Most of us feel we face more headwinds and obstacles than everyone else - which breeds resentment. We also undervalue the tailwinds that help us - which leaves us ungrateful and unhappy. How can we avoid this trap?

Overt discrimination in the labor markets may be on the wane, but women are still subtly penalized by all sorts of societal conventions. How can those penalties be removed without burning down the house?

A lot of full-time jobs in the modern economy simply don't pay a living wage. And even those jobs may be obliterated by new technologies. What's to be done so that financially vulnerable people aren't just crushed? It may finally be time for an idea that economists have promoted for decades.

Researchers are trying to figure out who gets bored - and why - and what it means for ourselves and the economy. But maybe there's an upside to boredom?

From domestic abusers to former child soldiers, there is increasing evidence that behavioral therapy can turn them around.

Conventional programs tend to be expensive, onerous, and ineffective. Could something as simple (and cheap) as cognitive behavioral therapy do the trick?

We spend billions on end-of-life healthcare that doesn't do much good. So what if a patient could forego the standard treatment and get a cash rebate instead?

What do NASCAR drivers, Glenn Beck and the hit men of the NFL have in common?

There are all kinds of civics-class answers to that question. But how true are they? Could it be that we like to read about war, politics, and miscellaneous heartbreak simply because it's (gasp) entertaining?

In which we argue that failure should not only be tolerated but celebrated. When failure is stigmatized, people will do everything they can to avoid it, often at great cost. Levitt tells the story of a large multinational retailer that was opening its first store in China - and how the company's executives couldn't express their misgivings to a bullish boss. Then we hear a story in which the boss's "go fever" had far more tragic ramifications: the 1986 launch of the space shuttle Challenger. Allan McDonald, an engineer on the shuttle project and author of the book Truth, Lies, and O-Rings, tell us how his attempts to delay the launch were overruled.

The hardest three words in the English language are "I don't know," and that our inability to say these words more often can have huge consequences.

Should Tipping Be Banned: As we all know, the practice of tipping can be awkward, random, and confusing. This episode tries to offer some clarity.

There ain't no such thing as a free parking spot. Somebody has to pay for it - and that somebody is everybody.

You know the bromide: "a winner never quits, and a quitter never wins." To which Freakonomics Radio says... Are you sure? Sometimes quitting is strategic, and sometimes it can be your best possible plan.

Fact: Human beings love to predict the future. Fact: Human beings are not very good at predicting the future. Fact: Because the incentives to predict are quite imperfect - bad predictions are rarely punished - this situation is unlikely to change. But wouldn't it be nice if it did?