Freakonomics Radio

A single company, EssilorLuxottica, owns so much of the eyewear industry that it’s hard to escape their gravitational pull — or their “obscene” markups. Should regulators do something? Can Warby Parker steal market share? And how did Ray-Bans become a luxury brand? (Part one of a two-part series.)

• SOURCES:
  • Neil Blumenthal, co-founder and co-CEO of Warby Parker.
  • Dave Gilboa, co-founder and co-CEO of Warby Parker.
  • Jessica Glassc...

You wouldn’t think you could win a Nobel Prize for showing that humans tend to make irrational decisions. But that’s what Richard Thaler has done. In an interview from 2018, the founder of behavioral economics describes his unlikely route to success; his reputation for being lazy; and his efforts to fix the world — one nudge at a time.

• SOURCES:
  • Richard Thaler, professor of behavioral science and economics at the University o...

Daniel Kahneman left his mark on academia (and the real world) in countless ways. A group of his friends and colleagues recently gathered in Chicago to reflect on this legacy — and we were there, with microphones.

• SOURCES:
  • Maya Bar-Hillel, professor emeritus of psychology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
  • Shane Frederick, professor of marketing at the Yale School of Management.
  • Thomas Gilovich, professor of psychology at ...

American politics is trapped in a duopoly, with two all-powerful parties colluding to stifle competition. We revisit a 2018 episode to explain how the political industry works, and talk to a reformer (and former presidential candidate) who is pushing for change.

• SOURCES:
  • Katherine Gehl, former president and C.E.O. of Gehl Foods.
  • Michael Porter, professor at Harvard Business School.
  • Andrew Yang, co-chair of the Forward Party an...

It’s hard to know whether the benefits of hiring a celebrity are worth the risk. We dig into one gruesome story of an endorsement gone wrong, and find a surprising result.

• SOURCES:
  • John Cawley, professor of economics at Cornell University.
  • Elizabeth (Zab) Johnson, executive director and senior fellow with the Wharton Neuroscience Initiative at the University of Pennsylvania.
  • Alvin Roth, professor of economics at Stanford Unive...

Broadway operates on a winner-take-most business model. A runaway hit like Stereophonic — which just won five Tony Awards — will create a few big winners. But even the stars of the show will have to go elsewhere to make real money. (Part two of a two-part series.)

• SOURCES:
  • David Adjmi, author and playwright.
  • Sonia Friedman, theater producer and founder of Sonia Friedman Productions.
  • John Johnson, theater producer and co-founde...

The Berlin dance mecca Berghain is known for its eight-hour line and inscrutable door policy. PJ Vogt, host of the podcast Search Engine, joins us to crack the code. It has to do with Cold War rivalries, German tax law, and one very talented bouncer.

• SOURCES:
  • Lutz Leichsenring, executive board member of Clubcommission Berlin and co-founder of VibeLab.
  • PJ Vogt, reporter, writer, and host of the podcast Search Engine.

...

Hit by Covid, runaway costs, and a zillion streams of competition, serious theater is in serious trouble. A new hit play called Stereophonic — the most Tony-nominated play in history — has something to say about that. We speak with the people who make it happen every night. (Part one of a two-part series.)

• SOURCES:
  • David Adjmi, author and playwright.
  • Sonia Friedman, theater producer and founder of Sonia Friedman Productions.
  • J...

Every December, a British man named Tom Whitwell publishes a list of 52 things he’s learned that year. These fascinating facts reveal the spectrum of human behavior, from fraud and hypocrisy to Whitwell’s steadfast belief in progress. Should we also believe?

• SOURCES:
  • Tom Whitwell, managing consultant at Magnetic.

• RESOURCES:
  • "Supercentenarian and Remarkable Age Records Exhibit Patterns Indicative of Clerical ...

An update of our 2020 series, in which we spoke with physicians, researchers, and addicts about the root causes of the crisis — and the tension between abstinence and harm reduction.

• SOURCES:
  • Gail D’Onofrio, professor and chair of emergency medicine at the Yale School of Medicine and chief of emergency services at Yale-New Haven Health.
  • Keith Humphreys, professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Stanford University.
  • St...

Thanks to legal settlements with drug makers and distributors, states have plenty of money to boost prevention and treatment. Will it work? (Part two of a two-part series.)

• SOURCES:
  • Keith Humphreys, professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Stanford University.
  • Stephen Loyd, chief medical officer of Cedar Recovery and chair of the Tennessee Opioid Abatement Council.
  • Christine Minhee, founder of OpioidSettlementTracker...

Most epidemics flare up, do their damage, and fade away. This one has been raging for almost 30 years. To find out why, it’s time to ask some uncomfortable questions. (Part one of a two-part series.)

• SOURCES:
  • David Cutler, professor of economics at Harvard University.
  • Travis Donahoe, professor of health policy and management at the University of Pittsburgh.
  • Keith Humphreys, professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at St...

Presenting two stories from The Economics of Everyday Things: Why does it seem like every car is black, white, or gray these days? And: How self-storage took over America.

• SOURCES:
  • Tom Crockett, classic car enthusiast.
  • Zachary Dickens, executive vice president and chief investment officer of Extra Space Storage.
  • Mark Gutjahr, global head of design at BASF.
  • Kara Kolodziej, self-storage unit tenant.
  • Anne Mari DeCoster, self-storag...

The economist and social critic Glenn Loury has led a remarkably turbulent life, both professionally and personally. In a new memoir, he has chosen to reveal just about everything. Why?

• SOURCE:
  • Glenn Loury, professor of economics at Brown University and host of The Glenn Show.

• RESOURCES:
  • Late Admissions: Confessions of a Black Conservative, by Glenn Loury (2024).
  • "Amy Wax – The DEI Witch Hunt at Penn Law," by...

The employee ownership movement is growing, and one of its biggest champions is also a private equity heavyweight. Is this meaningful change, or just window dressing?

• SOURCES:
  • Marjorie Kelly, distinguished senior fellow at The Democracy Collaborative.
  • Corey Rosen, founder and senior staff member of the National Center for Employee Ownership.
  • Pete Stavros, co-head of Global Private Equity at KKR.

• RESOURCES:
  • "Pr...

From politics and economics to psychology and the arts, many of the modern ideas we take for granted emerged a century ago from a single European capital. In this episode of the Freakonomics Radio Book Club, the historian Richard Cockett explores all those ideas — and how the arrival of fascism can ruin in a few years what took generations to build.

• SOURCE:
  • Richard Cockett, author and senior editor at The Economist.

Five years ago, we published an episode about the boom in home DNA testing kits, focusing on the high-flying firm 23andMe and its C.E.O. Anne Wojcicki. Their flight has been extremely bumpy since then. This update includes an additional interview with the Wall Street Journal reporter who has been investigating the firm’s collapse.

• SOURCES:
  • Rolfe Winkler, reporter at The Wall Street Journal.
  • Anne Wojcicki, co-founder and C.E.O...

Justin Trudeau, facing record-low approval numbers, is doubling down on his progressive agenda. But he is so upbeat (and Canada-polite) that it’s easy to miss just how radical his vision is. Can he make it work?

• SOURCE:
  • Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada.

• RESOURCES:
  • 2024 Canadian Federal Budget.
  • "Canada to Set First-Ever Cap on Temporary Residents," by Nadine Yousif (BBC News, 2023).
  • Common Ground, by Ju...

So you want to help people? That’s great — but beware the law of unintended consequences. Three stories from the modern workplace. 

• SOURCES:
  • Joshua Angrist, professor of economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
  • Zoe Cullen, professor of business administration at Harvard Business School.
  • Marina Gertsberg, senior lecturer in finance at the University of Melbourne.

• RESOURCES:
  • "Is Pay Transparency G...