Freakonomics Radio

The rules of The Hunger Games are simple. In punishment for the uprising, each of the 12 districts must provide one girl and one boy called tributes to participate.

It was a fabulous book for this study, I think, because it's so addictive. Once you get into it, it's just impossible to put the book down because you desperately want to know what happens.

Happy Hunger Games and may the odds be ever in your favor.

The Hunger Games is next on my list.

In 1937, a self-help pundit named Napoleon Hill included that phrase in his very popular book, Think and Grow Rich.

A quitter never wins and a winner never quits.

A quitter never wins and a winner never quits.

Wait, not the power of positive. How to Win Friends and Influence People.

So the Dale Carnegie effect where you say someone's name, Stephen.

I think Dale Carnegie was right about a lot of things and I think he's right about this one.

I recently reread Dale Carnegie's How to Win Friends and Influence People, and he says basically never tell anybody you disagree with them.

I recently reread Dale Carnegie's How to Win Friends and Influence People, and he says basically never tell anybody you disagree with them.

It was a sly title because the experts' predictions often weren't very expert.

In the end we had close to 300 participants

The study became the basis of a book Tetlock published a few years ago Called Expert Political Judgment

There's an aphorism I quote In the Expert Political Judgment book from Karl Marx

I think the most important takeaway would be that the experts think they know more than they do.

They were systematically overconfident.

The study became the basis of a book Tetlock published a few years ago called Expert Political Judgment.

There's an aphorism I quote in the Expert Political Judgment book from Karl Marx.

I could write a book like that.

When I read Guns, Germs and Steel, my reaction was, how is it possible that anyone could know enough and have enough confidence to write such a book?

Well, maybe not I at first, but it is possible to write books like that.

And suddenly I read this book and I realized that it is possible to look at history from such a broad perspective.

Well, maybe not I at first, but it is possible to write books like that.

And suddenly I read this book and I realized that it is possible to look at history from such a broad perspective.

When I read Guns, Germs and Steel, my reaction was, how is it possible that anyone could know enough and have enough confidence to write such a book?

If you want to learn more about his settlement work, he's written two books. What is Life Worth? And Who Gets What?

Al Roth has now written a book, really wonderful book, I should say. It's called Who Gets What and Why? The New Economics of Matchmaking and Market Design.

Al Roth, high school dropout, Nobel laureate, author of the book Who Gets What and Why, began working on organ donation more than 40 years ago as it turned out.

Al Roth's greatest hope for his new book, Who Gets What and Why.

My hope is that this book will help you to see markets in new ways.

Thinking about the design of markets gives us a new way of looking at them, noticing them, and understanding them. My hope is that this book will help you to see markets in new ways.

Al Roth has now written a book, really wonderful book I should say. It's called Who Gets What and Why? The New Economics of Matchmaking and Market Design.

Al Roth, high school dropout, Nobel laureate, author of the book Who Gets What and Why, began working on organ donation more than 40 years ago as it turned out.

And Al Roth's greatest hope for his new book, Who Gets What and Why.

Thinking about the design of markets gives us a new way of looking at them, noticing them and understanding them. My hope is that this book will help you to see markets in new ways.

Walter Isaacson published a book called The Innovators, how a group of hackers, geniuses, and geeks created the digital revolution.

Walter Isaacson published a book called The Innovators, How a Group of Hackers, Geniuses and Geeks Created the Digital Revolution.

And then Walter Isaacson published a book called The Innovators, how a group of hackers, geniuses and geeks created the digital revolution.

Basically Andy wrote me and a friend a kind of joke email saying we should answer with a book called The Maintainers, how bureaucrats, standards engineers and introverts create technologies that kind of work most of the time.

He wants to see better social infrastructure as he calls it The gathering places that are public and accessible, you know Like libraries and parks and playgrounds public transit systems that work. This is the idea Kleinberg plays with in his latest book called Palaces for the People.

This is the idea Kleinenberg plays with in his latest book called Palaces for the People.

In 2017, she published a book called Donut Economics.

It was avidly consumed in certain circles, especially in places that pay attention to standard economics but feel that standard economics comes up short.

Kate Raworth's book, Doughnut Economics, is essentially an alarm, a warning that the blind pursuit of economic growth leaves out too many people and puts too much strain on the planet's resources.

So the standard economics I learned was not based on a delicately balanced living planet. There wasn't really a planet. Anything natural was called an environmental externality.

So imagine a donut, the kind it's got a hole in the middle, and we want everybody to be living in the donut.

That means no one is in the hole in the middle where they're falling short on the essentials of life--without food or water, health care, housing, education, political voice.

But at the same time, don't overshoot the outer crust of the donut. We put so much pressure on our planet, we begin to push her out of balance, and we cause climate breakdown and we acidify the oceans and create a hole in the ozone layer.

So the standard economics I learned was not based on a delicately balanced living planet. There wasn't really a planet. Anything natural was called an environmental externality.

So imagine a donut, the kind it's got a hole in the middle, and we want everybody to be living in the donut.

That means no one is in the hole in the middle where they're falling short on the essentials of life, without food or water, health care, housing, education, political voice.

But at the same time, don't overshoot the outer crust of the donut. We put so much pressure on our planet. We begin to push her out of balance, and we cause climate breakdown.

And we acidify the oceans and create a hole in the ozone layer. So it's a balance: meet the needs of all people within the means of the planet.

She didn't read the first book, The Theory of Moral Sentiments, clearly.

It's in The Theory of Moral Sentiments, but it's understood a richer context in The Theory of Moral Sentiments.

And I know The Wealth of Nations is the most famous book, but for me, as was said earlier, it's The Theory of Moral Sentiments, which is the guide.

Man naturally desires not only to be loved, but to be lovely, or to be that thing which is the natural and proper object of love. He naturally dreads not only to be hated, but to be hateful, or to be that thing which is the natural and proper object of hatred.

He desires not only praise, but praiseworthiness, or to be that thing which though it should be praised by nobody is however the natural and proper object of praise. He dreads not only blame, but blameworthiness, or to be that thing which though it should be blamed by nobody is however the natural and proper object of blame.

We want to be appreciated. We want to matter. And what he's saying there is that not only do we want to be praised and honored and respected, but we want to earn that honestly.

He says the pursuit of wealth - here's the person who wrote 'The Wealth of Nations' who says the pursuit of wealth is a fool's game. It's going to degrade you. You're going to do things you're going to be ashamed of and that you'll want to hide.

My book is an attempt to bring to the modern reader Adam Smith's forgotten masterpiece, 'The Theory of Moral Sentiments'.

I see The Theory of Moral Sentiments as showing this deeply humanistic, curious and imaginative person interested in what makes humans tick in all spheres of life.

What is it like when we see somebody in pain? How do we feel when we tell a joke and somebody doesn't laugh?

It's almost as though you're saying that Smith described our daily behavior and our moral behavior in a similar way as he describes economic transactions, which are there are costs and benefits to everything.

I happen to think that of the two books, The Theory of Moral Sentiments is the more interesting, the richer, in many ways, the more innovative of the two books.

The Theory of Moral Sentiments is the more interesting, the richer, in many ways the more innovative of the two books.

And you've written a lot of books. Is that right?

Yes, I have three books, one on pregnancy and two on parenting at different ages. I've kind of made a career out of the fact that a lot of parents want information and they want data.

Emily's books about pregnancy and early parenting have been bestsellers, but her research focus is a little different.

She's also the author of a book called Expecting Better, Why Conventional Pregnancy Wisdom is Wrong and What You Really Need to Know.

She's also the author of a book called Expecting Better, Why Conventional Pregnancy Wisdom Is Wrong and What You Really Need to Know.

Yeah, so in K through six, I was just miserable in school because they kept making us do stuff that seemed pointless to me. Music, art, dance, making posters every day. It was just dreadful.

I'm going to say I was the reluctant one, but it was my brother Tristan that persuaded me to go through with it. His great pitch, which is still echoed in our family to this day, is do you want to be a poster monkey for the rest of your life?

Our dad just gave us this lifesaver and said, you can come to my homeschool and you will get to learn about ideas. You will get to read. You will get to do what you actually enjoy.

Can you untangle for me what appears to be a slightly paradoxical maze in which you, a university professor at a public university, which is supported in large part by tax dollars, can make an argument totally against education and then use your university professor position, including bringing your kids into your office to homeschool them for the education that you also don't want them to participate in?

I see great internal consistency, but you're totally sensible to wonder what it is. So the first thing is I see myself as a whistleblower. A lot of the reason why people took that book seriously is I could begin by saying the system has been great to me, it's all worked out for me, and yet I don't think that it's a good use of taxpayer money in terms of trying to help my sons out.

In Kaplan's view, this has driven a kind of credential inflation where more and more education is required to have a good career.

A few years ago, you wrote a book called The Case against Education, Why the Education System is a Waste of Time and Money.

So the first thing is I see myself as a whistleblower. A lot of the reason why people took that book seriously is I could begin by saying the system has been great to me. It's all worked out for me, and yet I don't think that it's a good use of taxpayer money.

It's called Parent Nation, Unlocking Every Child's Potential, Fulfilling Society's Promise.

There can be no keener revelation of a society's soul than the way it treats its children.

The book she and Schimansky wrote is called City of Champions, a history of triumph and defeat in Detroit.

Chemeinsky happens to live near Detroit and he's co-author of a book called City of Champions about Detroit's sporting legends.

The book she and Schimansky wrote is called City of Champions, a history of triumph and defeat in Detroit.

I am the author of several books, including American Green, The Obsessive Quest for the Perfect Lawn.

I am the author of several books, including American Green, The Obsessive Quest for the Perfect Lawn.

I'm the author of several books, including American Green, The Obsessive Quest for the Perfect Lawn.

Alexandra Horowitz has written a couple of fascinating books, Inside of a Dog and Being a Dog.

Horowitz has written a couple of fascinating books, Inside of a Dog and Being a Dog.

In 2014, he wrote a book called Parentology.

It's about... well, here, let's have him tell you. I think the subtitle says it all, which is a social scientist experiments on his kids so you don't have to.

Dalton Conley is a sociologist at NYU. He has a book coming out soon called Parentology.

I think the subtitle says it all, which is a social scientist experiments on his kids so you don't have to.

Dalton Conley is a sociologist at NYU. He has a book coming out soon called Parentology.

It's about well here Let's have him tell you I think the subtitle says it all which is a social scientist experiments on his kids, so you don't have to

There's a 2003 book by Anne Hulbert called Raising America, Experts, Parents and a Century of Advice About Children. It does a great job showing how many flip flops there have been over time.

She wrote a book called Raising America, Experts, Parents, and a Century of Advice About Children.

She wrote a book called Raising America, Experts, Parents and a Century of Advice About Children.

And I said to her, you know, isn't the industry's fundamental problem that the best advice for most people would fit on an index card and it's available for free at the library?

And I said to her, you know, isn't the industry's fundamental problem that the best advice for most people would fit on an index card and it's available for free at the library?