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.
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Recent Episodes
Just beneath the surface of the global economy, there is a hidden layer of dealmakers for whom war, chaos, and sanctions can be a great business opportunity. In this updated episode from 2025, journal...
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This bonus episode of Freakonomics Radio explores the secretive world of commodity traders—the firms that finance, procure, and physically trade oil, metals, and agricultural products globally. Journalists Javier Blas and Jack Farchi reveal how companies like Glencore, Vitol, and Cargill operate in the shadows of geopolitics, often serving as bankers of last resort, diplomats for hire, and key players in civil wars and regime changes. The episode examines how commodity trading has shaped global politics and economics, from Mark Rich's controversial deals to modern trade wars and sanctions.
- The Hidden World of Commodity Trading
- How Commodity Trading Actually Works
665. Werner Herzog Isn’t Afraid ...
Feb 27, 2026... of bad reviews, meager financing, or artificial intelligence. But he is worried that the world is full of sloppy thinkers who mistake facts for the truth. SOURCES: Werner Herzog, wri...
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Existing drugs can sometimes be repurposed to treat rare diseases. But making that match can be hard — and the financial incentives are weak. Guest host Steve Levitt tries to solve the puzzle. ...
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This episode explores the untapped potential of drug repurposing—using existing FDA-approved medications to treat diseases they weren't originally designed for. Through the story of physician-scientist David Fagenbaum, who saved his own life by repurposing an existing drug, and interviews with economists and FDA officials, the episode examines why so few resources go toward this high-impact, low-cost approach to saving lives, and what innovative funding mechanisms could change that.
- The Brain-Eating Amoeba and an Unlikely Cure
- David Fagenbaum's Journey from Quarterback to Doctor
All You Need Is Nudge (Update)
Feb 18, 2026When Richard Thaler first published Nudge, the world was just starting to believe in his brand of behavioral economics. In this 2021 episode, we ask: How has nudge theory held up in the face of a glob...
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This episode features economist Richard Thaler discussing the updated final edition of his influential book 'Nudge,' which he co-authored with Cass Sunstein. The conversation explores the principles of behavioral economics, choice architecture, and how small interventions can help people make better decisions without restricting freedom. Thaler explains the concept of libertarian paternalism, discusses applications from retirement savings to climate change, and addresses the problem of 'sludge'—the friction that makes things unnecessarily difficult. Throughout, Thaler demonstrates his trademark blend of academic rigor and humor while examining how behavioral insights can improve policy and everyday decisions.
- The Origins and Philosophy of Nudge
- What Is a Nudge and Libertarian Paternalism
663. Is Weed a Performance-Enhancing Drug?
Feb 13, 2026The science says no, at least not in the athletic sense. But the psychic benefits can be large — just ask former N.F.L. star Ricky Williams. He says athletes should consider cannabis a healing drug, n...
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This episode explores the complex relationship between cannabis and athletic performance through the story of NFL running back Ricky Williams, who was repeatedly penalized for marijuana use during his career. The episode examines both the scientific evidence around cannabis as a performance enhancer and Williams' personal journey from star athlete to healer, revealing how cannabis helped him manage pain, anxiety, and trauma while challenging societal stigmas about the drug.
- The Science of Cannabis and Athletic Performance
- Ricky Williams' Introduction to Cannabis
662. If You’re Not Cheating, You’re Not Trying
Feb 06, 2026In sports, the rules are meant to be sacrosanct. But when it comes to performance-enhancing drugs, the slope is super-slippery. (Part one of a two-part series.) SOURCES:April Henning, associate pr...
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This Freakonomics Radio episode explores the complex relationship between rules, performance-enhancing drugs, and sports through the lens of Floyd Landis's cycling career and doping scandal. The episode examines how sport serves as both a reflection of and practice ground for society's relationship with arbitrary rules, featuring Landis's confession about the widespread doping culture in professional cycling, his whistleblowing against Lance Armstrong, and concluding with a look at the controversial Enhanced Games, which will allow performance-enhancing drugs in competition.
- The Role of Rules in Sports and Society
- Floyd Landis's Path to Professional Cycling
Why Don’t Running Backs Get Paid Anymore? (Update)
Feb 04, 2026They used to be the N.F.L.’s biggest stars, with paychecks to match. Now their salaries are near the bottom, and their careers are shorter than ever. In this updated episode from 2025, we speak with a...
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This Freakonomics Radio episode explores the dramatic decline in NFL running back salaries and value over the past two decades. Economist Roland Fryer teams up with Stephen Dubner to investigate why running backs, once among the highest-paid and most revered players, now rank 15th in average salary despite the NFL's explosive revenue growth. Through interviews with former running backs, agents, and analytics experts, the episode reveals how rule changes, analytics revolution, collective bargaining agreements, and market forces transformed football into a pass-first game.
- The Running Back's Fall from Glory
- Roland Fryer's Investigation Begins
661. Can A.I. Save Your Life?
Jan 30, 2026For 50 years, the healthcare industry has been trying (and failing) to harness the power of artificial intelligence. It may finally be ready for prime time. What will this mean for human doctors — and...
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This episode examines how AI is transforming healthcare delivery, moving beyond previous failed digital transitions. Bob Wachter, UCSF Department of Medicine chair, and cardiologist Pierre Elias discuss AI applications from digital scribes reducing physician burnout to breakthrough screening tools detecting undiagnosed heart disease. While healthcare has been slow to adopt general-purpose technologies despite advanced medical procedures, AI represents a sudden transformation after decades of gradual digitization, promising better outcomes, lower costs, and restored physician-patient connection.
- Healthcare's Technology Paradox: Advanced Medicine, Antiquated Delivery
- The 50-Year Journey: Why AI in Healthcare Kept Failing
Zeke Emanuel (a physician, medical ethicist, and policy wonk) has some different ideas for how to lead a healthy and meaningful life. It starts with ice cream. (Part three of “The Freakonomics Radio G...
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Zeke Emanuel, oncologist, bioethicist, and health policy expert, discusses his new book 'Eat Your Ice Cream,' which argues against the overly complicated wellness industry. He advocates for simple, sustainable lifestyle habits focused on social connection, mental engagement, sensible nutrition (including ice cream), regular exercise, and good sleep. Emanuel emphasizes that wellness should be enjoyable and habitual rather than requiring constant willpower, and critiques both the wellness industrial complex and systemic barriers in healthcare and food systems that make healthy living difficult.
- The Wellness Industry's Gilded Age Moment
- Ice Cream, Dairy, and the Joy Factor
Steve Levitt Quits His Podcast, Joins Ours
Jan 21, 2026After five years, Levitt is ending People I (Mostly) Admire, and will start hosting the occasional Freakonomics Radio episode. We couldn’t be happier. SOURCES:Steve Levitt, co-author of Freakonomi...
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Stephen Dubner interviews Steve Levitt about the final episode of People I Mostly Admire after five years. They discuss Levitt's evolution as an interviewer, his new educational venture called the Levitt Lab, and his plans to occasionally guest host Freakonomics Radio. The conversation explores Levitt's spiritual experiences, his views on AI in education, and memorable moments from his podcast.
- The End of People I Mostly Admire and New Beginnings
- Spiritual Awakening and the Universe
659. Can Marty Makary Fix the F.D.A.?
Jan 16, 2026It regulates 20 percent of the U.S. economy, and its commissioner has an aggressive agenda — faster drug approvals, healthier food, cures for diabetes and cancer. How much can he deliver? (Part two of...
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FDA Commissioner Marty McCary discusses his mission to modernize the agency, accelerate drug approvals, reform food guidelines, and address public health challenges. The former Johns Hopkins surgeon brings an outsider's perspective to regulatory reform, challenging decades of bureaucratic processes while defending the scientific independence of the FDA under the Trump administration.
- From Operating Room to FDA: McCary's Transition to Government
- Medical Dogma: How Experts Created the Peanut Allergy Epidemic
658. This Is Your Brain on Supplements
Jan 09, 2026We all want to stay sharp, and forestall the cognitive effects of aging. But do brain supplements actually work? Are they safe? And why doesn’t the F.D.A. even know what’s in them? (Part one of “The F...
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This episode launches a month-long series called 'The Freakonomics Radio Guide to Getting Better,' examining the $45 billion brain supplement industry. Through interviews with three physicians—Peter Attia, Peter Cohen, and FDA Commissioner Marty McCary—the show investigates whether supplements actually work, how they're regulated (or not), and the vast difference between evidence-based medicine and the largely unregulated supplement market. The consensus: most supplements are ineffective at best and potentially harmful at worst, with lifestyle factors like sleep, exercise, and nutrition providing 90% of cognitive benefits.
- The Brain Supplement Market Explosion
- Peter Attia's Medicine 3.0 and Supplement Philosophy
One Yale economist certainly thinks so. But even if he’s right, are economists any better? We find out, in this update of a 2022 episode. SOURCES:James Choi, professor of finance at the Yale Schoo...
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This episode revisits a 2022 exploration of personal finance advice, comparing recommendations from popular financial authors and certified financial planners against those from academic economists. Yale finance professor James Choi analyzed the top 50 personal finance books and found significant differences with economic theory on topics like saving patterns, mortgages, and debt repayment. The episode features debates between Choi and popular finance author Morgan Housel about whether emotionally-driven advice that people actually follow is better than mathematically optimal advice that ignores human psychology.
- The Economics vs. Popular Finance Divide
- Consumption Smoothing vs. Savings Discipline
Are You Ready for a Fresh Start? (Update)
Dec 30, 2025Behavioral scientists have been exploring whether a psychological reset can lead to lasting change. In this update of a 2021 episode, we survey evidence from the London Underground, Major League Baseb...
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A series of academic studies suggest that the wealthy are, to put it bluntly, selfish jerks. It’s an easy narrative to embrace — but is it true? As part of GiveDirectly’s “Pods Fight Poverty” campaign...
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This episode examines whether rich people are truly more selfish than poor people by exploring a clever field experiment conducted in the Netherlands. Economists Jim Andreoni, Jan Stoop, and Nikos Nikiforakis challenged conventional academic wisdom by intentionally misdelivering envelopes containing cash to rich and poor households, then tracking who returned them. Their surprising findings reveal that while rich people returned envelopes at twice the rate of poor people, this difference stems not from inherent selfishness in the poor, but from financial pressures and stress that affect their behavior. The research suggests that when accounting for factors like urgency of need and cognitive bandwidth consumed by poverty, rich and poor people have similar underlying altruistic preferences.
- The Economics of Altruism and Warm Glow Giving
- Conventional Wisdom: Rich People Are More Selfish
657. Whose “Messiah” Is It Anyway?
Dec 19, 2025All sorts of people have put their mark on Messiah, and it has been a hit for nearly 300 years. How can a single piece of music thrive in so many settings? You could say it’s because Handel really kne...
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This episode explores Handel's Messiah through the perspective of conductor Jane Glover, who has conducted over 120 performances. The discussion covers the piece's origins in 18th-century London, its evolution through different interpretations by composers like Mozart and conductors like Leonard Bernstein, and addresses controversies around its anti-Semitic elements. Glover prepares for her 2025 New York Philharmonic performance while sharing insights into Handel's life, the historical context of the work, and its enduring cultural significance.
- Jane Glover's Lifelong Connection to Messiah
- Handel's Business Acumen and Financial Success
Who Pays for “Messiah”?
Dec 17, 2025In the 18th century, Handel relied on royal patronage. Today, it’s donors like Gary Parr who keep the music playing. In this bonus episode of our “Making Messiah” series, Parr breaks down the economic...
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656. How Handel Got His Mojo Back
Dec 12, 2025When he wrote Messiah (in 24 days), Handel was past his prime and nearly broke. One night in Dublin changed all that. (Part two of “Making Messiah.”) SOURCES:Charles King, political scientist at G...
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This episode explores George Frideric Handel's journey from financial ruin to redemption through Messiah. After years of struggling with expensive opera productions and mounting debts, the aging composer traveled to Dublin in 1741 where his new oratorio received a triumphant premiere. The episode examines Handel's musical education across Europe, his entrepreneurial struggles in London's competitive opera scene, and how a charity performance model ultimately saved both his finances and legacy.
- Handel's Early Musical Education and Development
- Handel's Italian Period and London Success
Why does an 18th-century Christian oratorio lend such comfort to our own turbulent times? Stephen Dubner sets out for Dublin to tell the story of George Frideric Handel’s Messiah. (Part one of “Making...
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This is the first episode in a three-part series exploring Handel's Messiah, tracing its 1742 Dublin premiere and examining why this 280-year-old piece of music continues to resonate so powerfully today. The episode investigates the historical context of Messiah's creation during a time of war, disease, and political upheaval, revealing how it became a monument to hope and human agency that emerged from a universe of pain.
- A Personal Journey into Messiah
- The Dublin Premiere and Fishamble Street
Dying Is Easy. Retail Is Hard. (Update)
Nov 28, 2025Macy’s wants to recapture its glorious past. The author of the Wimpy Kid books wants to rebuild his dilapidated hometown. We just want to listen in. (Part two of a two-part series, first published in ...
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This episode explores the future of Macy's department stores and traditional retail through the lens of their famous Thanksgiving Day Parade. The discussion features Macy's CEO Tony Spring defending his turnaround strategy, retail expert Mark Cohen offering critical analysis, and children's author Jeff Kinney's ambitious plan to revitalize downtown Plainville, Massachusetts through retail development. The episode examines whether physical retail can survive and thrive in the modern economy.
- The State of Macy's and Retail's Evolution
- Tony Spring's Bold New Chapter Strategy