Freakonomics Radio

653. Does Horse Racing Have a Future?

Thoroughbred auction prices keep setting records. But tracks are closing, gambling revenues are falling, and the sport is increasingly reliant on subsidies. Is that the kind of long shot anybody wants? (Part three of a series, “The Horse Is Us [https://freakonomics.com/the-horse-is-us/].”)   * SOURCES: * Anne Archer Hinkle [https://www.hinklefarms.com/our-team.html], owner and director of Hinkle Farms. * Cormac Breathnach [https://www.keeneland.com/sales/sales-directory/], senior director of sales operations at Keeneland. * Emily Plant [https://emilyjplant.com/about/], thoroughbred researcher and statistician, associate professor of marketing at the University of Montana. * Mark Taylor [https://taylormadefarm.com/], president of Taylor Made Farm. * Marshall Gramm [https://www.rhodes.edu/bio/marshall-gramm], horse player, professor of economics at Rhodes College in Memphis, Tennessee. * Richard Migliore [https://www.equibase.com/profiles/Results.cfm?type=People&searchType=J&eID=1269&rbt=TB], head racing analyst for Fox Sports and New York Racing Association, retired jockey. * Sean Feld [https://feldfamilyracing.com/about-us/], bloodstock agent. * Scott Heider, managing principal of Chartwell Capital, thoroughbred investor. * Thomas Lambert [https://www.americangaming.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/AGA-State-of-the-States-2025.pdf], economist at the University of Louisville.   * RESOURCES: * Death of a Racehorse: An American Story [https://amzn.to/4oJ7gQa], by Katie Bo Lillis (2025). * "State of the States 2025: The AGA Analysis of the Commercial Casino Industry [https://www.americangaming.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/AGA-State-of-the-States-2025.pdf]," (American Gaming Association, 2025). * "An Empirical Analysis of Reputation Effects and Network Centrality in a Multi-Agency Context [https://uknowledge.uky.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?params=/context/gradschool_diss/article/1016/&path_info=emily_plant.pdf]," by Emily Plant (University of Kentucky, 2010). * Calculated Bets: Computers, Gambling, and Mathematical Modeling to Win (Outlooks) [https://amzn.to/4oBzNXA], by Steven Skiena (2001). * Bill Oppenheim and Emily Plant's Thoroughbred Market Reports [https://billoppenheim.com/tmr/]. * Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority [https://hisaus.org/]. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com [https://pcm.adswizz.com] for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

What Happens When You Turn 20

The world has changed a good bit since Freakonomics was first published. In this live anniversary episode, Stephen Dubner tells Geoff Bennett of PBS NewsHour everything he has learned since then. Happy birthday, Freakonomics.   * SOURCES: * Geoff Bennett [https://www.pbs.org/newshour/author/geoff-bennett], co-anchor and co-managing editor of PBS News Hour.   * RESOURCES: * Freakonomics Twentieth Anniversary Edition: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything [https://amzn.to/4nMhL3G], by Stephen Dubner and Steve Levitt (2025). Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com [https://pcm.adswizz.com] for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

652. Inside the Horse-Industrial Complex

How does Kentucky keep itself atop the thoroughbred industry? Is a champion stallion really worth $200,000 per date? And how many hands can one jockey have? (Part two of a series, “The Horse Is Us. [https://freakonomics.com/the-horse-is-us/]”)   * SOURCES: * Emily Plant [https://emilyjplant.com/about/], thoroughbred researcher and statistician. * Jill Stowe [https://agecon.mgcafe.uky.edu/directory/jill-stowe], professor of economics at the University of Kentucky. * Mark Taylor [https://taylormadefarm.com/], president of Taylor Made Farm. * Oscar Gonzalez [https://www.chrb.ca.gov/board_members.html], vice chair of the California Horse Racing Board. * Richard Migliore [https://www.equibase.com/profiles/Results.cfm?type=People&searchType=J&eID=1269&rbt=TB], head racing analyst for Fox Sports and New York Racing Association, retired jockey.   * RESOURCES: * "Horse racing industry braces for crackdown on illegal immigration [https://www.npr.org/2025/05/19/nx-s1-5385010/trump-immigration-enforcement-horse-racing]," by Ximena Bustillo (NPR, 2025). * "Conceptualizing the Kentucky Horse Industry as an Economic Cluster [https://elcr.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/EconomicClustersFINAL.pdf]," by Lori Garkovich (Bluegrass Equine Digest, 2009). Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com [https://pcm.adswizz.com] for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

651. The Ultimate Dance Partner

For most of human history, horsepower made the world go. Then came the machines. So why are there still seven million horses in America? (Part one of a series, “The Horse Is Us [https://freakonomics.com/the-horse-is-us/].”)   * SOURCES: * Ann N. Greene [https://philadelphiaencyclopedia.org/authors/ann-norton-greene/], historian of 19th century America, retired professor at the University of Pennsylvania. * Constance Hunter [https://www.eiu.com/n/people/constance-hunter/], chief economist at the Economist Intelligence Unit. * Elizabeth Bortuzzo, professional horse rider. * Mark Paul [https://bloustein.rutgers.edu/people/paul/], professor of economics at Rutgers University. * Peter Frankopan [https://www.peterfrankopan.com/], professor of global history at Oxford History.   * RESOURCES: * "2023 Economic Impact Study of the U.S. Horse Industry [https://drive.google.com/file/d/1wNEqiJ6rpx3KzwqE0nUtq55TLzHQQsxk/view]," (American Horse Council Foundation, 2024). * Riding to Arms [https://amzn.to/4ns7wRR], by Charles Caramello (2022). * The Horse in the City [https://amzn.to/49zWWVA], by Clay McShane and Joel Tarr (2011). * Horses at Work [https://amzn.to/3Wt1qWz], by Ann Norton Greene (2008). Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com [https://pcm.adswizz.com] for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Are Two C.E.O.s Better Than One? (Update)

Spotify, Oracle, and Comcast have each recently announced they’re going with co-C.E.O.s. In this 2023 episode, we dig into the research and hear firsthand stories of triumph and disaster. Also: lessons from computer programmers, Simon and Garfunkel, and bears versus alligators.     * SOURCES: * Jim Balsillie [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Balsillie], retired chairman and co-C.E.O. of Research In Motion. * Mike Cannon-Brookes [https://www.linkedin.com/in/mcannonbrookes/?originalSubdomain=au], co-founder and C.E.O. of Atlassian. * Scott Farquhar [https://www.linkedin.com/in/scottfarquhar/?originalSubdomain=au], co-founder and former co-C.E.O. of Atlassian. * Marc Feigen [https://feigenadvisors.com/team/profile/marc-a-feigen/], C.E.O. advisor. * Jeffrey Sonnenfeld [https://som.yale.edu/faculty-research/faculty-directory/jeffrey-sonnenfeld], professor of management studies and senior associate dean at the Yale School of Management and founding president of the Chief Executive Leadership Institute. * Laurie Williams [https://collaboration.csc.ncsu.edu/laurie/index.html], professor of computer science at North Carolina State University.   * RESOURCES: * "Scott Farquhar to resign as joint CEO of Atlassian [https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2024/apr/26/scott-farquhar-to-resign-as-joint-ceo-of-atlassian]," by Jonathan Barrett (The Guardian, 2024). * "Is It Time to Consider Co-C.E.O.s? [https://hbr.org/2022/07/is-it-time-to-consider-co-ceos]" by Marc A. Feigen, Michael Jenkins, and Anton Warendh (Harvard Business Review, 2022). * "The Costs and Benefits of Pair Programming [https://collaboration.csc.ncsu.edu/laurie/Papers/XPSardinia.PDF]," by Alistair Cockburn and Laurie Williams (2000). * "Strengthening the Case for Pair Programming [https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/854064]," by Laurie Williams, Robert R. Kessler, Ward Cunningham, and Ron Jeffries (IEEE Software, 2000).   * EXTRAS: * "The Secret Life of a C.E.O. [https://freakonomics.com/podcast-tag/the-secret-life-of-c-e-o-s/]," series by Freakonomics Radio (2018). Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com [https://pcm.adswizz.com] for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.