Does Destroying Highways Solve Urban Traffic Congestion?
Strange how the traditional laws of supply and demand go out the window when it comes to traffic. Studies over the last decade (like this one, this one, and this one; plus the book Suburban Nation) have pretty much dismantled the theory that more roads equal less traffic congestion. It turns out that the opposite is often true: building more and wider highways can increase traffic congestion. If only people like Robert Moses and Le Corbusier had known this before their grand urban plans left our cities clogged with traffic, and carved up by ugly, value-destroying highways. Read More »
The Economic Behavior of 12 Year-Olds
Do children behave like adults? Do they make economic decisions the same way we do?
That’s what German economist Martin Kocher has set out to determine. He’s collecting data to measure the utility curves of kids from 7-18 years old, in order to draw some conclusions about children’s attitudes toward risk, time and trust. Playing simple economic games, such as the ultimatum game and various public good games, he measured their risk and time preferences. The experiments were conducted with real money, because “incentivizing kids with money makes it a real decision for them” says Kocher. Read More »
“Growing Up Buffett”: New Freakonomics Radio Podcast
Who will succeed Warren Buffett as CEO of Berkshire Hathaway?
That’s still up in the air, but we can tell you the two people who won’t be running Berkshire:
1. The discredited David Sokol
2. Peter Buffett, Warren’s son.
Peter Buffett, at 53, is the youngest of three Buffett kids, and he’s the star of our latest Freakonomics Radio podcast, “Growing Up Buffett.” (you can download/subscribe at iTunes, get the RSS feed, listen live via on the media player at the top, or read the transcript here) He’s a musician, author, and philanthropist, and we spoke to him for an upcoming hour-long radio program called “The Church of Scionology.” It’s about family business, and takes a hard look at what happens when the scion of a family takes over upon the founder’s departure. We mine the academic literature on the topic and talk to people around the world about the ins and outs of family business. Read More »
The Way We Think About Risk is Risky
From the Soapbox Science blog on Nature.com, here’s an interesting piece by risk consultant David Ropiek on the ways in which we perceive and react to risk. His basic thesis is that our interpretation of risk is almost always subjective rather than fact-based, which gets us into trouble.
Read More »We worry about some things more than the evidence warrants (vaccines, nuclear radiation, genetically modified food), and less about some threats than the evidence warns (climate change, obesity, using our mobiles when we drive). That produces what I have labeled the Perception Gap, the gap between our fears and the facts, which is a huge risk in and of itself.
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 