Stephen J. Dubner is an author and journalist who lives in New York City.
Posts published in March, 2005
“Freakonomics”/ Ku Klux Klan on the radio
By FreakonomicsChapter Two of Freakonomics is titled “How Is the Ku Klux Klan Like a Group of Real-Estate Agents?” It deals with the power of information, and more particularly the abuse of information. The K.K.K. part of the story concerns a man named Stetson Kennedy who, in the 1940’s, went undercover and joined the K.K.K. in [...]
A taste of “Freakonomics” in today’s New York Times
By Stephen J. DubnerRoland G. Fryer Jr. is a young black economist at Harvard whose work and background are equally fascinating. (At least I think so.) He and Steve Levitt have written a number of papers together, and Fryer is scattered throughout the last couple chapters of Freakonomics. Quite separately, I’ve written a profile of Fryer that appears [...]
Unleashing Our Baby
By Stephen J. DubnerEvery parent thinks he has the most beautiful baby in the world. Evolution, it seems, has molded our brains so that if you stare at your own baby’s face day after day after day, it starts to look beautiful. When other people’s children have food clotted on their faces, it looks disgusting; with your own [...]