51 episodes
The Economics of Everyday Things Freakonomics Radio
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- Business
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4.8 • 1.1K Ratings
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Who decides which snacks are in your office’s vending machine? How much is a suburban elm tree worth, and to whom? How did Girl Scout Cookies become a billion-dollar business? In bite-sized episodes, journalist Zachary Crockett looks at quotidian things and finds amazing stories.
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45. Storage Units
Americans love to buy new stuff and hate to get rid of old stuff, which is why storing it all has become a $45 billion business. Zachary Crockett cleans out the garage.
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44. Movie Sound Effects
The background noises you hear in film and TV — from footsteps to zombie guts — are produced in specialized studios by professionals known as Foley artists. Zachary Crockett makes some noise.
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43. Top-Level Domains
Those letters at the end of web addresses can mean big bucks — and, for some small countries, a substantial part of the national budget. Zachary Crockett follows the links.
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42. Cemeteries
The verdant lawns promise everlasting rest — but what does it mean to sign a lease for all eternity? Zachary Crockett finds out where the bodies are buried.
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41. Pet Movers
Relocating halfway across the world is hard enough for humans. For pets it can require a specialist. Zachary Crockett waits at the airport, holding a sign saying "Fluffy."
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40. Prosthetic Limbs
More and more Americans rely on prostheses. They’re custom-fitted, highly personal, and extremely expensive. Zachary Crockett investigates.
Customer Reviews
Answers to so many of my random internal questions
Love this podcast! It succinctly answers many of the questions that have quickly passed through my mind during my day-to-day life, and it also answers so many of the questions I’ve never even thought to ask. Highly recommend!
Good Podcast, Bad Name
This podcast is interesting and well-written. The title is just not appropriate for the content. Most episodes are about rare or niche things, definitely not everyday things.
We miss Bepu
This podcast is so general that it is worthless. You THINK you are getting some nugget of wisdom but it is another airball.
On the episode about animal urine there wasn’t much discussion of the conditions for the animals whose urine was collected. This is unconscionable and tacitly supports inhumane treatment of animals. I have to come down hard against this podcast. We don’t have a grudge against the host, Zachary Crockett, but we do object to Dubner’s churn—killing perfectly fine shows and hosts (and sometimes superior ones like Bapu Jena), just to show Leavitt that he can quit things, too. Maybe it is time for the Freakonomics management to step in to prevent Dubner from emulating Musk. After listening to the most recent episode, it seems that just when the information is getting deep enough and interesting, the show abruptly ends.