Freakonomics Radio 668. Do Taylor Swift and Bad Bunny Have Blood on Their Hands?
87 snips
Mar 27, 2026 
Vishal Patel, a surgery resident and Harvard researcher, joins Chris Worsham, a critical-care physician and health-policy researcher, and Bapu Jena, a Harvard economist-physician. They explore how blockbuster album drops, Spotify streaming, smartphones, and in-car tech may line up with traffic deaths. They also get into natural experiments, placebo tests, younger drivers, passengers, CarPlay, and better telematics.
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Why Smartphone Distraction Became A Road Safety Puzzle
- U.S. roads remain unusually deadly despite safer vehicles, and distraction now sits near the center of the problem.
- Stephen J. Dubner frames the episode with one death every 13 minutes in America and the claim that smartphones are the device people also use for in-car music.
Natural Experiments Reveal Hidden Causes In Plain Sight
- Natural experiments let researchers study behavior when random-looking events create real-world comparisons that would be unethical to stage.
- Bapu Jena cites cardiology conferences lowering heart-patient mortality, while Stephen J. Dubner cites tax day raising crash deaths about 6%.
A Taylor Swift Near Miss Sparked The Study
- Vishal Patel got the paper idea after nearly drifting out of his lane while searching Spotify for a new Taylor Swift song his wife texted him about.
- He says the same smartphone that delivers music also invites dangerous fiddling while driving.
