Book
SuperFreakonomics LP
- episodes
- 4
- podcasts
- 3
- person
- 1
- episodes recommend it
- 0
In Super Freakonomics, one of the books I wrote with economist Steve Levitt, we performed a rough calculation showing that if a Major League Baseball player has a son, that boy is about 800 times more likely than a random boy to also make the majors.
Where and when it comes up
Most episodes, by podcast
Why people recommend it
SuperFreakonomics by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner is a bestselling pop-economics book that uses unconventional data analysis to explore hidden incentives, human behavior, and surprising societal phenomena. The authors frequently referenced their own work across multiple podcast platforms to illustrate diverse economic concepts. On Freakonomics Radio, Stephen Dubner highlighted a calculation from the book demonstrating how the sons of Major League Baseball players experience vastly elevated probabilities of reaching the professional leagues themselves, and later referenced a specific chapter dedicated to altruism and apathy. On No Stupid Questions, Dubner discussed how the book examined prostitution through both social and economic lenses as a distinct industry. Additionally, StarTalk Radio featured a conversation where guest James Altucher recounted the authors' pre-launch anxieties and the subsequent massive commercial success that propelled the title up the bestseller lists. Across these appearances, the book served as a versatile reference point for demonstrating how economic thinking can illuminate everyday anomalies, societal norms, and cultural behaviors.
Every mention
Neil deGrasse Tyson but you were worried you didn't know how the book would do and you were scared and I said I was lying I was… 1
“but you were worried you didn't know how the book would do and you were scared and I said I was lying I was just being nice I said don't worry it's gonna be a big hit Cuz I read the galley but I just was being nice I didn't know and then you called me a few days led”
Mentioned on the show without a named speaker3
“In Super Freakonomics, one of the books I wrote with economist Steve Levitt, we performed a rough calculation showing that if a Major League Baseball player has a son, that boy is about 800 times more likely than a random boy to also make the majors.”
“We wrote about this in our book "Super Freakonomics" in a chapter called "Unbelievable Stories About Apathy and Altruism."”
“We wrote about this a little bit in Super Freakonomics; we're writing about prostitution actually as a sort of industry that we studied from economic and social perspectives.”
Other mentions (3: passing, ad reads, own books)
“And it turns out that if you pull apart the story of what actually happened that night—which is a little difficult to do, CU this was in the 1960s—but we went back, and in our second book, Super Freakonomics, we actually retold the story as well as we could, including the incentives for the reporters involved and the police involved.”
“You may remember this story from Super Freakonomics, where we told it in some detail, perhaps too much detail.”
“Although drunk walking, we actually argued in Super Freakonomics, is more dangerous per mile than drunk driving, but that's a different story. Maybe for the person who's drunk, but maybe not for other people.”