595. Why Don't We Have Better Candidates...

Like tens of millions of people, Stephen Dubner thought he had a penicillin allergy. Like the vast majority, he didn’t. This misdiagnosis costs billions of dollars and causes serious health problems, so why hasn’t it been fixed? We find out in this update of a 2025 episode. SOURC ... Show More

Is the oxymoron really “the secret sauce to everything”? That’s the case Ingels makes in this debut episode of our new video show Better in Person, filmed in Stephen Dubner’s living room. If you'd like to see the video version of Better in Person, watch it on YouTube or Apple Pod ... Show More

Stephen Dubner had an idea for a new project. So he drove to Connecticut and knocked on the door of the master. Dubner’s new TV talk show Better in Person launches July 14 on the Freakonomics YouTube channel. SOURCES: Dick Cavett, writer, former talk show host. RESOURCES: Eye on ... Show More

Katherine Gehl, a former CEO and the founder of the Institute for Political Innovation, and Michael Porter, a professor at Harvard Business School, apply his Five Forces framework to explain why U.S. politics are dysfunctional. They argue that the Republican and Democratic partie ... Show More

The political system in the United States needs a redesign, says political reformer Andrew Yang. Exposing the flaws of a system built on poor incentives, he proposes a cost-effective overhaul inspired by primary elections already working in places like Alaska and advocates for ra ... Show More

In this episode, I talk to Forward Party’s founder Andrew Yang about the future of American democracy. Andrew shares the insights he’s learned from his presidential and mayoral campaigns. His major realization is that America’s two-party system is designed for polarization and dy ... Show More

We talk a lot on this show about the problems with American political institutions. But what if all those problems are actually just one problem: the two-party system. Lee Drutman is a political scientist, senior fellow in the Political Reform program at New America, co-host of ... Show More

Like many, I despair of our country’s division, which is rapidly expanding in lockstep with our inability to productively communicate alongside growing distrust in institutions and the media.Also like many, I want solutions. Much of this rests with us. But we also need leadership ... Show More

In this episode of the Portal, Eric checks in with his friend Andrew Yang to discuss the meteoric rise of his candidacy; one that represents an insurgency against a complacent political process that the media establishment doggedly tries to maintain. Andrew updates Eric on the st ... Show More

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Sam Harris speaks with Andrew Yang about the state of American democracy. They discuss Andrew's run for the Presidency, the humiliations of campaigning, the manipulation of politics by the media, Andrew's run for the mayor's office in NYC, the p ... Show More

The first presidential debate is here, and voters do not seem thrilled with the two, very different candidates. How does a consumerist country built on choice produce so few options? This week, helping us to understand our two party system and why third parties don’t work within ... Show More

Story #1: Will sits down with Founder & Co-chair of the Forward Party & 2020 Democratic Presidential Candidate, Andrew Yang to discuss the crisis of leadership and lack of direction within the current Democrat party, and whether, in a country where the political alignment is radi ... Show More

We are at an awkward moment in electoral politics. When it comes to the Republican primary, while there are plenty of alternatives to former President Donald Trump, none of them have gained serious traction. When it comes to Democrats, despite consternation about President Biden’ ... Show More