Podcast Episodes
Back to Search
282. Could Solving This One Problem Solve All the Others?
Episode 282
The biggest problem with humanity is humans themselves. Too often, we make choices — what we eat, how we spend our money and time — that undermine ou…
8 years, 11 months ago
281. Big Returns from Thinking Small
Episode 281
By day, two leaders of Britain's famous Nudge Unit use behavioral tricks to make better government policy. By night, they repurpose those tricks to i…
8 years, 11 months ago
280. “Tell Me Something I Don’t Know” on the topic of Collections.
Episode 280
Hear live journalism wrapped in a game show package and hosted by Stephen J. Dubner. In this episode, Tim Ferriss, Eugene Mirman and Anne Pasternak a…
8 years, 11 months ago
How Safe Is Your Job? (Rebroadcast)
Economists preach the gospel of "creative destruction," whereby new industries -- and jobs -- replace the old ones. But has creative destruction beco…
8 years, 11 months ago
279. Why Is My Life So Hard?
Episode 279
Most of us feel we face more headwinds and obstacles than everyone else — which breeds resentment. We also undervalue the tailwinds that help us — wh…
8 years, 11 months ago
278. Chuck E. Cheese’s: Where a Kid Can Learn Price Theory
Episode 278
The pizza-and-gaming emporium prides itself on affordability, which means its arcade games are really cheap to play. Does that lead to kids hogging t…
9 years ago
277. The Taboo Trifecta
Episode 277
The serial entrepreneur Miki Agrawal loves to talk about the bodily functions that make most people flinch. That's why she's building a business arou…
9 years ago
276. No Hollywood Ending for the Visual-Effects Industry
Episode 276
In their chase for a global audience, American movie studios spend billions to make their films look amazing. But almost none of those dollars stay i…
9 years ago
275. Professor Hendryx vs. Big Coal
Episode 275
What happens when a public-health researcher deep in coal country argues that mountaintop mining endangers the entire community? Hint: it doesn't go …
9 years ago
How to Get More Grit in Your Life
The psychologist Angela Duckworth argues that a person's level of stick-to-itiveness is directly related to their level of success. No big surprise t…
9 years, 1 month ago