Why everyday bureaucracy feels impossible — and what economists say it costs
This preview is based on the episode’s show notes, not the audio itself. Stephen Dubner revisits the idea of “sludge” — confusing forms, sticky subscriptions, and endless notifications — to examine where it comes from and how costly it may be.
Based on the published notes, this episode looks like a practical, economics-driven update on a familiar frustration: the systems that waste our time and attention. The focus is “sludge” — the administrative friction built into things like insurance choices, subscription cancellations, and automated digital clutter. The notes suggest the episode approaches the topic through research rather than ranting. With economists Benjamin Handel, Neale Mahoney, and Richard Thaler listed as sources, listeners can expect a framework for thinking about why these hassles persist, who benefits from them, and why they can be so hard to avoid even when people know better. The resource list gives a strong hint about the likely terrain. There’s work on subscription selling, health-insurance plan design, switching costs, and behavioral economics, plus Cory Doctorow’s writing on platform “enshittification.” That points to an episode that may connect personal annoyance to larger incentives in markets and institutions. If you like Freakonomics when it turns everyday pain points into economic questions, this seems like a strong fit. It should especially appeal to listeners interested in consumer behavior, digital platforms, healthcare complexity, and the difference between helping people choose and trapping them in bad systems. If you’re deciding whether to listen, expect a preview of the hidden logic behind modern inconvenience — not a self-help guide, but a structured look at why the world can feel so administratively hostile.
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>