About this episode
<p>Insurance forms that make no sense. Subscriptions that can’t be cancelled. A never-ending blizzard of automated notifications. In this update of a 2025 episode, Stephen Dubner discovers where all this sludge comes from — and how much it’s costing us.</p> <p> </p> <ul> <li><strong>SOURCES:</strong> <ul> <li><a href="https://www.benjaminhandel.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer">Benjamin Handel,</a> professor of economics at UC Berkeley.</li> <li><a href="https://nmahoney.people.stanford.edu/" rel="noopener noreferrer">Neale Mahoney,</a> professor of economics at Stanford University.</li> <li><a href="https://faculty.chicagobooth.edu/richard-thaler" rel="noopener noreferrer">Richard Thaler,</a> professor of economics at The University of Chicago.</li> </ul></li> </ul> <p> </p> <ul> <li><strong>RESOURCES:</strong> <ul> <li>"<a href="https://nmahoney.people.stanford.edu/sites/g/files/sbiybj23976/files/media/file/mahoney_subscriptions.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer">Selling Subscriptions,</a>" by Liran Einav, Ben Klopack, and Neale Mahoney <i>(Stanford University,</i> 2023).</li> <li>"<a href="https://www.wired.com/story/tiktok-platforms-cory-doctorow/" rel="noopener noreferrer">The ‘Enshittification’ of TikTok,</a>" by Cory Doctorow <i>(WIRED,</i> 2023).</li> <li>"<a href="https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/pol.20190312" rel="noopener noreferrer">Dominated Options in Health Insurance Plans,</a>" by Chenyuan Liu and Justin Sydnor <i>(American Economic Journal: Economic Policy,</i> 2022).</li> <li><a href="https://amzn.to/4iIjWDN" rel="noopener noreferrer"><i>Nudge: The Final Edition</i></a><i>,</i> by Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein (2021).</li> <li>"<a href="https://eml.berkeley.edu/~bhandel/wp/JEP_Frictions.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer">Frictions or Mental Gaps: What’s Behind the Information We (Don’t) Use and When Do We Care?</a>" by Benjamin Handel and Joshua Schwartzstein <i>(Journal of Economic Perspectives,</i> 2018).</li> <li>"<a href="https://www.nber.org/system/files/working_papers/w17459/w17459.pdf" rel="noopener noreferrer">Adverse Selection and Switching Costs in Health Insurance Markets: When Nudging Hurts,</a>" by Benjamin Handel <i>(National Bureau of Economic Research,</i> 2011).</li> </ul></li> </ul> <p> </p> <ul> <li><strong>EXTRAS:</strong> <ul> <li>"<a href="https://freakonomics.com/podcast-tag/sludge/" rel="noopener noreferrer">Sludge</a>," series by <i>Freakonomics Radio </i>(2025).</li> <li>"<a href="https://freakonomics.com/podcast/people-arent-dumb-the-world-is-hard-update/" rel="noopener noreferrer">People Aren’t Dumb. The World Is Hard. (Update)</a>" by <i>Freakonomics Radio </i>(2024).</li> <li>"<a href="https://freakonomics.com/podcast/all-you-need-is-nudge/" rel="noopener noreferrer">All You Need is Nudge,</a>" by <i>Freakonomics Radio </i>(2021).</li> <li>"<a href="https://freakonomics.com/podcast/how-to-fix-the-hot-mess-of-u-s-healthcare-ep-456/" rel="noopener noreferrer">How to Fix the Hot Mess of U.S. Healthcare,</a>" by <i>Freakonomics Radio </i>(2021).</li> <li>"<a href="https://freakonomics.com/podcast/should-we-really-behave-like-economists-say-we-do/" rel="noopener noreferrer">Should We Really Behave Like Economists Say We Do?</a>" by <i>Freakonomics Radio </i>(2015).</li> </ul></li> </ul><br/> <p>Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See <a href="https://pcm.adswizz.com">pcm.adswizz.com</a> for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.</p>