Freakonomics Radio

There are enough management consultants these days to form a small nation. But what do they actually do? And does it work?

Adding more train and bus lines looks like an environmental slam dunk. Until you start to do the math.

Turkey sex and chicken wings, selling souls and swapping organs, the power of the president and the price of wine: these are a few of our favorite things.

Is it as simple as going to the richest neighborhood you can find? Of course not ...

Politicians tell voters exactly what they want to hear, even when it makes no sense. Which is pretty much all the time.

We rely on polls and surveys to tell us how people will behave in the future. Too bad they're completely unreliable.

When you want to get rid of a nasty pest, one obvious solution comes to mind: just offer a cash reward. But be careful -- because nothing backfires quite like a bounty.

Sure, we love our computers and all the rest of our digital toys. But when it comes to real economic gains, can we ever match old-school innovations like the automobile and electricity?

Trying to go rustic by baking, brewing, and knitting at home can be terribly inefficient. And that's a wonderful thing.

The data show that poker is indeed a game of skill, not chance, and a Federal judge agrees. So why are players still being treated like criminals?