Quotes Uncovered: Silver Bullets
I’m back to inviting readers to submit quotations whose origins they want me to try to trace, using my book, The Yale Book of Quotations, and my more recent research. Read More »
The Joel Klein Exit Interview
The new episode of our Freakonomics Radio podcast (you can download/subscribe at iTunes, get the RSS feed or listen live via the link in box at right) also introduces a new format: the exit interview. This week’s guest: outgoing New York City schools chancellor Joel Klein. (If you have suggestions for future exit interview subjects, be they well-known or simply interesting, please let us know in the comments below.) Read More »
Congratulations Betsey!
I can’t tell whether I’m writing this as a very proud significant-other, a jealous co-author, or a pleased colleague, but whatever it is, I can’t resist passing on some good news: Betsey Stevenson recently learned that the Labor and Employment Relations Association is awarding her the John Dunlop Scholar Award, typically awarded to a labor economist in the first decade of their careers. The award is “to recognize outstanding academic contributions to research by recent entrants to the field.” It’s a very flattering acknowledgment, and she’s following in the footsteps of Jon Guryan, Alex Mas, Nick Bloom, David Lee, Marianne Bertrand, Armin Falk and David Autor, among other labor luminaries. Read More »
When Is “Undersight” Unconstitutional?
If oversight is when a superior has the right to disapprove of an underling’s decision, what is “undersight”?
It’s my term for when an underling has the right to disapprove of a superior’s decision. It’s not surprising to see principal-agent contracts with oversight provisions, but in two recent statutes the lame duck Congress has arguably imposed undersight provisions on the President acting as our commander-in-chief. Read More »
and 
. If you haven’t seen it yet, the movie features Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner, and was made by a dream team of documentary directors. Paste Magazine named it one of the 