Freakonomics Radio

  • Abortion and Crime, Revisited (Update)

    With abortion on the Nov. 5 ballot, we look back at Steve Levitt’s controversial research about an unintended consequence of Roe v. Wade.   SOURCES: John Donohue, professor of law at Stanford Law School. Steve…


  • 608. Cannabis Is Booming, So Why Isn’t Anyone Getting Rich?

    There are a lot of reasons, including heavy regulations, high taxes, and competition from illegal weed shops. Most operators are losing money and waiting for Washington to get out of the way. In the meantime,…


  • 607. Is America Switching From Booze to Weed?

    We have always been a nation of drinkers — but now there are more daily users of cannabis than alcohol. Considering alcohol’s harms, maybe that’s a good thing. But some people worry that the legalization of…


  • 606. How to Predict the Presidency

    Are betting markets more accurate than polls? What kind of chaos would a second Trump term bring? And is U.S. democracy really in danger, or just “sputtering on”? (Part two of a two-part series.)  …


  • Has the U.S. Presidency Become a Dictatorship? (Update)

    Sure, we all pay lip service to the Madisonian system of checks and balances. But presidents have been steadily expanding the reach of the job. With an election around the corner, we updated our 2016…


  • 605. What Do People Do All Day?

    Sixty percent of the jobs that Americans do today didn’t exist in 1940. What happens as our labor becomes more technical and less physical? And what kinds of jobs will exist in the future?   …


  • EXTRA: Roland Fryer Refuses to Lie to Black America (Update)

    His research on police brutality and school incentives won him acclaim, but also enemies. He was suspended for two years by Harvard, during which time he took a hard look at corporate diversity programs. As…


  • 604. Did the N.F.L. Solve Diversity Hiring? (Part 2)

    What happened when the Rooney Rule made its way from pro football to corporate America? Some progress, some backsliding, and a lot of controversy. (Second in a two-part series.)   SOURCES: Tynesia Boyea-Robinson, president and…


  • 603. Did the N.F.L. Solve Diversity Hiring? (Part 1)

    The biggest sports league in history had a problem: While most of its players were Black, almost none of its head coaches were. So the N.F.L. launched a hiring policy called the Rooney Rule. In…


  • EXTRA: In Praise of Maintenance (Update)

    We revisit an episode from 2016 that asks: Has our culture’s obsession with innovation led us to neglect the fact that things also need to be taken care of?    SOURCES: Martin Casado, general partner…