Stephen Dubner

Stephen J. Dubner is an award-winning author, journalist, TV and radio personality who lives in New York City. He is the co-author, with Steven D. Levitt, of Freakonomics (2005) and its sequel SuperFreakonomics (2009). He is also the author of Turbulent Souls (1998), Confessions of a Hero-Worshiper (2003), and a children’s book, The Boy With Two Belly Buttons (2007).

Freakonomics, published in April 2005, instantly became an international best-seller. Together with SuperFreakonomics and SuperFreakonomics Illustrated, it has sold over 5 million copies in 35 languages. It won the inaugural Quill Award for best business book; was short-listed for the inaugural Financial Times/Goldman Sachs Business Book Award; received a Visionary Award from the National Council on Economic Education; was a BookSense Book of the Year; and was named a Notable Book of 2005 by the New York Times. Turbulent Souls was also named a Notable Book, and was a finalist for the Koret National Jewish Book Award. Turbulent Souls was reissued in late 2006 under the new title Choosing My Religion.

The eighth child of an upstate New York newspaperman, Dubner has been writing since he was a child. (His first published work appeared in Highlights magazine.) As an undergraduate at Appalachian State University, he started a rock band that was signed to Arista Records, which landed him in New York City. He ultimately quit playing music to earn an MFA in writing at Columbia University School of the Arts, where he also taught in the English Department. From 1990-1994, Dubner was an editor and writer at New York Magazine. From 1994-1999, he was an editor and writer for The New York Times Magazine. He has also written for The New Yorker, Time, The Washington Post, and elsewhere. His journalism has been anthologized in The Best American Sports Writing and The Best American Crime Writing.

In 2010, Freakonomics became a documentary film made with a roster of award winning directors, including Alex Gibney and Morgan Spurlock. It premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York.

Currently, Dubner is the host of Freakonomics Radio. The project is a collaboration with New York Public Radio and America Public Media; it’s an award-winning podcast with nearly 2 million downloads a month, a regular segment on Marketplace, with specials airing on public-radio stations. Dubner is also the host of Football Freakonomics, a show that looks at the hidden side of football on NFL.com. Freakonomics continues on www.freakonomics.com, which has been called “the most readable economics blog in the universe.”