Talks & Entertainment

Twenty years ago, Stephen Dubner co-wrote Freakonomics, which demonstrated how the tools of economics could be used to understand the behavior of schoolteachers, drug dealers, real estate agents, parents, and really, just about everyone. The book showed that economics is, at root, the study of incentives—how people get what they want, or need, especially when other people want or need the same thing. Freakonomics established that if morality represents how we would like the world to work, then economics represents how it actually does work. 
 
The book spent over two years on the New York Times bestseller list and spawned three sequels, a documentary film, and Freakonomics Radio, years before podcasting was mainstream. To celebrate the 20th anniversary of the book that made millions look at the world in a radically different way, a new edition is being published, including a new foreword by Dubner, reflecting on the unexpected impact Freakonomics has had on the world. 
 
Dubner will be in conversation with Geoff Bennett, co-anchor and co-managing editor of PBS News Hour, and an NBC News and MSNBC political contributor. 

This program will be ASL-interpreted for the in-person audience. To sit in the interpreted section or to access the interpreted feed virtually, contact Amanda.