446. “We Get All Our Great Stuff from Europe ...

They say they make companies more efficient through savvy management. Critics say they bend the rules to enrich themselves at the expense of consumers and employees. Can they both be right? (Probably not.) SOURCES:Brendan Ballou, C.E.O. of the Public Integrity Project.Dan Glickbe ...  Show more

David Rubenstein, a product of the old bipartisan D.C., made his fortune in private equity. He’s been spending it on “patriotic philanthropy” and institutions like the Kennedy Center, where Trump fired him as chairman. Now he wonders if the center can hold. SOURCES:David Rubenste ...  Show more

Steve Levitt has spent decades as an academic economist, “studying strange phenomena and human behavior in weird circumstances.” Now he’s turning his curiosity to something new: interviewing some of the most interesting, unorthodox people around — from actresses to athletes, a ...

Once upon a time, Bapu Jena was a graduate student at the University of Chicago. His most interesting teacher? The economist Steve Levitt. This week on Freakonomics, M.D., a replay of a conversation between Steve and Bapu from Steve’s podcast, People I (Mostly) Admire, where they ...  Show more

For millennia, humans have created artifacts of their lives—from art, to books, to music. This hour, we explore ideas about capturing the ephemeral human experience for future generations to find. Guests include paleoanthropologist Genevieve von Petzinger, museum curator Ariana C ...  Show more

For millennia, humans have created artifacts of their lives — from art, to books, to music. This hour, we explore ideas about capturing the ephemeral human experience for future generations to find. Guests include paleoanthropologist Genevieve von Petzinger, museum curator Ariana ...  Show more