Is the American Dream Really Dead?
Just a few decades ago, more than 90 percent of 30-year-olds earned more than their parents had earned at the same age. Now it’s only about 50 percent. What happened — and what can be done about it?
For years, economists promised that global free trade would be mostly win-win. Now they admit the pace of change has been “traumatic.” This has already led to a political insurrection -- so what’s next?
Just a few decades ago, more than 90 percent of 30-year-olds earned more than their parents had earned at the same age. Now it’s only about 50 percent. What happened — and what can be done about it?
The Daily Show host grew up as a poor, mixed-race South African kid going to three churches every Sunday. So he has a sui generis view of America — especially on race, politics, and religion — and he’s not afraid to speak his mind.
June 12 is the Feast of St. Onuphrius, the patron saint of weavers, who received his title for wearing nothing but a loincloth made of leaves and a garment woven entirely from his own hair. No word on his pricing scheme for weaving other people's hair.
Starting in the late 1960s, the Israeli psychologists Amos Tversky and Danny Kahneman began to redefine how the human mind actually works. Michael Lewis’s new book The Undoing Project explains how the movement they started — now known as behavioral economics — has had such a profound effect on academia, governments, and society at large.
What if the thing we call “talent” is grotesquely overrated? And what if deliberate practice is the secret to excellence? Those are the claims of the research psychologist Anders Ericsson, who has been studying the science of expertise for decades. He tells us everything he’s learned.
In this busy time of year, we could all use some tips on how to get more done in less time. First, however, a warning: there’s a big difference between being busy and being productive.
Hello Freakonomics Radio listener, Ever wonder how the ideas you hear every week on Freakonomics Radio come to life? Our friends at WNYC Studios made a fly-on-the-wall documentary that illuminates the team’s creative process. For holiday fundraising season, we put together a Freakonomics Radio Brainstorming Kit, including a Freakonomics Radio mug and golf balls. To get yours, make a contribution of […]
By some estimates, medical error is the third-leading cause of death in the U.S. How can that be? And what's to be done? Our third and final episode in this series offers some encouraging answers.
Hannibal Buress, Annie Duke and Fr. James Martin, S.J. are panelists. A comedian, a poker player and a priest walk into a bar… and have to deal with missing hands, missing bodies and missing scientific evidence. Fact-checker: Sean Rameswaram, podcast producer for WNYC Studios.
How do so many ineffective and even dangerous drugs make it to market? One reason is that clinical trials are often run on “dream patients” who aren’t representative of a larger population. On the other hand, sometimes the only thing worse than being excluded from a drug trial is being included.
This week’s panel: Grit-y author and psychology professor Angela Duckworth, former White House economist Austan Goolsbee and comedian Keisha Zollar. Our theme: “Passion Plays.” All of the things we're passionate about, good and bad, from sports to sounds to experimenting on students.