June 18 is International Panic Day, a day “for everyone to be worried and concerned,” according to HolidayInsights.com.
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FREAK Shots:
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
Dubner was first published at age 11 in Highlights magazine -- which, in honor of its 60th anniversary, has just recognized him as a “Highlights Kid” who went on to become a professional writer, as Dubner puts it: "for better or worse."
Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything
Archive
Recent Posts
November 20
(0 comments)
Ron Paul Answers Your Questions, Part Two
Ron Paul
When we solicited your questions for Congressman Ron Paul shortly after the election, so many questions came in that we split Paul’s answers into two batches, the first of which was published last week.
Here is the second. Like the first batch, they are well-considered and interesting throughout; they will surely make many [...]
November 20
(2 comments)
Jenkem: Bringing the Levitt Family Together
I often get emails from blog readers asking me to shed light on some issue that, in the mind of the email writer, is a pressing social or economic issue. Sometimes it is a big issue like immigration or the financial crisis. More often it is something less mainstream, like election fraud or an unusual [...]
November 20
(4 comments)
Freddie Mac and Cheese
It’s not an entire film (and it’s not in French), but two more readers, Talya and Pavle, have sent in a video of their song “Fannie Mae Eat Freddie Mac and Cheese,” which uses “freakonomics” as a sort of mantra. We like.
November 19
(53 comments)
What Would You Do in the Worst Case? A Freakonomics Quorum
Photo: Jamesfischer
These are the economic times that try men’s souls, and women’s too. In the past few months, a lot of people have seen their net worth fall substantially, and I’m sure more than a few have contemplated what would happen if they lost everything.
So we asked a group of people — Nick Mills, [...]
November 19
(29 comments)
FREAK Shots: Who Are You Calling Third-World?
Blog reader Nick Turner sent along this photo of a Body Shop ad in San Francisco:
Photo: Nick Turner
He was surprised that the ad guarantees fair-labor conditions for workers in Italy:
I thought fair-trade protections were for third-world workers. I
wonder how the Italians feel about this designation.
The ad didn’t outright call Italy third-world; but if it had, [...]
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
Inching Along the Edge of the World
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
I miss the old Freakonomics blog, before stupid recurring posts such as “And Today Is…”
It seems like Steven/Stephen are sacrificing some quality for quantity. You guys feeling pressure from the publishers? Might this tie in to some master plan to keep the interest high in anticipation of Freakonomics 2? Because you don’t need crap like this to do that, just keep doing what you were doing before…
— gtg817qHey…don’t panic about it.
— egretmanIt is also D-day, celebrated here in France
— blaiseWell, not D-day, of course (6 of June), but the day de Gaulle called for the french to resist
— blaiseOf any objections to the recurring posts: the nice thing about them is that they are easily skipped for those that don’t care to read them.
I actually find it rather interesting to see how much of a stretch each new ‘Day’ is going to be. It’s bad enough that society has made the leap from accepting Mother’s Day and Father’s Day to including things like Grandparent Day as something requiring a greeting card, can you imagine if we were required by the masses to recognize a specific Day each day? Geez, I can’t wait until Thanksgiving Day to give thanks for that having not yet happened.
— tacoweaponI hope this feature to the site continues at least until October 27, National Cat Day.
— KentTo appease gtg817q, let’s have tomorrow be gtg817q Day.
— Kent