Freakonomics Radio
Freakonomics Radio + Stitcher
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.
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.
Episodes
Mentioned books
80 snips
Mar 27, 2026 • 54min
668. Do Taylor Swift and Bad Bunny Have Blood on Their Hands?
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.
227 snips
Mar 25, 2026 • 1h 6min
In a Driverless World, Who Loses and Who Wins?
Carl Richardson, Massachusetts State House ADA coordinator and blind-access advocate, makes the case for self-driving cars as freedom and mobility. Julia Mejia, Boston city councilor and labor champion, pushes back over threats to low-wage work. They clash over robotaxis, union power, disability rights, city politics, and whether Boston is hearing the right voices.
271 snips
Mar 20, 2026 • 1h 11min
Are Human Drivers Finally Obsolete?
PJ Vogt, Search Engine reporter and narrator, follows the secret Google project that put driverless cars on real roads. Don Burnette, Kodiak AI founder and early Google self-driving engineer, recalls the messy challenge of teaching a Prius human-like judgment. Sebastian Thrun, Stanford roboticist and DARPA winner, revisits the race, the Google bet, Waymo’s rise, Uber’s chaos, and the looming threat to driving jobs.
302 snips
Mar 13, 2026 • 47min
667. Here’s Why You Are Constantly Fighting Off Scammers
Kati Daffin, former FTC consumer protection attorney, and Marti DeLiema, a University of Minnesota gerontologist, unpack the industrial scale scam economy. They dig into transnational scam centers, why older adults can face severe financial and emotional harm, how smart people get manipulated, and why platforms, payment systems, and regulators struggle to keep up.
401 snips
Mar 6, 2026 • 53min
666. This Is How Progress Happens
Joel Mokyr, economic historian and Nobel laureate who studies the roots of sustained technological growth. He argues culture fuels innovation and traces the industrial revolution to knowledge convergence. He discusses why GDP misses many welfare gains, the roles of immigration and risk-tolerant societies, and how AI, education, and institutional lag shape future progress.
249 snips
Mar 4, 2026 • 1h 6min
The Most Powerful People You’ve Never Heard Of (Update)
Javier Blas, commodities columnist who studies energy and trade, and Jack Farchy, Bloomberg energy reporter with on-the-ground commodities coverage, explore the shadowy world of physical traders. They discuss how traders act as bankers, diplomats, and fixers. They trace industry origins, wartime barters, sanctions evasion, and why traders profit amid chaos.
228 snips
Feb 27, 2026 • 49min
665. Werner Herzog Isn’t Afraid ...
Werner Herzog, German-born filmmaker and writer known for over 70 daring films and books, offers wide-ranging reflections. He defends ‘ecstatic truth’ in art. He recounts survival, filmmaking obsessions like Fitzcarraldo, meeting Hiro Onoda, and why some works take decades to be seen. He warns about sloppy thinking, disinformation, and the risks of AI while celebrating resilience and creative stubbornness.
360 snips
Feb 20, 2026 • 52min
664. Are Thousands of Medical Cures Hiding in Plain Sight?
Chris Snyder, economist at Dartmouth who designs market incentives; Heather Stone, FDA policy analyst who built the CureID registry; David Fajgenbaum, physician-scientist who survived Castleman disease and leads EveryCure. They explore drug repurposing, AI and knowledge graphs to match drugs to diseases, crowdsourced registries for real-world cases, and economic pull incentives to make trials and generic repurposing viable.
162 snips
Feb 18, 2026 • 57min
All You Need Is Nudge (Update)
Richard Thaler, Nobel-winning behavioral economist and co-author of Nudge, reflects on choice architecture and how small changes shape big decisions. He discusses defaults, friction or "sludge," commitment devices, organ donation rules, climate policy tools like carbon pricing, and why better design often fails to get adopted. Short, sharp conversations about making smart choices easier.
216 snips
Feb 13, 2026 • 51min
663. Is Weed a Performance-Enhancing Drug?
Angela Bryan, a psychology and neuroscience professor studying cannabis, exercise, and health behavior, and Ricky Williams, former NFL running back turned cannabis advocate, discuss cannabis and athletic life. They explore how cannabinoids affect enjoyment, recovery, and pain, the science behind endocannabinoids and runner’s high, research hurdles, and Ricky’s personal journey with football, testing, retirement, and healing.
