One of the few shows on NPR that is still worth listening to…. As long as they stay off politics freakanomics is a good honest show

Great podcast

Stephen and his team balance the pursuit of truth and knowledge with reality—how that truth and knowledge fits into the world on practical basis. He is entertaining and makes heavy, historically boring topics entertaining and digestible.

Less than 2% of us are super taskers! Great episode. Can’t wait to share with my colleagues!

I never listened before, but I checked out episode 600 and was just laughing the entire time. The president of Fordham going on about Jesuit values, ethics, discernment, and caring for the poor all while Fordham charges 60k for tuition on top of at least 20k for room and board. Fordham is known to be extremely expensive and stingy with financial aid compared to other colleges in big cities like NYC and Los Angeles. They cater to the wealthy. Of course the university has an attorney as the president. The hypocrisy here is over-the-top. I can’t believe Freakanomics thought this was a good episode to air. I gave it one extra star because it did I make me laugh.

Just listened to the 3 parter—informative and interesting. Loved knowing more about Alice Neel

Note: an earlier version of this review was FILTERED which is the reason why I bumped it from ** to *. I realize this is an intellectually based podcast - meant to challenge thoughts and preconceptions. I get it, and I appreciate this aspect. However, there seems to be little realization that this podcast, and for the most part its guests, lives with both feet planted in the Ivory Tower of Academia. What I don’t appreciate ( and vehemently disagree with) is the series of episodes on “The Purpose of Education”. In these episodes Stephen - and his guests - seems to be promoting “Education for Education’s Sake” rather than the more practical philosophy of “Education for Vocational Preparation”. Of course, if you have a social science background, and you interview people that are the few outliers that have been able to glean a successful career in Academia, they are going to be able to pontificate eloquently on the merits of a Liberal Arts educaton. However, this is far from reality. The truth is that people with 4 year degrees in Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences have large rates of UNDERemployment. Many people taking these degrees only realize this after getting them - and of course - after paying the costs of tuition and lost opportunity. Personally, I have intimate experience with this. I have a Ph.D. in a STEM field. I have worked myself in Academia, which was a poor fit for me. I spent the next 13 years in industry underemployed. After adjusting my mindset and skillset, I was able to work 17 more years successfully in industry. The takeaway is that while Academics may be great at Academia, they can be out of touch with reality, and be a poor form of guidance for most other people.

Such thoughtful, well researched, reasoned and balanced info. Should be required listening in all HS

I appreciate the scholarly approach taken to discuss whatever the day’s topic is. It is incredibly fun to have all the burning questions I want put to smart people where they have a long form platform to properly explain it to us nerds! And all the questions I hadn’t thought about put forward as well! Really great guests, fair representation of the nuances and controversy at play, a lot of meaningful discussion achieved no matter the topic. Always some time taken to give some historical context which is so important and not easy for some if not all the subjects covered here. Great podcast if you like learning interesting stuff, and appreciate getting a wider aperture understanding on how economics interact with human behavior and what you can make out of all of it!

I only listen to Freakonomics radio.Nothing can beat the wit of Stephen.

During the pandemic, this familiar podcast became something I could really submerse myself into. Thank you!

I have only learned more from the Joe Rogan podcast but that would be hard to beat considering that I have not missed one episode of the Joe Rogan experience. I wait every week to learn.

Always insightful.

I love this show. Brooke is so smart. And the kind of smart that brings her listeners along with her. Nit only do I learn a lot from the show, but understand the reasons why, which makes it stick.

This was one of the worst podcasts I have heard. every idea expressed was either obvious or self-evidently wrong. Yet it also managed to be self-congratulatory.

I gave up on NPR due to it being completely biased;however, this show is really interesting! I’ve listened to 4/5 episodes and the information is fascinating and objective. Great listen!!

I don't care about the extra episodes for premium subscribers. Just please give me an option to get rid of ads. Please don't get rid of the premium subscription.

I tried. Again. And the sad pattern continues with every single episode I listen to. But the denials of facts that don’t fit their narrative is just the most base way they disrespect and disappoint their audience. The absolute lack of integrity and honesty analysis especially ignoring the death and harms to First Nations peoples in the nuclear episode is just plain disgusting. They should be ashamed. They owe all those impacted by mining uranium and it’s legacy of pain and disease and destruction a huge apology. One I have no confidence whatsoever they will ever make. To do so would betray the bias they show in their presentation of every topic.

I started listening to a show that had come from a book about detective work. Years later everyone listens to podcasts however the detective work seems to detect less. The theatre episode was literally so bad a teenager could have done it. Many segments were absolutely wasted time. The whole idea of an economist giving a take on humanities is stupid because economists are famously not human while wearing their economist hats. Dubner should stick to things he could conceivably actually do, but I’m tuning out because I’m tired of listening to him fail.

We have listened to these podcasts for several years, but it seems like Steven Dubner and the team have lost their way and started doing shows that are just not interesting to my demographic. Maybe that is intentional as they target a different group, but they certainly lost me as a regular listener and subscriber. I wish them success as they go through this apparent change.

Of all the podcasts I listen to, this is the one that is most likely to leave me thinking and the most likely for me to bore people with “I heard on a podcast that. . . .” I listen to every episode because I have learned that I enjoy even the ones that don’t sound like they will interest me. We need more interviewers like Steven Dubner. He presents experts on both sides of an issue, presses both with hard questions, and is invariably kind and polite.

So much to absorb, always well done.

I love listening to this podcast. I learn so much on subjects I didn't even know interested me. I gave my best friend a copy of the Freakonomics book and she objected accusing me of being an academic snob. Until she read it and told me how fun and fascinating it was to read. Thank you for the fun way you present your topics and the show.

Some of your host on this show have a bad habit of interrupting the guests when they’re talking. Especially when they’re in the middle of or finishing up a good thought or point. And most of the time, the interruption is so immature, like a bad or immature joke or a joke at the wrong time. It’s irritating because most of the time, the guest loses their chain of thought and doesn’t return to their point. Have your host to work on this. There’s a time and place for everything. If things can be edited later, LET THEM TALK AND FINISH THEIR POINT. Interrupting in uncontrollable ADD of thoughts that are irrelevant or could have waited is driving me crazy. Other than this, it’s a really good show.

The name of the podcast may lead you to think it’s going to be some far out intellectual, academic mumbo jumbo. But instead, it’s an extremely thoughtful and easily accessible conversation about interesting current events and topics that are relevant to our everyday lives. Steven Dubner is a stellar interviewer (and very smart guy) whose only agenda is to learn more from the experienced and knowledgeable guests he invites on the show. I eagerly await each weekly podcast. Do yourself a favor and CHECK IT OUT!

I love that the show digs into interesting and important issues and people. Inquiry, evidence, and thoughtfulness are valued, wherever they can be found. I learn something whenever I listen, and often come away thinking differently.

Great podcast to leave something new, especially if you’re interested in why decisions are made. It’s worth it to go through the early catalogue, where they really focus on unique connections, and podcast titles could be a chapter in their books. Lately it’s more of a focus on individuals being interviewed, with a series every now and then that does a deep dive into a particular topic. Stephen is a great interviewer, and it’s a great research team.

About 60% of the way through I realized that no matter what kind of parade it is, this guy is perfectly willing to be led to the front to lead it. And then when it is done, no matter who is in the parade, he is willing to criticize them.

I can’t for the life of me understand why Stephen Dubner canceled Bapu Jena. It makes me question his discernment. “The Economics of Everyday Things” is a characature of intelligent examination. Perhaps some franchises just outlive their ability to be useful.

One of the only podcasts I can think of that has maintained its level of quality for years.

Not sure why, but this has just gotten further and further left and hard to listen to any more

Some cute stories relayed through a demented lense.

This episode on Vienna is lovely. Special thanks to the music chosen (especially the Mahler and Bruckner excerpts), they really helped set the mood for the whole discussion.

They lost all credibility for me when they (an economics podcast) fawned over Justin Trudeau for an hour.

It’s getting more politically biased. A recent episode w a CNN host showed strong left bias, esp against Trump. Well, no shocker, it’s CNN. But even the hosts failure to differentiate between legal and illegal immigration was not what I expected. A previous episode on immigration reinforced this; must be an election year. Too many good shows for me to just drop it. But it’s feeling like it’s run it’s course. We’ll see. [old review] Nearly always interesting and based on good research rather than just anecdotes or unsupported opinions. Old ones like the one on nurses, gluten and visual effects were terrific. But now new ones like google search and personal finance were even better. A few like they were mailed in, but those are mostly in the past. I have to comment on the Roland Fryer one on black america. How can you do this? You must know that any speaker who says anything against what BLM, WAPO or the others are reporting is going to be crushed. Whether I agree or not with Fryer, you and he are courageous. Good for you. Too many on the left and right have given up on journalism and objectivity in order to cater to their tribe. The ones on nurses, gluten and the visual effects industry were terrific; objective, surprising and fun. But every once in a while we get a Larry Summers (plodding and biased) or Trevor Noah (Larry without the plodding). Early on there were a few back to back that were just being mailed in and I considered unsubscribing, but they've gotten better and now this is one of my 7 go to podcasts.

I want to listen to a 3 part series, however, the search takes you only to the first of the 3. How do you find the 2nd or 3rd parts of a series.

So super cool!

I’ve been listening to and loving this show for years, but am also beginning to feel a lack of balance in presentation. I have to agree with the earlier comment, that giving Trudeau what effectively was a 45 minute political infomercial calls for some balance from the other side. Perhaps Harper, who is a very thoughtful, well spoken economist and presided over a very successful decade in Canada’s history, should get 45 minutes as well.

I welcomed the Trudeau interview, but it was cowardly and weak not to challenge Trudeau and allow him to ignore clear policy failures and levy generalized bumper sticker pejoratives against good faith citizen opposition. Mr. Dubner, do you expect listeners to respect the show if all opposition to Trudeau policy are dismissed as far right populists?!? I’m not a communist deplatformer. So I listened for 20+ minute until I couldn’t take any more generalities and half truths. If you’re allowing Trudeau a relatively unchallenged 45 minute infomercial, then please welcome a rebuttal presenting a different vision from another polite frank Canadian. And what the heck is a ‘far right populist’ anyway? Someone who opposes unseen levels of immigration? Someone who distrusts ever-expanding govt power and a black-face wearing silver spoon authoritarian over-compensating racist elitist who has introduced pre-crime laws, censorship laws under the conspicuous guise of hate speech, enacted Emergency Powers for the first in Canadian history to arrest and de-bank many working citizens freely assembling and protesting under the guise of hate and safety, among many other “problematic” behaviors and policies. Please, Mr. Dubner, don’t become Stephen Colbert. Stay true to what makes your show, personality and writing and conversation styles so attractive. Think openly. Talk to and understand everyone. Please.

I’ll start at the end. For me the show is summed up in the sign off “Take care of yourself and if possible someone else “. Week after week the shows’s subject is a matter of how we interact with each other and challenges us to think about how to improve the relationship between us all. I look forward to the next and return to listen to many previous episodes. In the glut of information this cuts through and offers real insight and value.

I have always loved the content on the show. I’ve listened to many episodes over the years, but I am disappointed by the leftward movement lean slowly taking place. I don’t think the show has ever criticized Joe Biden or his economic policies. Every issue talked about on this show avoids blaming the Biden administration and finds a different factor to blame it on.

Recently got into this show and it’s so fun. It challenges my thinking and perceptions and helps me to see from different perspectives.

Couldn’t believe the unabashed touting of U.S. as the “good guy” in the 20th century, without the slightest objection! Pointing fingers everywhere, only to forget that imperialism didn’t disappear after WWII, just euphemised as “interventions”, fervently carried out by our government, well into the 21st century. “Free-market” and “globalization” are co-opted as the cover for resource exploitation, and used to impose laws to benefit a few. In the name of anti-communism, anti-terrorism, and “democracy”, all the propped-up dictators, assassinations of dissenters, slaughtering of millions of innocents and crushed economies, are deemed acceptable even necessary, in keeping of American hegemony. These and more are conveniently left out of the conversation, so as to avoid any moral dissonance. If this is the kind of media the majority of the public is fed, little wonder of the apathy and bias towards people from those places. “Not very different from commodities and goods”, commented by the host without missing a beat.

I’m a long time fan of this podcast. It’s clear to me that Stephen Dubner is respected by those he interviews, or he wouldn’t get the high quality guests that he has on the show. They don’t want to waste their time, and his preparation must have earned him a reputation for being knowledgeable, forthright, and honest in their eyes. Definitely worth your time.

I really enjoy this show and appreciate how the topics and interviews help your critical thinking skills!

I really like the recent episodes about immigrants and the latest episode interviewing Fareed Zakaria. They were not mainly about economics but gave me a great more understanding about how we got here. Recommend to everyone!

This podcast has turned into mainstream media. There is little critical analysis. You guys are establishment shills now. Pathetic.

A longtime fan of freaknonics podcasts, I only have good words to say about the quality of the conversations. But I never understand why gambling ads are constantly pushed when I listen, esp when my kids are around. Those gambling ads all end with something like, after promoting a gambling venue, “If you have gambling problems, we can help too”! This could turn many fans away, unfortunately.

Good show me learn alor

I’ve loved Freakonmics for years, and I’ve loved Feynman for even longer. It all made so much sense when Dubner talked so excitedly about Feynman and his legacy. There’s definitely a common thread that has drawn me to both. So when Dubner took so much time and thought to dive deep into Feynman it brought literal tears to my eyes. This show has inspired me and enriched my life in so many ways. Thank you all for the beautiful work that you do.