Freakonomics Radio

Soccer leagues around the world use a promotion-and-relegation system to reward the best teams and punish the worst. We ask whether American sports fans would enjoy a similar system. (Part two of a two-part series [https://freakonomics.com/podcast-tag/the-merger-you-never-knew-you-wanted/].)   * SOURCES: * Domonique Foxworth [https://x.com/foxworth24?lang=en], sports analyst and former N.F.L. player. * Stefan Szymanski [https://www.kines.umich.edu/directory/stefan-szymanski], professor of sport management at the University of Michigan. * Victor Matheson [https://www.holycross.edu/academics/people/victor-matheson], professor of economics at the College of the Holy Cross.   * RESOURCES: * "'Root, root, root for the home team" did TV kill minor league baseball in the 1950s? [https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=5579610]" by Stefan Szymanski (University of Michigan, 2025). * "European and North American Sports Differences (?): A Quarter Century on [https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-031-68479-1_8]," by Stefan Szymanski (Principles and Paradoxes of Sports Economics, 2024). * National Pastime: How Americans Play Baseball and the Rest of the World Plays Soccer [https://amzn.to/48mlSQ8], by Stefan Szymanski and Andrew Zimbalist (2006).   * EXTRAS: * "When Is a Superstar Just Another Employee? (Update) [https://freakonomics.com/podcast/when-is-a-superstar-just-another-employee-update/]," by Freakonomics Radio (2025). * "The Longest Long Shot [https://freakonomics.com/podcast/the-longest-long-shot/]," by Freakonomics Radio (2016). 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.

The N.F.L. is a powerful cartel with imperial desires. College football is about to undergo a financial reckoning. So maybe they should team up? (Part one of a two-part series.)   * SOURCES: * DeMaurice Smith [https://turfwarsbook.com/about-the-author], former executive director of the National Football League Players Association. * Domonique Foxworth [https://x.com/foxworth24?lang=en], sports analyst and former N.F.L. player. * Jeffrey Kessler [https://www.winston.com/en/who-we-are/attorneys/kessler-jeffrey-l.html], partner at the law firm of Winston & Strawn. * Oliver Luck [https://uacfootball.com/staff.aspx?staff=1], sports executive and consultant. * Victor Matheson [https://www.holycross.edu/academics/people/victor-matheson], professor of economics at the College of the Holy Cross.   * RESOURCES: * Turf Wars: The Fight for the Soul of America's Game [https://amzn.to/3Kt43ot], by DeMaurice Smith (2025). * "Is there a Case for Subsidizing Sports Stadiums? [https://media.clemson.edu/economics/data/sports/Stadiums%20and%20Econ%20Impact/Matheson-2019-Journal_of_Policy_Analysis_and_Management.pdf]" by Victor Matheson (Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, 2018).   * EXTRAS: * "America’s Hidden Duopoly [https://freakonomics.com/podcast/americas-hidden-duopoly-2/]," by Freakonomics Radio (2018). * "Should the U.S. Merge With Mexico? [https://freakonomics.com/podcast/should-the-u-s-merge-with-mexico/]" by Freakonomics Radio (2014). 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.

In this episode we first published in 2021, the political scientist Yuen Yuen Ang argues that different forms of government create different styles of corruption — and that the U.S. and China have more in common than we’d like to admit.   * SOURCES: * Yuen Yuen Ang [https://snfagora.jhu.edu/directory/yuen-yuen-ang/], professor of political science at Johns Hopkins University.   * RESOURCES: * "China’s Anti-Graft Show Is Educational, With Unintended Lessons [https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/09/business/china-corruption-documentary.html]," by Li Yuan (The New York Times, 2022). * China’s Gilded Age: The Paradox of Economic Boom and Vast Corruption [https://amzn.to/3jzVck9], by Yuen Yuen Ang (2020). * "A Fair Assessment of China’s IP Protection [https://www.project-syndicate.org/onpoint/china-ip-theft-myth-by-shang-jin-wei-and-xinding-yu-2019-12]," by Shang-Jin Wei and Xinding Yu (Project Syndicate, 2019). * The Bankers' New Clothes: What's Wrong with Banking and What to Do about It [https://amzn.to/3uCapY8], by Anat Admati (2013). * "A Fistful of Dollars: Lobbying and the Financial Crisis [https://www.nber.org/papers/w17076]," by Deniz Igan, Prachi Mishra, and Thierry Tressel (2011).   * EXTRAS: * "China Is Run by Engineers. America Is Run by Lawyers [https://freakonomics.com/podcast/china-is-run-by-engineers-america-is-run-by-lawyers/]." by Freakonomics Radio (2025). * American Culture series [https://freakonomics.com/podcast-tag/american-culture-series/] by Freakonomics Radio (2021). 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.

In his new book “Breakneck,” Dan Wang argues that the U.S. has a lot to learn from China. He also says that “no two peoples are more alike.” We have questions.   * SOURCES: * Dan Wang [https://danwang.co/about/], research fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, author of Breakneck: China's Quest to Engineer the Future.   * RESOURCES: * Breakneck: China's Quest to Engineer the Future [https://amzn.to/4mtxGTX], by Dan Wang (2025). * The Anaconda in the Chandelier: Writings on China [https://amzn.to/4nHlobM], by Perry Link (2025). * "Is the U.S. Ready for the Next War? [https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2025/07/21/is-the-us-ready-for-the-next-war]" by Dexter Filkins (The New Yorker, 2025). * "How smartphones made Shenzhen China’s innovation capital [https://www.vox.com/new-money/2016/11/4/13498504/shenzhen-smartphone-innovation-capital]," by Dan Wang (2016). * How China Escaped the Poverty Trap [https://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9781501764561/how-china-escaped-the-poverty-trap/], by Yuen Yuen Ang (2016). * The Art of Not Being Governed [https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300169171/the-art-of-not-being-governed/], by Jame Scott (2009).   * EXTRAS: * "The Engineering State and the Lawyerly Society: Dan Wang on his new book 'Breakneck [https://www.sinicapodcast.com/p/the-engineering-state-and-the-lawyerly],'" by the Sinica Podcast (2025). * "Is the U.S. Really Less Corrupt Than China? [https://freakonomics.com/podcast/is-the-u-s-really-less-corrupt-than-china/]" by Freakonomics Radio (2021). 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.

A lot of jobs in the modern economy don’t pay a living wage, and some of those jobs may be wiped out by new technologies. So what’s to be done? We revisit an episode from 2016 for a potential solution.   * SOURCES: * Erik Brynjolfsson [https://www.brynjolfsson.com/], professor of economics at Stanford University. * Evelyn Forget [https://umanitoba.ca/medicine/faculty-staff/evelyn-forget], professor of economics and community health sciences at the University of Manitoba. * Sam Altman [https://blog.samaltman.com/], C.E.O. of OpenAI. * Robert Gordon [https://economics.northwestern.edu/people/directory/robert-gordon.html], professor emeritus of economics at Northwestern University. * Greger Larson [https://www.arch.ox.ac.uk/people/larson-greger#tab-615061], professor of archeology at the University of Oxford.   * RESOURCES: * "Here's what a Sam Altman-backed basic income experiment found [https://www.cbsnews.com/news/sam-altman-universal-basic-income-study-open-research/]," by Megan Cerullo (CBS News, 2024). * Utopia for Realists, [https://thecorrespondent.com/utopia-for-realists/] by Rutger Bregman. The Correspondent (2016). * The Second Machine Age [https://www.amazon.com/The-Second-Machine-Age-Technologies/dp/0393239357/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&linkCode=sl1&tag=freakonomic08-20&linkId=2efae8813abd00df2f0242f64a3839c6], by Erik Brynjolfsson and Andrew McAfee (2014). * "The Town With No Poverty: Using Health Administration Data To Revisit Outcomes of a Canadian Guaranteed Annual Income Field Experiment [https://www.jstor.org/stable/23050182]," by Evelyn Forget (Canadian Public Policy, 2011). * "The Negative Income Tax and the Evolution of U.S. Welfare Policy [http://inequality.stanford.edu/_media/pdf/Reference%20Media/Moffitt_2003_Policy.pdf]," by Robert Moffitt (Journal of Economic Perspectives, 2003). * Capitalism and Freedom [http://www.amazon.com/Capitalism-Freedom-Fortieth-Anniversary-Edition/dp/0226264211], by Milton Freidman (2002). * "Lesson from the Income Maintenance Experiments [https://www.bostonfed.org/economic/conf/conf30/conf30.pdf]," (Federal Reserve Bank of Boston and The Brookings Institution, 1986). * Law, Legislation and Liberty, Volume 3: The Political Order of A Free People [http://www.amazon.com/Law-Legislation-Liberty-Volume-Political/dp/0226320901], by Frederick Hayek (1981). * "Daniel Moynihan and President-elect Nixon: How charity didn't begin at home [https://www.nytimes.com/books/98/10/04/specials/moynihan-income.html]," by Peter Passell and Leonard Ross (New York Times, 1973). * "Income Maintenance Programs [http://www.jec.senate.gov/reports/90th%20Congress/Income%20Maintenance%20Programs%20Volume%20II%20(423).pdf]," (Hearings Before The Subcommittee On Fiscal Policy Of The Joint Economic Committee Congress Of The United States, 1968).   * EXTRAS: * "President Nixon Unveils the Family Assistance Program [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vHYFzYvCak]," (1969). * "Milton Friedman interview with William F Buckley Jr [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xtpgkX588nM].," (1968). * "Martin Luther King Jr. advocates for Guaranteed Income at Stanford [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BY1OKSObkH0]," (1967). 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.