Can Adam Smith Fix Our Economy?

Freakonomics Radio | 22 December 2022 | 0h 48m | Listen Later | Podcasts | Spotify
The final episode of the series on Adam Smith turns to “the father of economics” for solutions to such things as labour exploitation, corporate profiteering and Government corruption.

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Was Adam Smith Really a Right-Winger?

Freakonomics Radio | 15 December 2022 | 1h 11m | Listen Later | Podcasts | Spotify
Part 2 of a series on Adam Smith. Economists and politicians have turned Adam Smith into a mascot for free-market ideology. Some on the left say the right has badly misread him. Prepare for a very Smithy tug of war.

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In Search of the Real Adam Smith

Freakonomics Radio | 8 December 2022 | 0h 46m | Listen Later | Podcasts | Spotify
Freakonomics travels to Adam Smith’s hometown in Scotland to uncover the man behind the myth. Explores how an affable 18th-century “moral philosopher” become the patron saint of cutthroat capitalism and whether “the invisible hand” means what everyone thinks it does. (Part 1 of a series.)

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Did Michael Lewis Just Get Lucky with “Moneyball”?

Freakonomics Radio | 24 November 2022 | 0h 54m | Listen Later | Podcasts | Spotify
Interview with Michael Lewis about his book Moneyball on the twentieth anniversary of its publication. Discusses stories from the background of writing the book, and the role of luck in Lewis’s success.

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Why Are There So Many Bad Bosses?

Freakonomics Radio | 3 March 2022 | 0h 48m | Listen Later | Podcasts | Spotify
Backgrounds the Peter Principle: the tendency to promote people in hierarchies until they reach their level of incompetence. Considers the evidence on whether managers matter, explains why firms keep producing incompetent managers, and why that’s unlikely to change.

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Why Do Most Ideas Fail to Scale?

Freakonomics Radio | 24 February 2022 | 0h 48m | Listen Later | Podcasts | Spotify
Interview with John List about his book The Voltage Effect: How to Make Good Ideas Great and Great Ideas Scale. Discusses the factors to get right to ensure that promising trial results can successfully be replicated at scale.

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The Economist’s Guide to Parenting: 10 Years Later

Freakonomics Radio | 21 October 2021 | 0h 51m | Listen Later | iTunes | Spotify
Ten years ago Freakonomics asked a bunch of economists with young kids how they approached child-rearing (episode 39). This episode checks in with the children about their parents. It’s hilarious, covering nature versus nurture, capitalism versus Marxism, and why you sometimes don’t tell your friends that your father is an economist.

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