Freakonomics Radio

Freakonomics Radio

Freakonomics co-author Stephen J. Dubner uncovers the hidden side of everything. Why is it safer to fly in an airplane than drive a car? How do we decide whom to marry? Why is the media so full of bad news? Also: things you never knew you wanted to know about wolves, bananas, pollution, search engines, and the quirks of human behavior. To get every show in the Freakonomics Radio Network without ads and a monthly bonus episode of Freakonomics Radio, start a free trial for SiriusXM Podcasts+ on Apple Podcasts or by visiting siriusxm.com/podcastsplus.

Episodes

October 10, 2025 55 mins

Soccer leagues around the world use a promotion-and-relegation system to reward the best teams and punish the worst. We ask whether American sports fans would enjoy a similar system. (Part two of a two-part series.)

 

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The N.F.L. is a powerful cartel with imperial desires. College football is about to undergo a financial reckoning. So maybe they should team up? (Part one of a two-part series.)

 

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In this episode we first published in 2021, the political scientist Yuen Yuen Ang argues that different forms of government create different styles of corruption — and that the U.S. and China have more in common than we’d like to admit.

 

  • SOURCES:
    • Yuen Yuen Ang, professor of political science at Johns Hopkins University.

 

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In his new book “Breakneck,” Dan Wang argues that the U.S. has a lot to learn from China. He also says that “no two peoples are more alike.” We have questions.

 

  • SOURCES:
    • Dan Wang, research fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, author of Breakneck: China's Quest to Engineer the Future.

 

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A lot of jobs in the modern economy don’t pay a living wage, and some of those jobs may be wiped out by new technologies. So what’s to be done? We revisit an episode from 2016 for a potential solution.

 

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What does it take to “play 3D chess at 250 miles an hour”? And how far will $12.5 billion of “Big, Beautiful” funding go toward modernizing the F.A.A.? (Part two of a two-part series.)

 

  • SOURCES:
    • David Strayer, professor of cognition and neural science at the University of Utah.
    • Dorothy Robyn, senior fellow at I.T.I.F.
    • Ed Bastian, C.E.O. of Delta Airlines.
    • Ed Bolen, president and C.E.O. of the National Business Aviation Associati...
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Flying in the U.S. is still exceptionally safe, but the system relies on outdated tech and is under tremendous strain. Six experts tell us how it got this way and how it can (maybe) be fixed. (Part one of a two-part series.)

 

  • SOURCES:
    • Dorothy Robyn, senior fellow at I.T.I.F.
    • Ed Bastian, C.E.O. of Delta Airlines.
    • John Strong, professor of finance and economics at the William and Mary School of Business.
    • Kenneth Levin, retired air...
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Patrick Deneen, a political philosopher at Notre Dame, says yes. He was a Democrat for years, and has now come to be seen as an “ideological guru” of the Trump administration. But that only tells half the story ...

 

  • SOURCES:
    • Patrick Deneen, professor of political science at the University of Notre Dame.

 

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Bjørn Andersen has killed hundreds of minke whales. He tells us how he does it, why he does it, and what he thinks would happen if whale-hunting ever stopped. (This bonus episode is a follow-up to our series “Everything You Never Knew About Whaling.”)

 

  • SOURCES:
    • Bjørn Andersen, Norwegian whaler.

 

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In the final episode of our whale series, we learn about fecal plumes, shipping noise, and why Moby-Dick is still worth reading. (Part 3 of "Everything You Never Knew About Whaling.")

 

  • SOURCES:
    • Michele Baggio, professor of economics at the University of Connecticut.
    • Mary K. Bercaw-Edwards, professor of maritime English at the University of Connecticut and lead foreman at the Mystic Seaport Museum.
    • Hester Blum, professor of Engl...
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For years, whale oil was used as lighting fuel, industrial lubricant, and the main ingredient in (yum!) margarine. Whale meat was also on a few menus. But today, demand for whale products is at a historic low. And yet some countries still have a whaling industry. We find out why. (Part 2 of “Everything You Never Knew About Whaling.”)

 

  • SOURCES:
    • Jay Alabaster, doctoral student at Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite Schoo...
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Whaling was, in the words of one scholar, “early capitalism unleashed on the high seas.” How did the U.S. come to dominate the whale market? Why did whale hunting die out here — and continue to grow elsewhere? And is that whale vomit in your perfume? (Part 1 of “Everything You Never Knew About Whaling.”)

 

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August 5, 2025 47 mins

It’s a haphazard way of paying workers, and yet it keeps expanding. With federal tax policy shifting in a pro-tip direction, we revisit an episode from 2019 to find out why.

 

  • SOURCES:
    • John List, economist at the University of Chicago.
    • Michael Lynn, professor of consumer behavior and marketing at Cornell University’s School of Hotel Administration.
    • Uri Gneezy, economist at the University of California, San Diego’s Rady School of...
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August 1, 2025 47 mins

They should have died out when the lightbulb was invented. Instead they’re a $10 billion industry. What does it mean that we still want tiny fires inside our homes?

 

  • SOURCES:
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The former secretary of state isn’t a flamethrower, but he certainly has strong opinions. In this wide-ranging conversation with Stephen Dubner, he gives them all: on Israel, Gaza, China, Iran, Russia, Biden, Trump — and the rest of the world.

 

 

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Until recently, Delaware was almost universally agreed to be the best place for companies to incorporate. Now, with Elon Musk leading a corporate stampede out of the First State, we revisit an episode from 2023 that asked if Delaware’s “franchise” is wildly corrupt, wildly efficient … or both?

 

  • SOURCES:
    • John Cassara, retired Special Agent detailee to the U.S. Department of Treasury’s Office of Terrorism Finance and Financial ...
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For years, the playwright David Adjmi was considered “polarizing and difficult.” But creating Stereophonic seems to have healed him. Stephen Dubner gets the story — and sorts out what Adjmi has in common with Richard Wagner.

 

 

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The Gulf States and China are spending billions to build stadiums and buy up teams — but what are they really buying? And can an entrepreneur from Cincinnati make his own billions by bringing baseball to Dubai?

 

  • SOURCES:
    • Simon Chadwick, professor of afroeurasian sport at Emlyon Business School.
    • Derek Fisher, high school basketball coach, former N.B.A. coach and player.
    • Kash Shaikh, chairman, C.E.O., and co-founder of Baseball U...
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July 8, 2025 58 mins

Before she decided to become a poker pro, Maria Konnikova didn’t know how many cards are in a deck. But she did have a Ph.D. in psychology, a brilliant coach, and a burning desire to know whether life is driven more by skill or chance. She found some answers in poker — and she’s willing to tell us everything she learned.

 

 

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Cory Booker on the politics of fear, the politics of hope, and how to split the difference.

 

  • SOURCES:
    • Cory Booker, senior United States Senator from New Jersey.

 

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