This past Friday night, the ABC News program 20/20 showed an hour-long John Stossel special based on Freakonomics. Because our involvement was quite limited — we helped brainstorm the segments and sat for interviews, etc. — I can say without bragging that it was really, really good. A large and very hard-working team of producers took a bunch of our sketchy ideas and made smart, compelling, entertaining TV out of it, and for that we are very grateful. Just watching Stossel arch his famous eyebrows over our material would be have been well worth the price of admission. (Stossel has been one of my favorite journalists for a long time, TV or otherwise; he also loaned me a necktie for the 20/20 taping after I showed up without one due to travel complications that cannot be described here.) But there was so much more than that. Not content with replaying the story of the bagel man in our book, 20/20 went out and found a commercial fisherman who runs an honor-payment business. Not content with merely asking the question “How is a crack dealer like a beauty pageant contestant?”, they went out and found a woman who was a former crack dealer and a former beauty contestant. They let us talk about our ideas and they also featured the work of Sudhir Venkatesh, Roland Fryer, John List, and Keith Chen, any one of whom could have held down their own hour of TV, and each of whom I’d be honored to share any program with. So hats off, and thanks, to ABC.
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About Freakonomics
Stephen J. Dubner is an author and journalist who lives in New York City.
Steven D. Levitt is a professor of economics at the University of Chicago.
Their book Freakonomics has sold 3 million copies worldwide. This blog, begun in 2005, is meant to keep the conversation going. Recurring guest bloggers include Ian Ayres, Jessica Hagy, Daniel Hamermesh, Sudhir Venkatesh, and Justin Wolfers.
Annika Mengisen is the site editor.
Comment of the Moment
Naked Self-Promotion
Freakonomics is bolstering book sales at airports because it’s sexy, reports TheBookseller.com -- with or without its Turkish cover.
Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything
Archive
Recent Posts
November 18
(18 comments)
Would a Market for Organs Punish the Poor More Than They Are Already Punished?
Below is a fascinating statement issued by Physicians for a National Health Program, “a membership organization of over 15,000 physicians [which] supports a single-payer national health insurance program.”
You should read the whole thing but, in a nutshell: The people who receive donated organs in the U.S. nearly always have health insurance, while a significant fraction [...]
November 18
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Larry Summers for Treasury Secretary
Larry Summers
There is a lot of speculation about whether President-elect Barack Obama will choose Larry Summers to be his Treasury Secretary. But some people are openly opposing Summers’s appointment, in part because of controversial comments he made about women in science.
It’s a close question, but I’m hoping that Obama appoints Summers. I have three reasons:
First, [...]
November 18
(7 comments)
Boston Legal Way Classier Than Beauty and the Geek?
Thanks to all the readers who wrote in last week with news that Freakonomics was mentioned on the TV show Boston Legal.
It happened at the end, when the William Shatner character and the James Spader character were having their ritual end-of-the-episode scotch, musing about law and the world.
Alan Shore (Spader): Well, it’s possible [...]
November 18
(20 comments)
Is France Due for Riots?
Photo: cicilief
In my last post, I offered several reasons why the urban riot has gone out of style in the U.S.
However, France will not be spared the sword. I predict that the world will watch French cities light up in youth unrest in 2009, 2010 at the latest … 2011 for sure.
I have been [...]
November 18
(113 comments)
A Beet Paradox
Photo: Darwin Bell
Beets are the new broccoli. Or at least they will be after Obama takes office on January 20, as the president-elect recently revealed his distaste for this vitamin-laden root vegetable. And Obama is not alone: Even as beet salads have become popular in trendy eateries, most American kids I know also reject the [...]
Stuff We Weren't Paid to Endorse
1. Go to Hulu.com. 2. Choose Arrested Development. 3. Start with Season 1 and then watch every episode of all three seasons. 4. You can thank me later. (SJD)
I can scarcely tell a scarlet tanager from Scarlett O’Hara, but The Life of the Skies had me transfixed from the first page. Jonathan Rosen -- who happens to be a friend of mine -- writes with astounding insight, wit, and compassion. The story he tells here is the best kind of odyssey, an outward journey that ends up highlighting the beauty and daring that live inside of us. Here's a Times review of the book, and here's an earlier blog post about the book and the power of suggestion. (SJD)
Even if you don’t have a son fighting in Iraq, even if you don’t read poetry, even if you think you are immune to the power of a mother’s lament – pick up The Warrior and read it right away. Fran Richey has written some of the most powerful stories I’ve ever encountered. It is obvious that her life was changed by living these poems; yours may well be changed by reading them. (SJD)
From the Opinion Blogs
Necessary Steps
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In his last walk of the series, the author manages to avoid stepping out into thin air.
Abstract City
New York Cheat Sheets
All New Yorkers develop tricks that allow them to stay ahead of the pack in daily life. Here I offer some of mine in a couple of handy charts.
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7 Comments
Does anyone know when it might be showing again?
— sppetersonare they gonna post it online?
— penxvenjoyed the show. made me think of something. i heard once that there is a strong correlation between the introduction of aspartame and increased breast cancer. i’ve always wondered if this could be true.
— itsjustmeAm I the only one that cringes every time somebody mentions Stossel? He’s famous for dodging the facts in support of whatever grudge he’s got. Heck, the guy has his own page at Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting:
http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=19&media_outlet_id=19
I’d kinda hoped for better from you, Stephen. (But thanks for the book plate!)
— JemaleddinDon’t be so impressed with FAIR. They are far from the “arbiters of truth” as they try to come off. They are an agenda-driven left-wing organization that tries to cloak themselves in some kind of “impartial fairness” silliness.
Anybody that’s on the right, Conservative or Libertarian, and works in media with any success has a page on FAIR. That Stossel does as well is not impressive.
Neither are their criticisms, which are often easily debunked.
— daviddunnWell, I don’t need a website to tell me that Stossel has a right-wing agenda to grind. Which is fine but I take anything he says or produces with a grain of salt. Sorry guys.
— ganesha23After watching the 20/20 show, I’d like more details on the study of ‘blondes’ receiving more money in sales. Or, please elaborate on the subject. I cannot find any details anywhere about your points on this subject.
thanks, dunebug
p.s. By the way, loved your book. Am looking forward to the sequel follow-up.
— dunebug