On Payday, Watch Your Back
Another thing to add to the list of things to be paranoid about: your paycheck might kill you. Notre Dame economist William Evans, along with Timothy Moore from the University of Maryland, analyzed more than 75 million deaths in the U.S., and found something interesting.
On the first day of each month, the death rate goes up. Read More »
Success and Succession
Peter Buffett, son of the investment giant Warren Buffett, admits that he won the “ovarian lottery.” But perhaps the best part of this genetic jackpot is that his dad didn’t pressure him to get involved at Berkshire Hathaway. Instead, the Buffett heir was encouraged to pursue his own interests, like composing music and philanthropy. This Read More »
What’s the Twettiquette?
Listen Now The top Twitterers — Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber, Britney Spears and Barack Obama — have millions of followers. They also, graciously, follow hundreds of thousands right back. Not everyone is so kind. Different people have different strategies, of course. Conan O’Brien famously follows just one lucky soul. And Freakonomics followed no one on Read More »
Take the Money and Run
NFL team owners are pitted against NFL players in what could be a $9 billion fight. This looming standoff is no game. The league has decided it wants a larger share of revenues, and the players don’t want to give in. As of this today, there’s a good chance the owners will lock the players Read More »
Food and the New Physics
Molecular gastronomists are altering and reimagining our food: from flavored foams to dry ice for dessert. But you have to wonder, have the practical applications of science in the kitchen taken a back seat to all this whimsy? Read More »
From Trash to Cash
What would motivate you to throw away less trash? Perhaps a healthy dose of environmental guilt would do the trick. Or would it take another kind of green — as in cold, hard cash — to force your hand? In the latest Freakonomics Radio Marketplace segment, host Kai Ryssdal talks with Stephen Dubner about how Read More »
‘Tis the Season to Get What You Don’t Want
Picture this: Christmas morning, tchotchke-free. This week on the Freakonomics Radio Marketplace segment, Stephen Dubner proposes an idea that might finally put an end to holiday deadweight loss. Remember that patchouli-infused candle your loving aunt gave you last year? You wouldn’t dream of paying more than $1.99 for it, and she paid $30. That’s $28.01 Read More »
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