Hey there podcast listeners, we're working on an episode about the economics of household

innovation.

That is, when people invent things for their own use without the explicit goal of commercialization,

are you that person who tinkers in their workshop or maybe you've hacked together some software

for your own specific needs?

If you've ever invented anything worth telling us about, well we'd like you to tell us

about it. We'd like to hear about the invention itself, your motivation, also how much time

and money you put into it, make a brief audio recording, just use whatever voice memo app

is on your phone, and email the file to us at radioatfreakonomics.com with the subject

line invention. Please be sure to tell us your name, what you do, and where you're from.

Thanks.

Also, if you'd like to see Freakonomics Radio live, tickets are on sale now for upcoming

shows in Los Angeles and Philadelphia. Tickets and info at Freakonomics.com slash live, hope

to see you there.

You recently called Higher Education a Racket. You're selling a product that everyone is

convinced is essential. It's got uncertain ROI, quality, that's difficult to measure, and

you can raise prices without losing customers. That doesn't sound like something we're

used to hearing from a college president. I was being a little facetious, of course, but

I was making the point that at least until recently, Higher Ed has been in a very fortunate

place where nothing much could go wrong. People did feel they had to have what it was selling,

and they could charge almost anything they felt like. People had no way to know if they

were getting a good deal or not, whether the quality was up to the price. That's changing

...