Stephen Dubner, Freakonomics Radio Journalist Profile

Articles

How Is Live Theater Still Alive?

1 week ago | freakonomics.com | Stephen Dubner

Episode Transcript Making something out of nothing is hard. In the beginning, all you have is your imagination; it’s your only tool, your only muscle. But if you are determined — and lucky — that thing in your imagination can become real. And then, if you’re very lucky, people will pay to see it. Rocco LANDESMAN: There’s been theater since the beginning of man, really. What is theater?
Policymaking Is Not a Science — Yet (Update) - Freakonomics

2 weeks ago | freakonomics.com | Stephen Dubner

Episode Transcript Hey there, it’s Stephen Dubner. We just published a two-part series on what some people call sludge — meaning, all the frictions that make it hard to fill out tax forms or find a healthcare provider or even cancel a subscription. One part of our series involved government sludge, and how it interferes with getting policy done.
Sludge, Part 2: Is Government the Problem, or the Solution?

2 weeks ago | freakonomics.com | Stephen Dubner

Episode Transcript Last week, in the first episode of this two-part series, the Nobel prize-winning economist Richard Thaler described one of the most common afflictions of our time:Richard THALER: If you make things harder, I call that sludge. Kind of a fun word for stuff that’s the opposite of fun.
Sludge, Part 1: The World Is Drowning in It

3 weeks ago | freakonomics.com | Stephen Dubner

Episode Transcript I have a story to tell you, and I’m curious if anything like this has ever happened to you. I recently got a letter from the Department of Motor Vehicles, saying it’s time to renew my driver’s license. This is a letter that no one looks forward to receiving. In many places, the D.M.V. is famously hard to deal with — long lines, confusing protocols, etc. etc.
Season 14, Episode 30

4 weeks ago | freakonomics.com | Stephen Dubner

Lina Khan, the youngest F.T.C. chair in history, reset U.S. antitrust policy by thwarting mega-mergers and other monopolistic behavior. This earned her enemies in some places, and big fans in others — including the Trump administration. Stephen Dubner speaks with Khan about her tactics, her track record, and her future. To find out more, check out the podcast from which this hour was drawn: “The Biden Policy That Trump Hasn’t Touched”
Should America Be Run by … Trader Joe’s? (Update)

1 month ago | freakonomics.com | Mark Gardiner |Michael Roberto |Stephen Dubner

Episode Transcript Hey there, it’s Stephen Dubner, and I’d like to thank you for the overwhelming response to our most recent episode, which was called “Ten Myths About the U.S. Tax System.” There were a lot of good suggestions for follow-up episodes, and we’ll certainly keep those in mind.
Ten Myths About the U.S. Tax System

1 month ago | freakonomics.com | Stephen Dubner

Episode Transcript In Washington, D.C., there is a set of people who move into town when their party comes to power, and who eventually leave once their party is voted out. These are the high-profile residents of D.C., the ones who make headlines. But for every one of these people, there are thousands more that you rarely hear about, or hear from.
The Biden Policy That Trump Hasn’t Touched

1 month ago | freakonomics.com | Stephen Dubner |Tim Wu

Episode Transcript Lina Khan was just 32 years old when Joe Biden appointed her to lead the Federal Trade Commission, in 2021. She became the youngest F.T.C. chair in history, and this agency goes back to 1914. Khan was also considered one of the most progressive chairs in F.T.C history.
The Downside of Disgust (Update)

1 month ago | freakonomics.com | Stephen Dubner

Episode Transcript Hey there, it’s Stephen Dubner. We just finished publishing our series on rats, which reminded me of an episode from the archives I thought you might like to hear. You will understand within the first few seconds why I was reminded of this episode. It was first published in early 2021 — although we began making this episode in early 2020, and put it aside when the pandemic struck.
The Animal No One Loves, Until They Do

1 month ago | freakonomics.com | Bethany Brookshire |Stephen Dubner

ZICHELLO: So they both passed away, sadly. One of the things that happened towards the end of their life, which also is something that’s relevant to all rats, is that they aged so quickly, and they started to show signs of aging — like being hunched over, losing body fat. One month in a rat’s life is equal to three years in human years. People know this because there’s a lot of people, obviously, who use rats in the lab trying to study aging, and trying to make that equivalent.