Freakonomics Radio

Just beneath the surface of the global economy, there is a hidden layer of dealmakers for whom war, chaos, and sanctions can be a great business opportunity. Javier Blas and Jack Farchy, the authors of The World for Sale, help us shine a light on the shadowy realm of commodity traders.   * SOURCES: * Javier Blas [https://www.bloomberg.com/authors/ASIsQsgx0V8/javier-blas?sref=6DPKmIax], opinion columnist at Bloomberg News. * Jack Farchy [https://www.linkedin.com/in/jack-farchy-5a3a6723/?originalSubdomain=uk], energy and commodities senior reporter at Bloomberg News.   * RESOURCES: * The World For Sale: Money, Power, and the Traders Who Barter the Earth's Resources [https://amzn.to/438t0fN], by Javier Blas and Jack Farchy (2021) * The King of Oil: The Secret Lives of Marc Rich [https://amzn.to/3Fjj7To], by Daniel Ammann (2010).   * EXTRAS: * "How the Supermarket Helped America Win the Cold War (Update) [https://freakonomics.com/podcast/how-the-supermarket-helped-america-win-the-cold-war-update/]" by Freakonomics Radio (2024). * "The First Great American Industry [https://freakonomics.com/podcast/the-first-great-american-industry/]," by Freakonomics Radio (2023).

Everyone makes mistakes. How do we learn from them? Lessons from the classroom, the Air Force, and the world’s deadliest infectious disease.   * SOURCES: * Will Coleman [https://www.linkedin.com/in/will-coleman/], founder and C.E.O. of Alto. * Amy Edmondson [https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/profile.aspx?facId=6451], professor of leadership management at Harvard Business School. * Babak Javid [https://tb.ucsf.edu/people/babak-javid-mb-phd], physician-scientist and associate director of the University of California, San Francisco Center for Tuberculosis. * Gary Klein [https://www.gary-klein.com/welcome], cognitive psychologist and pioneer in the field of naturalistic decision making. * Theresa MacPhail [https://theresamacphail.com/], medical anthropologist and associate professor of science & technology studies at the Stevens Institute of Technology. * Roy Shalem [https://english.tau.ac.il/profile/shalemro], lecturer at Tel Aviv University. * Samuel West [https://www.linkedin.com/in/samuelwest/?originalSubdomain=es], curator and founder of The Museum of Failure.   * RESOURCES: * "A Golf Club Urinal, Colgate Lasagna and the Bitter Fight Over the Museum of Failure [https://www.wsj.com/arts-culture/museum-of-failure-samuel-west-martin-biallas-7c1dfdcf?mod=hp_featst_pos3]," by Zusha Elinson (Wall Street Journal, 2025). * Right Kind of Wrong: The Science of Failing Well [https://amzn.to/45mpkoA], by Amy Edmondson (2023). * “You Think Failure Is Hard? So Is Learning From It [https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/17456916211059817],” by Lauren Eskreis-Winkler and Ayelet Fishbach (Perspectives on Psychological Science, 2022). * “The Market for R&D Failures [https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1547268],” by Manuel Trajtenberg and Roy Shalem (SSRN, 2010). * “Performing a Project Premortem [https://cltr.nl/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Project-Pre-Mortem-HBR-Gary-Klein.pdf],” by Gary Klein (Harvard Business Review, 2007).   * EXTRAS: * "The Deadliest Disease in Human History [https://freakonomics.com/podcast/the-deadliest-disease-in-human-history/]," by People I (Mostly) Admire (2025). * “How to Succeed at Failing [https://freakonomics.com/podcast-tag/how-to-succeed-at-failing/],” series by Freakonomics Radio (2023). * “Moncef Slaoui: ‘It’s Unfortunate That It Takes a Crisis for This to Happen [https://freakonomics.com/podcast/moncef-slaoui-its-unfortunate-that-it-takes-a-crisis-for-this-to-happen/],'” by People I (Mostly) Admire (2020).

Giving up can be painful. That's why we need to talk about it. Today: stories about glitchy apps, leaky paint cans, broken sculptures — and a quest for the perfect bowl of ramen.   * SOURCES: * John Boykin [https://applegatellc.com/john/], website designer and failed paint can re-inventor. * Angela Duckworth [https://angeladuckworth.com/], host of No Stupid Questions, co-founder of Character Lab, and professor of psychology at the University of Pennsylvania. * Amy Edmondson [https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/profile.aspx?facId=6451], professor of leadership management at Harvard Business School. * Helen Fisher [https://helenfisher.com/], former senior research fellow at The Kinsey Institute and former chief science advisor to Match.com. * Eric von Hippel, [https://evhippel.mit.edu/] professor of technological innovation at M.I.T.’s Sloan School of Management. * Jill Hoffman [https://www.linkedin.com/in/jillrutanhoffman/], founder and C.E.O. of Path 2 Flight. * Gary Klein [https://www.gary-klein.com/welcome], cognitive psychologist and pioneer in the field of naturalistic decision making. * Steve Levitt [https://pricetheory.uchicago.edu/levitt/], host of People I (Mostly) Admire, co-author of the Freakonomics books, and professor of economics at the University of Chicago. * Joseph O’Connell [https://www.josephoconnell.art/], artist. * Mike Ridgeman [https://www.linkedin.com/in/mike-ridgeman-211428248], government affairs manager at the Wisconsin Bike Fed. * Melanie Stefan [http://melaniestefan.net/], professor of physiology at Medical School Berlin. * Travis Thul [https://www.linkedin.com/in/travismthul/], vice president for Student Success and Engagement at Minnesota State University, Mankato.   * RESOURCES: * “Data Snapshot: Tenure and Contingency in US Higher Education [https://www.aaup.org/sites/default/files/AAUP%20Data%20Snapshot.pdf],” by Glenn Colby (American Association of University Professors, 2023). * Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance [https://amzn.to/3SejjaI], by Angela Duckworth (2016). * “Entrepreneurship and the U.S. Economy [https://www.bls.gov/bdm/entrepreneurship/bdm_chart3.htm],” by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (2016). * “A C.V. of Failures [https://www.nature.com/articles/nj7322-467a],” by Melanie Stefan (Nature, 2010). * Ramen Now! [http://www.theramennow.com/] official website.   * EXTRAS:  * “How to Succeed at Failing [https://freakonomics.com/podcast-tag/how-to-succeed-at-failing/],” series by Freakonomics Radio (2023). * “Annie Duke Thinks You Should Quit [https://freakonomics.com/podcast/annie-duke-thinks-you-should-quit/],” by People I (Mostly) Admire (2022). * “How Do You Know When It’s Time to Quit? [https://freakonomics.com/podcast/how-do-you-know-when-its-time-to-quit-nsq-ep-29/]” by No Stupid Questions (2020). * “Honey, I Grew the Economy, [https://freakonomics.com/podcast/honey-i-grew-the-economy/]” by Freakonomics Radio (2019). * “The Upside of Quitting [https://freakonomics.com/podcast/the-upside-of-quitting-3/],” by Freakonomics Radio (2011).

In medicine, failure can be catastrophic. It can also produce discoveries that save millions of lives. Tales from the front line, the lab, and the I.T. department.   * SOURCES: * Amy Edmondson [https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/profile.aspx?facId=6451], professor of leadership management at Harvard Business School. * Carole Hemmelgarn [https://gufaculty360.georgetown.edu/s/contact/0033600001MfbNuAAJ/carole-hemmelgarn], co-founder of Patients for Patient Safety U.S. and director of the Clinical Quality, Safety & Leadership Master’s program at Georgetown University. * Gary Klein [https://www.gary-klein.com/welcome], cognitive psychologist and pioneer in the field of naturalistic decision making. * Robert Langer [https://langerlab.mit.edu/langer-bio/], institute professor and head of the Langer Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. * John Van Reenen [https://www.lse.ac.uk/economics/people/faculty/john-van-reenen], professor at the London School of Economics.   * RESOURCES: * Right Kind of Wrong: The Science of Failing Well [https://amzn.to/45mpkoA], by Amy Edmondson (2023). * “Reconsidering the Application of Systems Thinking in Healthcare: The RaDonda Vaught Case [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9724400/],” by Connor Lusk, Elise DeForest, Gabriel Segarra, David M. Neyens, James H. Abernathy III, and Ken Catchpole (British Journal of Anaesthesia, 2022). * "Estimates of preventable hospital deaths are too high, new study shows [https://news.yale.edu/2020/01/28/estimates-preventable-hospital-deaths-are-too-high-new-study-shows]," by Bill Hathaway (Yale News, 2020). * “Dispelling the Myth That Organizations Learn From Failure [https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2776873],” by Jeffrey Ray (SSRN, 2016). * “A New, Evidence-Based Estimate of Patient Harms Associated With Hospital Care [https://journals.lww.com/journalpatientsafety/Fulltext/2013/09000/A_New,_Evidence_based_Estimate_of_Patient_Harms.2.aspx],” by John T. James (Journal of Patient Safety, 2013). * To Err is Human: Building a Safer Health System [https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25077248/], by the National Academy of Sciences (1999). * “Polymers for the Sustained Release of Proteins and Other Macromolecules [https://www.nature.com/articles/263797a0],” by Robert Langer and Judah Folkman (Nature, 1976). * The Innovation and Diffusion Podcast [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-innovation-and-diffusion-podcast/id1708817309], by John Van Reenen and Ruveyda Gozen.   * EXTRAS: * "The Curious, Brilliant, Vanishing Mr. Feynman [https://freakonomics.com/the-curious-brilliant-vanishing-mr-feynman/]," series by Freakonomics Radio (2024). * “Will a Covid-19 Vaccine Change the Future of Medical Research? [https://freakonomics.com/podcast/will-a-covid-19-vaccine-change-the-future-of-medical-research-ep-430/]” by Freakonomics Radio (2020). * “Bad Medicine, Part 3: Death by Diagnosis [https://freakonomics.com/podcast/bad-medicine-part-3-death-by-diagnosis/],” by Freakonomics Radio (2016).

We tend to think of tragedies as a single terrible moment, rather than the result of multiple bad decisions. Can this pattern be reversed? We try — with stories about wildfires, school shootings, and love.   * SOURCES: * Amy Edmondson [https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/profile.aspx?facId=6451], professor of leadership management at Harvard Business School. * Helen Fisher [https://helenfisher.com/], former senior research fellow at The Kinsey Institute and former chief science advisor to Match.com. * Ed Galea [https://www.gre.ac.uk/people/rep/faculty-of-engineering-and-science/ed-galea], founding director of the Fire Safety Engineering Group at the University of Greenwich. * Gary Klein [https://www.gary-klein.com/welcome], cognitive psychologist and pioneer in the field of naturalistic decision making. * David Riedman [https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-riedman/], founder of the K-12 School Shooting Database. * Aaron Stark [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aaron_Stark], head cashier at Lowe's and keynote speaker. * John Van Reenen [https://www.lse.ac.uk/economics/people/faculty/john-van-reenen], professor at the London School of Economics.   * RESOURCES: * "Ethan Crumbley: Parents of Michigan school gunman sentenced to at least 10 years [https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-68773119]," by Brandon Drenon (New York Times, 2024). * Right Kind of Wrong: The Science of Failing Well [https://amzn.to/45mpkoA], by Amy Edmondson (2023). * "How Fire Turned Lahaina Into a Death Trap [https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/15/us/hawaii-maui-lahaina-fire.html]," by Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs, Serge F. Kovaleski, Shawn Hubler, and Riley Mellen (The New York Times, 2023). * The Violence Project: How to Stop a Mass Shooting Epidemic [https://amzn.to/3rF24EF], by Jillian Peterson and James Densley (2021). * "I Was Almost A School Shooter [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azRl1dI-Cts]," by Aaron Stark (TEDxBoulder, 2018).   * EXTRAS:  * "Is Perfectionism Ruining Your Life? [https://freakonomics.com/podcast/is-perfectionism-ruining-your-life/]" by People I (Mostly) Admire (2023). * "Why Did You Marry That Person? [https://freakonomics.com/podcast/why-did-you-marry-that-person/]" by Freakonomics Radio (2022). * "What Do We Really Learn From Failure? [https://freakonomics.com/podcast/what-do-we-really-learn-from-failure/]" by No Stupid Questions (2021). * "How to Fail Like a Pro [https://freakonomics.com/podcast/how-to-fail-like-a-pro/]," by Freakonomics Radio (2019). * "Failure Is Your Friend [https://freakonomics.com/podcast/failure-is-your-friend-2/]," by Freakonomics Radio (2014).