Freakonomics Radio

New York City’s mayor calls them “public enemy number one.” History books say they caused the Black Death — although recent scientific evidence disputes that claim. So is the rat a scapegoat? And what does our rat hatred say about us? (Part one of a three-part series.)

• SOURCES:
  • Bethany Brookshire, author of Pests: How Humans Create Animal Villains.
  • Kathy Corradi, director of rodent mitigation for New York City.
  • Ed Glaeser, professor of economics at Harvard University.
  • Nils Stenseth, professor of ecology and evolution at the University of Oslo.

• RESOURCES:
  • "On Patrol With the Rat Czar," by Mark Chiusano (Intelligencer, 2024).
  • "How Rats Took Over North America," by Allison Parshall (Scientific American, 2024).
  • "Where Are the Rats in New York City," by Matt Yan (New York Times, 2024).
  • "Pests: How Humans Create Animal Villains" by Bethany Brookshire (2023).
  • "Human ectoparasites and the spread of plague in Europe during the Second Pandemic," by Nils Stenseth, Katharine Dean, Fabienne Krauer, Lars Walløe, Ole Christian Lingjærde, Barbara Bramanti, and Boris Schmid (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2018).

• EXTRAS:
  • "Freakonomics Radio Live: 'Jesus Could Have Been a Pigeon.'" by Freakonomics Radio (2018).

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Licensing began with medicine and law; now it extends to 20 percent of the U.S. workforce, including hair stylists and auctioneers. In a new book, the legal scholar Rebecca Allensworth calls licensing boards “a thicket of self-dealing and ineptitude” and says they keep bad workers in their jobs and good ones out — while failing to protect the public.

• SOURCES:
  • Rebecca Allensworth, professor of law at Vanderbilt University.

• RESOURCES:
  • "The Licensing Racket: How We Decide Who Is Allowed to Work, and Why It Goes Wrong" by Rebecca Allensworth (2025).
  • "Licensed to Pill," by Rebecca Allensworth (The New York Review of Books, 2020).
  • "Licensing Occupations: Ensuring Quality or Restricting Competition?" by Morris Kleiner (W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research, 2006).
  • "How Much of Barrier to Entry is Occupational Licensing?" by Peter Blair and Bobby Chung (British Journal of Industrial Relations, 2019).

• EXTRAS:
  • "Is Ozempic as Magical as It Sounds?" by Freakonomics Radio (2024).

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In 2023, the N.F.L. players’ union conducted a workplace survey that revealed clogged showers, rats in the locker room — and some insights for those of us who don’t play football. Today we’re updating that episode, with extra commentary from Omnipresent Football Guy (and former Philadelphia Eagle) Jason Kelce. 

• SOURCES:
  • Tom Garfinkel, vice chairman, C.E.O., and president of the Miami Dolphins.
  • Jim Ivler, certified contract advisor for players in the National Football League.
  • Jason Kelce, host of New Heights podcast and former center for the Philadelphia Eagles.
  • Jalen Reeves-Maybin, linebacker for the Detroit Lions and president of the National Football League Players Association.
  • Betsey Stevenson, professor of public policy and economics at the University of Michigan.
  • J.C. Tretter, former president of the National Football League Players Association and former offensive lineman.
  • Mark Wilf, owner and president of the Minnesota Vikings.

• RESOURCES:
  • “N.F.L. Player Team Report Cards,” by the National Football League Players Association (2024).
  • "NFLPA team report cards: Dolphins rank No. 1; Jaguars jump from 28th to fifth; Commanders earn worst grade," by Jonathan Jones (CBS Sports, 2024).
  • Kelce, documentary (2023).
  • “The N.F.L. Cast Him Out; He Says That Only Makes Him More Powerful,” by Alex Prewitt (Sports Illustrated, 2022).
  • New Heights with Jason and Travis Kelce, (produced by Wave Sports + Entertainment).

• EXTRAS:
  • "Why Don’t Running Backs Get Paid Anymore?" by Freakonomics Radio (2025)
  • “How Does Playing Football Affect Your Health?” by Freakonomics, M.D. (2023).
  • “Why Does the Most Monotonous Job in the World Pay $1 Million?” by Freakonomics Radio (2022).

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They used to be the N.F.L.’s biggest stars, with paychecks to match. Now their salaries are near the bottom, and their careers are shorter than ever. We speak with an analytics guru, an agent, some former running backs (including LeSean McCoy), and the economist Roland Fryer (a former Pop Warner running back himself) to understand why.

• SOURCES:
  • Brian Burke, sports data scientist at ESPN
  • Roland Fryer, professor of economics at Harvard University
  • LeSean McCoy, former running back in the N.F.L. and co-host for Fox's daily studio show, "The Facility"
  • Robert Smith, former running back for the Minnesota Vikings and N.F.L. analyst
  • Robert Turbin, former running back, N.F.L. analyst for CBS Sports HQ, and college football announcer
  • Jeffery Whitney, founder and president at The Sports & Entertainment Group

• RESOURCES:
  • "The Economics of Running Backs," by Roland Fryer (Wall Street Journal, 2024)
  • "Confessions of a Hero-Worshiper," by Stephen Dubner (2007)
  • "The Rest of the Iceberg: An Insider’s View on the World of Sports and Celebrity," by Robert Smith (2004)

• EXTRAS:
  • "Roland Fryer Refuses to Lie to Black America," by Freakonomics Radio (2022)
  • "Why Does the Most Monotonous Job in the World Pay $1 Million?" by Freakonomics Radio (2022)

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When the computer scientist Ben Zhao learned that artists were having their work stolen by A.I. models, he invented a tool to thwart the machines. He also knows how to foil an eavesdropping Alexa and how to guard your online footprint. The big news, he says, is that the A.I. bubble is bursting.

• SOURCES:
  • Erik Brynjolfsson, professor of economics at Stanford University
  • Ben Zhao, professor of computer science at the University of Chicago

• RESOURCES:
  • "The AI lab waging a guerrilla war over exploitative AI," by Melissa Heikkilä (MIT Technology Review, 2024)
  • "Glaze: Protecting Artists from Style Mimicry by Text-to-Image Models," by Shawn Shan, Jenna Cryan, Emily Wenger, Haitao Zheng, Rana Hanocka, and Ben Y. Zhao (Cornell University, 2023)
  • "Nightshade: Prompt-Specific Poisoning Attacks on Text-to-Image Generative Models," by Shawn Shan, Wenxin Ding, Josephine Passananti, Stanley Wu, Haitao Zheng, and Ben Y. Zhao (Cornell University, 2023)
  • "A Brief History of Artificial Intelligence: What It Is, Where We Are, and Where We Are Going," by Michael Woodridge (2021)

• EXTRAS:
  • "Nuclear Power Isn’t Perfect. Is It Good Enough?" by Freakonomics Radio (2022)

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Stephen Dubner, live on stage, mixes it up with outbound mayor London Breed, and asks economists whether A.I. can be “human-centered” and if Tang is a gateway drug.

• SOURCES:
  • London Breed, former mayor of San Francisco.
  • Erik Brynjolfsson, professor of economics at Stanford University
  • Koleman Strumpf, professor of economics at Wake Forest University

• RESOURCES:
  • "SF crime rate at lowest point in more than 20 years, mayor says," by George Kelly (The San Francisco Standard, 2025)
  • "How the Trump Whale and Prediction Markets Beat the Pollsters in 2024," by Niall Ferguson and Manny Rincon-Cruz (Wall Street Journal, 2024)
  • "Artificial Intelligence, Scientific Discovery, and Product Innovation," by Aidan Toner-Rodgers (MIT Department of Economics, 2024)

• EXTRAS:
  • "Why Are Cities (Still) So Expensive?" by Freakonomics Radio (2020)

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Their trade organization just lost a huge lawsuit. Their infamous commission model is under attack. And there are way too many of them. If they go the way of travel agents, will we miss them when they’re gone?

• SOURCES:
  • Sonia Gilbukh, assistant professor of real estate at CUNY Baruch College.
  • Kevin Sears, 2025 president of the National Association of Realtors.
  • Chad Syverson, professor of economics at the University of Chicago.
  • Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the National Association of Realtors.

• RESOURCES:
  • "Heterogeneous Real Estate Agents and the Housing Cycle," by Sonia Gilbukh and Paul Goldsmith-Pinkham (NBER Working Paper, 2024).
  • "Real Estate Commissions and Homebuying," by Borys Grochulski and Zhu Wang (Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond Working Paper, 2024).
  • "The Relationship Between Home Prices and Real Estate Commission Rates: Implications for Consumers and Public Policy," by Stephen Brobeck (Consumer Federation of America, 2022).
  • "The Relationship of Residential Real Estate Commission Rate to Industry Structure and Culture," by Stephen Brobeck (Consumer Federation of America, 2021).
  • "Competition in the Real Estate Brokerage Industry: A Critical Review," by Panle Jia Barwick and Maisy Wong (Economic Studies at Brookings, 2019).
  • "Hidden Real Estate Commissions: Consumer Costs and Improved Transparency," by Stephen Brobeck (Consumer Federation of America, 2019).
  • "Market Distortions when Agents are Better Informed: The Value of Information in Real Estate Transactions," by Steven D. Levitt and Chad Syverson (NBER Working Paper, 2005).
  • The Residential Real Estate Brokerage Industry, staff report by the Los Angeles Regional Office of the Federal Trade Commission (1983).

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Like tens of millions of people, Stephen Dubner thought he had a penicillin allergy. Like the vast majority, he didn’t. This misdiagnosis costs billions of dollars and causes serious health problems, so why hasn’t it been fixed? And how about all the other things we think we’re allergic to?

• SOURCES:
  • Kimberly Blumenthal, allergist-immunologist and researcher at Mass General Hospital and Harvard Medical School.
  • Theresa MacPhail, associate professor of science and technology studies at Stevens Institute of Technology.
  • Thomas Platts-Mills, professor of medicine at the University of Virginia.
  • Elena Resnick, allergist and immunologist at Mount Sinai Hospital.

• RESOURCES:
  • Allergic: Our Irritated Bodies in a Changing World, by Theresa MacPhail (2023).
  • "Evaluation and Management of Penicillin Allergy: A Review," by Erica S. Shenoy, Eric Macy, and Theresa Rowe (JAMA, 2019).
  • "The Allergy Epidemics: 1870–2010," by Thomas Platts-Mills (The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, 2016).
  • "Randomized Trial of Peanut Consumption in Infants at Risk for Peanut Allergy," by George Du Toit, Graham Roberts, et al. (The New England Journal of Medicine, 2015).

• EXTRAS:
  • Freakonomics, M.D.

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Incarcerated people grow crops, fight wildfires, and manufacture everything from prescription glasses to highway signs — often for pennies an hour. Zachary Crockett takes the next exit, in this special episode of The Economics of Everyday Things.

• SOURCES:
  • Laura Appleman, professor of law at Willamette University.
  • Christopher Barnes, inmate at the Franklin Correctional Center.
  • Lee Blackman, general manager at Correction Enterprises.
  • Gene Hawkins, senior principal engineer at Kittelson and professor emeritus of civil engineering at Texas A&M University.
  • Renee Roach, state signing and delineation engineer for the North Carolina Department of Transportation.
  • Brian Scott, ex-inmate, former worker at the Correction Enterprises printing plant.
  • Louis Southall, warden of Franklin Correctional Center.

• RESOURCES:
  • “Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices for Streets and Highways, 11th Edition,” by the U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration (2023).
  • “Prisoners in the U.S. Are Part of a Hidden Workforce Linked to Hundreds of Popular Food Brands,” by Robin McDowell and Margie Mason (AP News, 2024).
  • “Ex-Prisoners Face Headwinds as Job Seekers, Even as Openings Abound,” by Talmon Joseph Smith (The New York Times, 2023).
  • “Bloody Lucre: Carceral Labor and Prison Profit,” by Laura Appleman (Wisconsin Law Review, 2022).
  • “The Road to Clarity,” by Joshua Yaffa (The New York Times Magazine, 2007).
  • Correction Enterprises.

• EXTRAS:
  • “Do People Pay Attention to Signs?” by No Stupid Questions (2022).
  • The Economics of Everyday Things.

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Probably not — the incentives are too strong. But a few reformers are trying. We check in on their progress, in an update to an episode originally published last year. (Part 2 of 2)

• SOURCES:
  • Max Bazerman, professor of business administration at Harvard Business School.
  • Leif Nelson, professor of business administration at the University of California, Berkeley Haas School of Business.
  • Brian Nosek, professor of psychology at the University of Virginia and executive director at the Center for Open Science.
  • Ivan Oransky, distinguished journalist-in-residence at New York University, editor-in-chief of The Transmitter, and co-founder of Retraction Watch.
  • Joseph Simmons, professor of applied statistics and operations, information, and decisions at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.
  • Uri Simonsohn, professor of behavioral science at Esade Business School.
  • Simine Vazire, professor of psychology at the University of Melbourne and editor-in-chief of Psychological Science.

• RESOURCES:
  • "How a Scientific Dispute Spiralled Into a Defamation Lawsuit," by Gideon Lewis-Kraus (The New Yorker, 2024).
  • "The Harvard Professor and the Bloggers," by Noam Scheiber (The New York Times, 2023).
  • "They Studied Dishonesty. Was Their Work a Lie?" by Gideon Lewis-Kraus (The New Yorker, 2023).
  • "Evolving Patterns of Extremely Productive Publishing Behavior Across Science," by John P.A. Ioannidis, Thomas A. Collins, and Jeroen Baas (bioRxiv, 2023).
  • "Hindawi Reveals Process for Retracting More Than 8,000 Paper Mill Articles," (Retraction Watch, 2023).
  • "Exclusive: Russian Site Says It Has Brokered Authorships for More Than 10,000 Researchers," (Retraction Watch, 2019).
  • "How Many Scientists Fabricate and Falsify Research? A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Survey Data," by Daniele Fanelli (PLOS One, 2009).
  • Lifecycle Journal.

• EXTRAS:
  • "Why Is There So Much Fraud in Academia? (Update)" by Freakonomics Radio (2024).
  • "Freakonomics Goes to College, Part 1," by Freakonomics Radio (2012).

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