make Sure You're Not An Idiot, You've Done Well.” Feb 13, 2021

    He’s a former World Bank economist who became a prolific journalist and the author of one of Steve Levitt’s favorite books, The Undercover Economist. Tim Harford lives in England, where he’s made it his mission to help the public understand statistics. In their conversation, Steve gives Tim some feedback on his new book, The Data Detective, contemplates if it’s possible to tell great stories with data, and Tim explains how making mistakes can be fun.

    14. Yul Kwon (Part 2): “Hey, Do You Have Any Bright Ideas?” Feb 06, 2021

    He’s so fascinating that Steve Levitt brought him back for a second conversation. Yul Kwon currently works at Google, but he’s been a lawyer, political organizer, government regulator, organ donation activist, and Survivor winner. Steve asks Yul why he’s so altruistic, how Google and Apple are helping track COVID-19, and whether the best way to pick a president might be a reality show.

    13. Yul Kwon: “Don't Try to Change Yourself All at Once.” Jan 30, 2021

    He has been a lawyer, an instructor at the F.B.I. Academy, the owner of a frozen-yogurt chain, and a winner of the TV show Survivor. Today, Kwon works at Google, where he helped build tools to track the spread of COVID-19. But things haven’t always come easily for him. Steve Levitt talks to Kwon about his debilitating childhood anxieties, his compulsion to choose the hardest path in life, and how Kwon used his obsession with game theory to stage a come-from-behind victory on Survivor.

    12. Sue Bird: “You Have to Pay the Superstars.” Jan 23, 2021

    She is one of the best basketball players ever. She’s won multiple championships, including four Olympic gold medals and four W.N.B.A. titles — the most recent in 2020, just before turning 40. She also helped negotiate a landmark contract for the league’s players. Sue Bird tells Steve Levitt the untold truth about clutch players, her thoughts about the pay gap between male and female athletes, and what it means to be part of the first gay couple in ESPN’s The Body Issue.

    11. Paul Romer: “I Figured Out How to Get Myself Fired From the World Bank.” Jan 09, 2021

    For many economists — Steve Levitt included — there is perhaps no greater inspiration than Paul Romer, the now-Nobel laureate who at a young age redefined the discipline and has maintained a passion for introducing new ideas to staid debates. Levitt finds out what makes Romer a serial “quitter,” why you can’t manufacture big ideas, and what happened when Romer tried to start a charter city.

    10. Suzanne Gluck: “I'm a Person Who Can Convince Other People to Do Things” Dec 26, 2020

    She might not be a household name, but Suzanne Gluck is one of the most powerful people in the book industry. Her slush pile is a key entry point to the biggest publishers in the U.S., and the authors she represents have sold more than 100 million books worldwide. Steve Levitt talks with Gluck — his own agent — about negotiating a deal, advising prospective authors, and convincing him to co-write Freakonomics.

    9. Moncef Slaoui: "It’s Unfortunate That It Takes a Crisis for This to Happen" Dec 12, 2020

    Born in Morocco and raised mostly by a single mother, Moncef Slaoui is now one of the world’s most influential scientists. As the head of Operation Warp Speed — the U.S. government’s Covid-19 vaccine program — Slaoui has overseen the development and distribution of a new vaccine at a pace once deemed impossible. Steve Levitt finds out how the latest generation of vaccines improve on their predecessors, why “educated intuition” is important in innovation, and what we can do to be better prepared for future pandemics.

    8. Peter Attia: “I Definitely Lost a Lot of IQ Points That Day” Nov 28, 2020

    He’s been an engineer, a surgeon, a management consultant, and even a boxer. Now he’s a physician focused on the science of longevity. Peter Attia talks with Steve Levitt about the problem with immortality, what’s missing from our Covid response, and why nicotine is underrated.

    7. Caverly Morgan: "I Am Not This Voice. I Am Not This Narrative." Nov 14, 2020

    She showed up late and confused to her first silent retreat, but Caverly Morgan eventually trained for eight years in silence at a Zen monastery. Now her mindfulness-education program Peace in Schools is part of the high-school curriculum in Portland, Ore. Steve Levitt finds out what daily life is like in a silent monastery, why teens find it easier than adults to learn meditation, and what happy children can teach their parents.

    6. Nathan Myhrvold: “I Am Interested in Lots of Things, and That's Actually a Bad Strategy” Oct 31, 2020

    He graduated high school at 14, and by 23 had several graduate degrees and was a research assistant with Stephen Hawking. He became the first chief technology officer at Microsoft (without having ever studied computer science) and then started a company focused on big questions — like how to provide the world with clean energy and how to optimize pizza-baking. Find out what makes Nathan Myhrvold’s fertile mind tick, and which of his many ideas Steve Levitt likes the most.

    5. Susan Wojcicki: “Hey, Let’s Go Buy YouTube!” Oct 17, 2020

    She was the sixteenth employee at Google — a company once based in her garage — and now she's the C.E.O. of its best-known subsidiary, YouTube. But despite being one of the most powerful people in the tech industry, few outside of Silicon Valley know the name Susan Wojcicki. Levitt talks with her about the early days of Google, how her background in economics shapes the company's products, and why YouTube's success has created a range of unforeseen and serious issues.

    Steve Levitt: “I'm Not as Childlike as I'd Like to Be” (Bonus Episode) Oct 10, 2020

    Steve Levitt has so far occupied the interviewer chair on this show, but in a special live event — recorded over Zoom and presented by WNYC and the Greene Space — the microphone is turned toward him. His Freakonomics friend and co-author Stephen Dubner checks in on the wisdom Levitt has extracted from his interviews, finds out why Levitt is happiest when angering everyone across the political spectrum, and asks Levitt why he ends every interview with the same question.

    4. Ken Jennings: “Don’t Neglect the Thing That Makes You Weird” Oct 03, 2020

    It was only in his late twenties that America’s favorite brainiac began to seriously embrace his love of trivia. Now he holds the “Greatest of All Time” title on Jeopardy! Steve Levitt digs into how he trained for the show, what it means to have a "geographic memory," and why we lie to our children.

    3. Kerwin Charles: “One Does Not Know Where an Insight Will Come From” Sep 19, 2020

    The dean of Yale’s School of Management grew up in a small village in Guyana. During his unlikely journey, he has researched video-gaming habits, communicable disease, and why so many African-Americans haven’t had the kind of success he’s had. Steve Levitt talks to Charles about his parents’ encouragement, his love of Sports Illustrated, and how he talks to his American-born kids about the complicated history of Blackness in America.

    2. Mayim Bialik: “I Started Crying When I Realized How Beautiful the Universe Is” Sep 05, 2020

    She’s best known for playing neurobiologist Amy Farrah Fowler on The Big Bang Theory, but the award-winning actress has a rich life outside of her acting career, as a teacher, mother — and a real-life neuroscientist. Steve Levitt tries to learn more about this one-time academic and Hollywood non-conformist, who is both very similar to him and also quite his opposite.

    1. Steven Pinker: "I Manage My Controversy Portfolio Carefully” Aug 22, 2020

    By cataloging the steady march of human progress, the Harvard psychologist and linguist has become a very public intellectual. But the self-declared “polite Canadian” has managed to enrage people on opposite ends of the political spectrum. Steve Levitt tries to understand why.

    Introducing “People I (Mostly) Admire” Jul 31, 2020

    Steve Levitt has spent decades as an academic economist, “studying strange phenomena and human behavior in weird circumstances.” Now he’s turning his curiosity to something new: interviewing some of the most interesting, unorthodox people around — from actresses to athletes, authors to inventors. Here is a preview of Levitt’s new podcast, which premieres August 21st. New episodes every two weeks. “People I (Mostly) Admire” is a production of the Freakonomics Radio Network.

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