Freakonomics Radio
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.
- SOURCES:
- Erik Brynjolfsson, professor of economics at Stanford University.
- Evelyn Forget, professor of economics and community health sciences at the University of Manitoba.
- Sam Altman, C.E.O. of OpenAI.
- Robert Gordon, professor emeritus of economics at Northwestern University.
- Greger Larson, professor of archeology at the University of Oxford.
- RESOURCES:
- “Here’s what a Sam Altman-backed basic income experiment found,” by Megan Cerullo (CBS News, 2024).
- Utopia for Realists, by Rutger Bregman. The Correspondent (2016).
- The Second Machine Age, by Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfee (2014).
- “The Town With No Poverty: Using Health Administration Data To Revisit Outcomes of a Canadian Guaranteed Annual Income Field Experiment,” by Evelyn Forget (Canadian Public Policy, 2011).
- “The Negative Income Tax and the Evolution of U.S. Welfare Policy,” by Robert Moffitt (Journal of Economic Perspectives, 2003).
- Capitalism and Freedom, by Milton Freidman (2002).
- “Lesson from the Income Maintenance Experiments,” (Federal Reserve Bank of Boston and The Brookings Institution, 1986).
- Law, Legislation and Liberty, Volume 3: The Political Order of A Free People, by Frederick Hayek (1981).
- “Daniel Moynihan and President-elect Nixon: How charity didn’t begin at home,” by Peter Passell and Leonard Ross (New York Times, 1973).
- “Income Maintenance Programs,” (Hearings Before The Subcommittee On Fiscal Policy Of The Joint Economic Committee Congress Of The United States, 1968).
- EXTRAS:
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
495. Why Are There So Many Bad Bosses?
People who are good at their jobs routinely get promoted into bigger jobs they’re bad at. We explain why firms keep producing incompetent managers — and why that’s unlikely to change.
494. Why Do Most Ideas Fail to Scale?
In a new book called The Voltage Effect, the economist John List — who has already revolutionized how his profession does research — is trying to start a scaling revolution. In this installment of the…
Why Does the Richest Country in the World Have So Many Poor Kids? (Ep. 475 Update)
Among O.E.C.D. nations, the U.S. has one of the highest rates of child poverty. Until recently, it looked as if Washington was about to change that. But then … Washington happened.
493. Why Does the Most Monotonous Job in the World Pay $1 Million?
Adam Smith famously argued that specialization is the key to prosperity. In the N.F.L., the long snapper is proof of that argument. Just in time for the Super Bowl, here’s everything there is to know…
Are You Ready for a Fresh Start? (Ep. 455 Replay)
Behavioral scientists have been exploring if — and when — a psychological reset can lead to lasting change. We survey evidence from the London Underground, Major League Baseball, and New Year’s resolutions; we look at…
492. How Did a Hayfield Become One of America’s Hottest Cities?
Frisco used to be just another sleepy bedroom community outside of Dallas. Now it’s got corporate headquarters, billions of investment dollars, and a bunch of Democrats in a place that used to be deep red.…
491. Why Is Everyone Moving to Dallas?
When Stephen Dubner learned that Dallas–Fort Worth will soon overtake Chicago as the third-biggest metro area in the U.S., he got on a plane to find out why. Despite getting stood up by the mayor,…
490. What Do Broken-Hearted Knitters, Urinating Goalkeepers, and the C.I.A. Have in Common?
Curses and other superstitions may have no basis in reality, but that doesn’t stop us from believing.
489. Is “Toxic Positivity” a Thing?
In this special episode of No Stupid Questions, Stephen Dubner and Angela Duckworth discuss the consequences of seeing every glass as at least half-full.
488. Does Death Have to Be a Death Sentence?
In this special episode of People I (Mostly) Admire, Steve Levitt speaks with the palliative physician B.J. Miller about modern medicine’s goal of “protecting a pulse at all costs.” Is there a better, even beautiful…
