Yeah, I don't know whenever I go to parties and people ask me, you know, what you do.

I say, I'm an economist, I say, what do you study?

I say productivity and they use you walk off at that point.

Yeah, well, I can identify with that.

If I then say, well, actually, my measure of productivity is, you know, whether you stay alive,

then that really gets people interested.

Huh, that is interesting.

Let's find out more, shall we?

Today on Freakinomics Radio, we will look at productivity in a whole new light from the good.

He estimates that you can make a house in about 24 hours.

To the bad.

We've been working on it for over 50 years and we still haven't managed to make it power a toaster.

To the ugly.

So we might destroy our species as we know it while chasing total factor productivity.

So I...

Wait a minute.

What is powering a toaster and building a house in 24 hours have to do with destroying our species?

What ties all these together?

The only way to tie these together is it's just getting harder and harder to find new ideas.

From WNYC Studios, this is Freakinomics Radio, the podcast that explores the hidden side of everything.

Here's your host, Steven Dubner.

Let's start with the power of an idea.

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