Why Does the Worldwide Financial Crisis Fester So?
In today’s Journal, David Wessel nails it. (If you ask me, Wessel nails it consistently.) First, he asks the question that needs to be asked:
Read More »It has been two years since the flames were first spotted in Greece, yet the blaze still hasn’t been put out. Now it has spread to Italy.
It’s been five years since the U.S. housing bubble burst. Housing remains among the biggest reasons the U.S. economy is doing so poorly.
On both continents, there is no longer any doubt about the severity of the threat or the urgent need for better policies. Yet the players seem spectacularly unable to act.
What’s taking so long?
Boo…Who?: Full Transcript
This week’s Freakonomics Radio podcast is “Boo…Who?“. This is the full transcript of the podcast. Click here to listen to or download the full podcast.
[SOUND EFFECT: Cash Register]
[Music In]
Ed RENDELL: I’m Ed Rendell, former governor of Pennsylvania, former mayor of Philadelphia, former a lot of things.
Stephen J. DUBNER: And you know what we’re here to talk about today, right?
RENDELL: Absolutely.
DUBNER: All right. Now, we’ve all heard, or some of us have heard at least that Philadelphia is actually the capital of sports booing, at least…
RENDELL: Philadelphia fans are incredibly passionate. They’re the best and most supportive fans in the world. But they will boo lack of effort, they will boo opposing players, they will boo bad calls by the umpires. And yes, they’ll boo Santa Claus.
DUBNER: The Santa Claus thing actually did happen, back in 1968, at a Philadelphia Eagles football game. It helped cement the belief that Philadelphia is the town that boos the most, the best, the worst. Read More »
Boo…Who? A New Freakonomics Radio Podcast
In our latest podcast, “Boo…Who?”, we deconstruct the age-old act of booing. (You can download/subscribe at iTunes, get the RSS feed, listen live via the media player above, or read the transcript below.)
The first thing we wanted to know: What is worthy of a boo? An umpire’s bad call? A lousy rendition of the national anthem? Other booers?
Former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell tells Stephen Dubner that any politician throwing the first pitch at a baseball game is asking for it:
Read More »RENDELL: Politics and sports don’t mix. In fact, sports is in some ways the antithesis of politics because winning and losing is decided on the field, not how much money you raise or things like that. And politicians should generally stay away.
Steve Jobs’s Final Product?
As a fan of both Walter Isaacson and of Apple products, I have happily begun reading (along with a few million others) the new Steve Jobs biography. So far I find it to be as compelling as expected. Just a few pages into it, I was struck by this thought: as much as Jobs is known for the iPod, iPhone, iPad, etc., I couldn’t help but think that the book itself is in some ways Jobs’s final product.
In the introduction, “How This Book Came To Be,” Isaacson — who, it should be clear, is a true heavyweight — relates how Jobs approached and repeatedly pursued him to write the book. The terms were clear: Jobs would participate fully, and give others (including those who might be hostile to him) the go-ahead to do the same, and Jobs would have no right to approve or edit material. “He didn’t seek any control over what I wrote, or even ask to read it in advance,” Isaacson writes. That said, it becomes clear that Jobs was infinitely interested in shaping the book. To wit:
His only involvement came when my publisher was choosing the cover art. When he saw an early version of a proposed over treatment, he disliked it so much that he asked to have input in designing a new version. I was both amused and willing, so I readily assented.
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 