Hey there, it's Steven Dubner. Before we get to today's episode, I want to ask for your help for a special series we are just starting to make.

It is about mentorship, and this is where you come in. We are looking for some good stories.

It could be about a mentorship in business or academia or in sports. It could be a

spiritual mentor or someone who helped you become a better parent or spouse. Or maybe you are the

mentor. Or maybe you have a mentor who doesn't even know they are your mentor. No relationship

is too small or too weird if it matters to you. Send us an

email with some of the particulars. We are at radio at freeconomics.com. We look forward to

reading your stories and interviewing some of you for this series. Thanks in advance. And now today's

episode. Here's a phrase you have probably

heard before. The road to hell is paved with good intentions. The sentiment goes back at least to the

Bible, but the way it's used today likely began with the 18th century writer Samuel Johnson.

Since then, versions of the phrase have appeared in the works of Charlotte Bronte and Lord Byron,

Soren Kierkegaard, and Karl Marx, Ozzy Osbourne, and Madonna.

The road to hell is paid with good intentions. Yeah, but how would an economist

Yeah.

Yeah, but how would an economist think about it?

I would say economics is fundamentally about trade-offs, and there are always trade-offs.

Today, on Freakonomics Radio, three stories about good intentions gone bad in the workplace.

If anything, it made them worse off by reducing their employment rates.

I find that junior female academics start fewer new projects.

But can economists help turn good intentions into good outcomes?

I can't emphasize enough that with slight adjustments, you can get your cake and eat it too.

...