Freakonomics Radio

We seem to have decided that ethnic food tastes better when it's served by people of that ethnicity (or at least something close). Does this make sense -- and is it legal?

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Sure, markets generally work well. But for some transactions -- like school admissions and organ transplants -- money alone can't solve the problem. That's when you need a market-design wizard like Al Roth.

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Sure, sex crimes are horrific, and the perpetrators deserve to be punished harshly. But society keeps exacting costs -- out-of-pocket and otherwise -- long after the prison sentence has been served.

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One man's attempt to remake his life in the mold of homo economicus.

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The debut of a live game show from Freakonomics Radio, with judges Malcolm Gladwell, Ana Gasteyer, and David Paterson.

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In which we argue that failure should not only be tolerated but celebrated.

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Dubner and Levitt are live onstage at the 92nd Street Y in New York to celebrate their new book "When to Rob a Bank" -- and a decade of working together.

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Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh has a wild vision and the dollars to try to make it real. But it still might be the biggest gamble in town.

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When it comes to generating ideas and asking questions it can be really fruitful to have the mentality of an eight year old.

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America's favorite statistical guru answers our FREAK-quently Asked Questions, and more.

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It may seem like winning a valuable diamond is an unalloyed victory. It's not. It's not even clear that a diamond is so valuable.

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The practice of medicine has been subsumed by the business of medicine. This is great news for healthcare shareholders -- and bad news for pretty much everyone else.

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A lot of the conventional wisdom in medicine is nothing more than hunch or wishful thinking. A new breed of data detectives is hoping to change that.

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If you are driving and kill a pedestrian, there's a good chance you'll barely be punished. Why?

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Thick markets, thin markets, and the triumph of attributes over compatibility.

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Sure, we all want to make good personal decisions, but it doesn't always work out. That's where "temptation bundling" comes in.

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Every year, Edge.org asks its salon of big thinkers to answer one big question. This year's question borders on heresy: what scientific idea is ready for retirement?

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Advertisers have always been adept at manipulating our emotions. Now they're using behavioral economics to get even better.

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Jim Yong Kim has an unorthodox background for a World Bank president — and his reign thus far is just as unorthodox.

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The White House is hosting an anti-terror summit next week. Summits being what they are, we try to offer some useful advice.

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It's a centerpiece of U.S. climate policy and a sacred cow among environmentalists. Does it work?

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Economists preach the gospel of "creative destruction," whereby new industries -- and jobs -- replace the old ones. But has creative destruction become too destructive?

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As Kevin Kelly tells it, the hippie revolution and the computer revolution are nearly one and the same.

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Verbal tic or strategic rejoinder? Whatever the case: it’s rare to come across an interview these days where at least one question isn’t a “great” one.

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Influenza kills, but you’d never know it by how few of us get the vaccine.

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Most people blame lack of time for being out of shape. So maybe the solution is to exercise more efficiently.

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Imagine that both substances were undiscovered until today. How would we think about their relative risks?

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Public bathrooms are noisy, poorly designed, and often nonexistent. What to do?

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We spend billions on our pets, and one of the fastest-growing costs is pet "aftercare." But are those cremated remains you got back really from your pet?

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Okay, maybe the steps aren’t so easy. But a program run out of a Toronto housing project has had great success in turning around kids who were headed for trouble.

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If U.S. schoolteachers are indeed “just a little bit below average,” it’s not really their fault. So what should be done about it?

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Boris Johnson -- mayor of London, biographer of Churchill, cheese-box painter and tennis-racket collector -- answers our FREAK-quently Asked Questions.

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Even a brutal natural disaster doesn’t diminish our appetite for procreating. This surely means we’re heading toward massive overpopulation, right? Probably not.

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Corporations around the world are consolidating like never before. If it’s good enough for companies, why not countries? Welcome to Amexico!

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A lot! “The Economics of the Undead” is a book about dating strategy, job creation, and whether there should be a legal market for blood.

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The debut of a live game show from Freakonomics Radio, with judges Malcolm Gladwell, Ana Gasteyer, and David Paterson.

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The Norwegian government parleys massive oil wealth into huge subsidies for electric cars. Is that carbon laundering or just pragmatic environmentalism?

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The science of what works -- and doesn't work -- in fund-raising

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A team of economists has been running the numbers on the U.N.'s development goals. They have a different view of how those billions of dollars should be spent.

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Markets are hardly perfect, but the results can be ugly when you try to subvert them.

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What does it mean to pursue something that everyone else thinks is nuts? And what does it take to succeed?

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Doctors, chefs, and other experts are much more likely than the rest of us to buy store-brand products. What do they know that we don’t?

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Airbnb, Uber, Lyft, EatWith, and other companies in the “sharing economy” are practically daring government regulators to shut them down. The regulators are happy to comply.

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The online universe doesn't have nearly as many rules, or rulemakers, as the real world. Discuss.

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There ain't no such thing as a free parking spot. Somebody has to pay for it -- and that somebody is everybody.

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A look at whether spite pays -- and if it even exists.

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It's awkward, random, confusing -- and probably discriminatory too.

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A kid's name can tell us something about his parents -- their race, social standing, even their politics. But is your name really your destiny?

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It’s a hard question to answer, but we do our best.

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Educational messaging looks good on paper but kids don’t respond to it -- and adults aren’t much better.

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