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, Daniel Hamermesh, Sudhir Venkatesh, and Justin Wolfers.

Annika Mengisen is the site editor.

The Upside of Cooking Dangerously

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“ I am always amazed at all those dark-shingled roofs in Dallas, just baking away in the sun, practically crying for solar electric panels.”

“ I remain completely mystified by the visceral opposition people have toward the idea of paying less than $1 to use a road. ”

Detroit Lions left guard Edwin Mulitalo is on a winless team, but maybe that's not all bad, as he can afford to spend the off season reading his favorites: self-help books and Freakonomics.

Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything

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Shopsin's (120 Essex Street) is a New York institution, a restaurant that began as a grocery store; its owner, Kenny Shopsin, is colorful, irascible, and talented. Shopsin's is famous for breakfast but also for its vast, unusual, common-sense menu. Shopsin has just written a book that is half cookbook and half memoir, entirely fascinating. I had never sat down and read a cookbook from cover to cover but that is what happened with Shopsin's book (co-written with Carolynn Carreno). It is called Eat Me. The introduction is a reprint of a New Yorker article by Calvin (Bud) Trillin, a Shopsin's regular. If you do go to the restaurant, do pay attention to Shopsin's idiosyncrasies, because he allegedly has a Soup-Nazi-like intolerance that may earn you permanent exile from his restaurant. (SJD)

I recently took the kids to see a performance by Jim Dale, the longtime British stage actor (he won a Tony for Barnum) who is best known these days as the wildly entertaining reader of the Harry Potter books on tape. He was reading an adaptation of a Eudora Welty story called “The Shoe Bird,” which he recently recorded with the Seattle Symphony. (It was wonderful, and I encourage you to give it a listen.) Afterward, Dale took questions from the audience -- which, predictably, were about the Harry Potter series. Items of interest that emerged: Dale was given only 100 pages of manuscript at a time to read and then record, so he never knew what was coming; and in order to keep track of the 146 voices he’d created for all the characters, he often pre-recorded a bit of the characters’ voices and then held a tape recorder up to his ear in the studio to remind himself. (SJD)

If you live in or are visiting New York and have children, do everything you can to take in one of the Young People's Concerts at the New York Philharmonic. Even if you don’t love the music on that day’s program -- we recently attended “Ravel’s Paris,” not my favorite by a long shot -- all the extras in the program are terrific: the dancers, composers, instrumentalists, and explainers who are paraded out by conductor Delta David Gier to put the music in context for the kids. (SJD)

January 08
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The Tennessee Coal-Ash Spill, in Pictures

I was stirring the syrup for a pecan pie when the phone rang. My friend Brenda Boozer called to tell me there had been a massive environmental disaster close to home, and could I possibly get away to take photographs?

January 08
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Our Daily Bleg: Got Any Legal Quotes That Top Lamenting the Demise of Dueling?

Last week’s quotation bleg, asking for suggestions of notable recent U.S. Supreme Court quotes, elicited this response from Jerry E. Stephens, quoting now retired U.S. District Judge Wayne Alley (Western District of Oklahoma):

January 08
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Why You’ll Love Paying for Roads That Used to Be Free, Part Two

In my prior post, I blogged about introducing variable tolls on America’s highways. The basic idea: fight congestion by imposing tolls that vary in response to traffic levels. When roads are too crowded, hike the tolls, keep some drivers out, and thus keep traffic free flowing at all times.

January 08
(15 comments)

Medical Info Overload?

We recently ran a bleg about dealing with too much data.
That bleg prompted the following note from a reader named Geoff Barry:
I had a thought on when it can be truly negative — even unhealthy.
Too much medical information at a layman’s fingertips can actually be detrimental, both for the doctor treating the patient and for [...]

January 08
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The FREAK-est Links

The Economist’s open debate: Is the world getting smarter or not?
Look who got listed as an “amazing resource” for small businesses looking to cut costs.
Instead of just deleting old computer documents, dispose of them with The Unloader. (HT: Kevin Allen Jr.)
The top 2008 news articles that nobody cares about now. (Earlier)

Room for Debate

Fear Factor in the Workplace

As jobs disappear, workplace anxiety takes a toll on society as well as individuals.

Stanley Fish

Roland Burris and St. Augustine

In determining the fate of the Burris appointment, politicians might want to consult Thomas Hobbes, St. Augustine and the crown’s lawyers of the late 16th century.