Ro's Recz

Freakonomics Radio has so many podcasts that I enjoy listening to, including two I have previously recommended in Freakonomics and No Stupid Questions. Both of those are hosted by Stephen Dubner, who is one of the co-authors of the Freakonomics book. Dubner’s co-author for that book is named Steven Levitt, and he is the host of a new podcast called People I (Mostly) Admire. Levitt used to be one of the main hosts for the Freakonomics podcast, but he recently has become less involved in it.

People I (Mostly) Admire came out pretty recently, as there are only 12 episodes currently available. Each of the episodes sees Levitt interviewing a different person that he is familiar in dealing with. Guests on the show have included people like Susan Wojcicki (CEO of YouTube), Ken Jennings (the Jeopardy legend), and Sue Bird (WNBA player).

Within each episode of the show, Levitt discusses topics relevant to each of his guests area of expertise. In the episode with Wojcicki for example, Levitt discusses her personal experience working for Google (she was employee #16 when it was started), how YouTube has grown over the past decade since Google acquired it, and major trends she sees in the tech industry.

Levitt’s area of expertise is as an economist, so he brings an interesting and unique perspective to episodes. His experience as an economist also means he thinks differently, which results in questions you may not hear on other podcasts (even if a lot of popular podcasts today have similar guests). Overall, each episode is only 30-40 minutes, and I think like other Freakonomics Radio podcasts they are worth a listen!