Stephen Dubner

Stephen J. Dubner, an award-winning author, journalist, and radio and TV personality, is the co-author of the International Bestseller Freakonomics and Superfreakonomics.  Originally published in the U.S. in 2005, Freakonomics instantly became a cultural phenomenon.  Hailed by critics and readers alike, it remains on the The New York Times bestseller list after 7 years, having sold more than 4 million copies around the world, in more than 35 languages. Dubner and his co-author, the University of Chicago economist Steven Levitt, have appeared widely on television, and maintain the popular Freakonomics blog, which has been called “the most readable economics blog in the universe.”Freakonomics made the world safe to discuss the economics of crack cocaine and the impact of baby names. Superfreakonomics retained that off-kilter sensibility (comparing, for instance, the relative dangers of driving while drunk versus walking while drunk) but also tackled a host of issues at the very center of modern society: terrorism, global warming, altruism, and more. From the rarefied corridors of academia to the grimiest street corners, Dubner and his co-author, University of Chicago economist Steven Levitt, address a wide variety of topics with neither fear nor favor, letting the numbers speak for themselves.Through forceful storytelling and wry insight, Dubner shows how economics is, at root, the study of incentives – that is, how people get what they want, or need, especially when other people want or need the same thing. Freakonomics and Superfreakonomics show that the modern world, despite a great deal of complexity and downright deceit, is not impenetrable, is not unknowable, and—if the right questions are asked—is even more intriguing than we think. All it takes is a new way of looking.Mr. Dubner is the host of Freakonomics Radio – a public radio project with New York Public Radio (WNYC) and American Public Media. The show includes a weekly iTunes podcast, a segment on APM’s Marketplace, and hour-long radio specials on nearly 200 public radio stations across the country. The audio content is available on-demand at www.freakonomics.com/radio, and on iTunes.Mr. Dubner is also the host of the NFL Network’s Football Freakonomics, an Emmy-nominated program that looks into the numbers behind football. The video content is available at www.nfl.com/freakonomics.The feature-length Freakonomics documentary is an anthology based on different chapters of the book. A dream team of directors participated in the project, including Academy Award winner Alex Gibney (Taxi to the Dark Side), Morgan Spurlock (Super Size Me), Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady (Jesus Camp), Eugene Jarecki (Why We Fight) and Seth Gordon (The King of Kong). Variety calls the film “a revelatory trip into complex, innovative ideas and altered perspectives.” Freakonomics was chosen as the closing-night movie at the Tribeca Film Festival; Magnolia Pictures distributed it worldwide including via iTunes, where it was in the top 10 of all film downloads. It also had an extended run on Showtime.Freakonomics and Superfreakonomics are primarily based on the research of Steven Levitt, whom Dubner originally profiled for The New York Times Magazine. Dubner spent several years at the Times asan editor and writer, and has also written for The New Yorker, Time, and elsewhere. His journalism has been anthologized in The Best American Sports Writing and The Best American Crime Writing. He is the author of two previous bestselling books, Choosing My Religion and Confessions of a Hero-Worshipper as well as a children’s book, The Boy with Two Belly Buttons.He has been writing since he was a child; his first published work appeared in Highlights magazine. During college, he started a rock band that was signed to Arista Records. But he quit playing music to attend graduate school at Columbia University, where he also taught in the English Department. He still lives in New York with his wife, a former war photographer, and their two children.