Freakonomics Radio

The World Is (Still) Drowning in Sludge

Published 24 June 2026Duration: 1h 2m
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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.

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Longest speech2m 2s
Host questions56
Guest questions22
sludge64healthcare32care25health23firms19