Freakonomics

Black-Market Breast Milk

By FREAKONOMICS — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 06:42:53 PST

Australian mothers pay up to $1,000 for it on the Internet due to the country's shortage of breast-milk banks, the Courier Mail reports.

Captain Steve Answers More of Your Airline Questions

By STEPHEN J. DUBNER — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 10:18:00 PST

For a few months now, we've been soliciting reader questions for Captain Steve, a pilot with a major U.S. airline. You can find his first few batches of answers here, and he's back now with another round. You can leave new questions for him in the comments section below.

Reflections on Paul Samuelson

By FREAKONOMICS — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 07:17:16 PST

The great Paul Samuelson passed away last weekend at the age of 94, and several economists have now written about his life and work...

Hayek vs. Keynes: The Hip-Hop Version

By STEVEN D. LEVITT — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 10:46:11 PST

The Economix blog links to a PBS Newshour piece that includes two discussions of the current macroeconomics debate -- one between talking heads, and the other in the form of economics hip hop (a genre we've reported on previously).

Where Has All the Viagra Spam Gone?

By DANIEL HAMERMESH — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 09:12:05 PST

Same for Nigerians seeking to transfer millions of dollars to me (if I give them my bank account number). I haven't gotten one of these in a year, after often getting several a day. I assume that the spammers realized that the return per period of time -- the price of the activity -- was less than its marginal cost: the opportunity cost of their time.

Nathan Myhrvold on Geoengineering (and Penguin Poo)

By STEVEN D. LEVITT — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 07:50:07 PST

And, Nathan being Nathan, there is a brief discussion of penguin poo.

Are the Lakers a Sure Thing?

By FREAKONOMICS — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 12:00:32 PST

For the 20-year period ending in 2007, the Los Angeles Lakers' NBA championship record did a surprisingly good job of reflecting the stock market.

The Rights to a View

By DANIEL HAMERMESH — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 10:30:47 PST

Who owns the rights to an air space and to a view? What are property rights in such cases? An article in our local paper discusses complaints of residents in a luxury condo complex who are insisting that the City Council help pay the $75,000 it would cost an outdoor advertiser to move a billboard that blocks their view and lowers their property values.

When Statisticians Stink at Darts

By FREAKONOMICS — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 09:30:12 PST

What was Stanford statistics student Ryan Tibshirani to do when his buddies kept beating him at darts?

Death and Taxes, Slightly Less Certain

By STEPHEN J. DUBNER — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 07:56:49 PST

The second chapter of SuperFreakonomics, which is primarily about catching terrorists and running an emergency room, includes a few passages about the timing quirks of births and deaths.

A Naked Self-Promotion Roundup

By FREAKONOMICS — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 08:49:42 PST

If you're in Times Square on Saturday, Dec. 19, keep an eye out for SuperFreakonomics on the Dow Jones news zipper. A piece of Freakonomics schwag will go to the first person who sends us a photo of the book's name up in lights.

Worth the Wait?

By ERIC A. MORRIS — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 10:52:24 PST

Waiting may be fun when it involves opening Christmas presents or paying off your credit cards, but waiting for the bus is a miserable experience pretty much any way you look at it. Long waits are one of the most important -- perhaps the most important -- barriers deterring Americans from riding mass transit.

Quotes Uncovered: Violence and Enemies

By FRED SHAPIRO — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 10:01:20 PST

Each week, I've been inviting readers to submit quotations for which they want me to try to trace the origin, using The Yale Book of Quotations and my own research. Here is the latest round.

What to Get an Economist for Christmas?

By STEPHEN J. DUBNER — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 07:39:59 PST

Christmas and economists go together like - well, like drinking and walking. Joel Waldfogel, the economist who is famous for highlighting the deadweight loss of gift-giving, has a new book out called Scroogenomics: Why You Shouldn't Buy Presents for the Holidays.

Cool Down on the CT Scanning?

By FREAKONOMICS — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 06:41:00 PST

As the L.A. Times reports, two new studies, from researchers at the University of California-San Francisco and the National Cancer Institute, suggest that hospitals may want to cut down on the volume of CT scans.