Steve shows a different side of himself in very personal interviews with his two oldest daughters. Amanda talks about growing up with social anxiety and her decision not to go to college, while Lily speaks candidly about her battle with anorexia and the conversation she had with Steve that led her to seek treatment.

• SOURCES:
  • Lily Levitt, daughter of Steve Levitt.
  • Amanda Levitt, daughter of Steve Levitt.

• RESOURCES:
  • Can I Ask You a Question? by Amanda Levitt (2020).
  • "Does “Early Education” Come Way Too Late?" Freakonomics Radio (2018).

• EXTRAS:
  • NEDA Crisis Support.

The economist Joseph Stiglitz has devoted his life to exposing the limits of markets. He tells Steve about winning an argument with fellow Nobel laureate Milton Friedman, why small governments don’t lead to more freedom, and why he’s not afraid to be an advocate.

• SOURCE:
  • Joseph Stiglitz, professor at Columbia University and chief economist at the Roosevelt Institute.

• RESOURCES:
  • The Road to Freedom: Economics and the Good Society, by Joseph Stiglitz (2024).
  • "Equilibrium in Competitive Insurance Markets: An Essay on the Economics of Imperfect Information," by Michael Rothschild and Joseph Stiglitz (The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 2010).
  • "Hirsh: The Missing Link on Obama's Economic Team," by Michael Hirsh (Newsweek, 2008).
  • Globalization and Its Discontents, by Joseph Stiglitz (2002).
  • Two Lucky People: Memoirs, by Milton Friedman and Rose Friedman (1998).
  • "On Value Maximization and Alternative Objectives of the Firm," by Sanford Grossman and Joseph Stiglitz (The Journal of Finance, 1977).

• EXTRAS:
  • "Remembering Daniel Kahneman," by People I (Mostly) Admire (2024).
  • "Ninety-Eight Years of Economic Wisdom," by People I (Mostly) Admire (2023).

Monica Bertagnolli went from a childhood on a cattle ranch to a career as a surgeon to a top post in the Biden administration. As director of the National Institutes of Health, she’s working to improve the way we find new treatments — despite regulatory constraints and tight budgets.

• SOURCE:
  • Monica Bertagnolli, director of the National Institutes of Health.

• RESOURCES:
  • "Steven Levitt and John Donohue Defend a Finding Made Famous by 'Freakonomics'," by Steven Levitt and John Donohue (The Economist, 2024).
  • "Why 'Freakonomics' Failed to Transform Economics," (The Economist, 2024).
  • "Steven D. Levitt (Freakonomics Co-Author and U Chicago Econ Prof) on His Career and Decision to Retire From Academic Economics," by Jon Hartley (The Capitalism and Freedom in the Twenty-First Century Podcast, 2024).
  • "Why Autoimmune Disease Is More Common in Women: X Chromosome Holds Clues," by Elie Dolgin (Nature, 2024).
  • "Casgevy and Lyfgenia: Two Gene Therapies Approved for Sickle Cell Disease," by Carrie MacMillan (Yale Medicine News, 2023).
  • "Fact Sheet: President Biden Reignites Cancer Moonshot to End Cancer as We Know It," (2022).
  • "Mini-Antibodies Discovered in Sharks and Camels Could Lead to Drugs for Cancer and Other Diseases," by Mitch Leslie (Science, 2018).

• EXTRAS:
  • "Who Pays for Multimillion-Dollar Miracle Cures?" by Freakonomics, M.D. (2023).
  • "What’s Stopping Us From Curing Rare Diseases?" by Freakonomics, M.D. (2023).
  • "Abortion and Crime, Revisited (Update)," by Freakonomics Radio (2022).
  • "John Donohue: 'I’m Frequently Called a Treasonous Enemy of the Constitution,'" by People I (Mostly) Admire (2021).