Wait, that's not the Brian Larishell theme song.

But surely many of you will recognize it.

It's been 20 years since Freakonomics was published and 15 years of radio stories that uncover

the hidden side of everything as they do.

Ever wondered what makes a perfect parent or why drug dealers still live with their parents?

For the last 20 years, we've read and listened to Freakonomics host Stephen J. Dubner

explore questions like these using the tools of economics in a way that anyone can understand

and enjoy.

And so in honor of the 20th anniversary of the original Freakonomics book,

Stephen Dubner and his co-author, economist Stephen Levitt,

have released a new edition, and Stephen Dubner joins us now to reintroduce us

to free economics, preview us in the new version, and give us a taste of what's to come.

Stephen, always great to talk. Welcome back to WNYC.

Brian, hi, thank you. Hi, everybody listening to WNYC. Happy Thanksgiving.

To start at the very beginning, the name Freakonomics, I was surprised to learn that your publisher

20 years ago didn't like the name. What were you going for and why did it stick?

I mean, why would you be surprised to learn that a publisher doesn't like the author's selection for a title?

Yeah, I mean, look, I've been in a few creative industries now, the music industry and journalism and publishing and radio and now getting into TV.

And I do find, I mean, this is not the question you asked me, sorry, but I do find that if you make stuff for a living and you want to do it with your whole heart and soul, that the industry that, you know, invites you in as you're, as an ally, you have to, it's tricky because they're businesses.

And so they often have a different way of thinking about making stuff.

So with Freakonomics, we'd written this book.

We had a manuscript that we liked quite a bit, but it didn't

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