logo
episode-header-image
Oct 2020
49m 4s

434. Is New York City Over?

Freakonomics Radio + Stitcher
About this episode

The pandemic has hit America's biggest city particularly hard. Amidst a deep fiscal hole, rising homicides, and a flight to the suburbs, some people think the city is heading back to the bad old 1970s. We look at the history — and the data — to see why that’s probably not the case.

Up next
Aug 22
What Can Whales Teach Us About Clean Energy, Workplace Harmony, and Living the Good Life? (Update)
In the final episode of our whale series, we learn about fecal plumes, shipping noise, and why Moby-Dick is still worth reading. (Part 3 of "Everything You Never Knew About Whaling.") SOURCES:Michele Baggio, professor of economics at the University of Connecticut.Mary K. Bercaw-E ... Show More
48m 8s
Aug 15
Why Do People Still Hunt Whales? (Update)
For years, whale oil was used as lighting fuel, industrial lubricant, and the main ingredient in (yum!) margarine. Whale meat was also on a few menus. But today, demand for whale products is at a historic low. And yet some countries still have a whaling industry. We find out why. ... Show More
37m 32s
Aug 8
The First Great American Industry (Update)
Whaling was, in the words of one scholar, “early capitalism unleashed on the high seas.” How did the U.S. come to dominate the whale market? Why did whale hunting die out here — and continue to grow elsewhere? And is that whale vomit in your perfume? (Part 1 of “Everything You Ne ... Show More
45m 2s
Recommended Episodes
Dec 2018
The incredible shrinking city
For decades, Memphis grew by bringing its suburbs into the city limits. City officials thought this suburb-gobbling policy would be an economic boon-- that it would bring in tax revenue. Instead, the policy was an economic disaster, especially for the majority black neighborhoods ... Show More
32m 50s
Jul 2020
The Death of the City?
Our normally bustling cities have been eerily quiet for months. It’s reminiscent of the post-apocalyptic horror film, ‘28 Days Later’. The lockdown is proving costly; Westminster Abbey has lost more than £12 million in revenue this year and is set to lay off one in five of its st ... Show More
43m 2s
Jun 2023
America’s Big City Brain Drain
In recent years, well-paid and college-educated Americans have shed major cities like New York, San Francisco and Washington for places like Philadelphia or Birmingham, Ala.Emily Badger, who writes about cities and urban policy for The Upshot at The New York Times, explains what ... Show More
29m 50s
Oct 2023
Africa’s Urban Future: South Africa
Apartheid may now be long buried politically but in and around South Africa’s main cities it has left a visible legacy. Those entrenched historical problems could be about to get worse as cities like Johannesburg and Cape Town continue to grow rapidly, as a result of both migrati ... Show More
38m 38s
May 2023
Hard times in the Big Easy
New Orleans is the murder capital of the United States: researchers into 2022’s crime figures say it suffered more homicides per capita than any other major city. Carjackings, armed robberies and other potentially lethal offences are also at sky high levels in ‘The Big Easy’ - a ... Show More
27m 55s
Mar 2024
Will All Cities End Up Like Detroit?
What caused Detroit to lose 60% of it's population since 1950 and is there a way to help residents and industries in shrinking cities to have a better quality of life and work? 
14m 57s
Feb 2024
Violent Crime Is Dropping, But Americans Feel Less Safe.
For people in the US, 2020 was one of the most dangerous years in decades. The first year of the pandemic saw a huge spike in violence. The number of homicides in the country rose about 30 percent from 2019. Fast forward a couple of years – and things look very different. Accordi ... Show More
12m 28s
Mar 2022
How cities mirror the human body
Arterial roads lead to the heart of a city, parks are a city's lungs; as for it's bowels… let's not go there. But why do we continue to speak of the city in bodily terms? Marco Amati, author of The City and the Super-Organism: A History of Naturalism in Urban Planning, joins Blue ... Show More
14m 57s
Jul 2022
Chicago When It Sizzles
July 1995: A deadly heatwave gripped Chicago - bridges buckled; the power grids failed; and the morgue ran out of space - but some neighbourhoods saw more deaths than others. Sociologist Eric Klinenberg wanted to know why. So he headed to the hardest hit districts and found that ... Show More
38m 22s
Jul 2023
Changing cities in Latin America: Medellin and Prospera
How rich tourists change Medellín, which used to be Colombia's most dangerous city, and why that also brings problems for the locals -- And: In Honduras, investors are building a private enterprise city - they want to run it without the state’s jurisdiction and tax laws, but crit ... Show More
30 m