{{short description|American author, journalist, and podcast host}} {{Infobox person | name = Stephen Dubner | image = Stephen_J._Dubner_by_Audrey_S._Bernstein_wiki.jpg | image_size = | caption = Stephen Dubner in 2012 | birth_name = Stephen Joseph Dubner | birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1963|8|26}} | birth_place = Duanesburg, New York, U.S. | death_date = | death_place = | death_cause = | resting_place = | resting_place_coordinates = | nationality = | other_names = | education = Appalachian State University (BA)<br>Columbia University (MFA) | occupation = Journalist | employer = | known_for = {{Plainlist| * ''Freakonomics'' * ''SuperFreakonomics'' * ''Think Like a Freak'' * ''When to Rob a Bank'' * ''Freakonomics Radio''}} | boards = | spouse = {{unbulleted list|{{marriage|Abigail Seymour|end=divorced}}<ref name=1stmarriage>{{Cite book|title=Choosing My Religion:A Memoir of a Family Beyond Belief|last=Dubner|first=Stephen|publisher=William Morrow|year=2006|isbn=978-0061132995|page=176}}</ref>| {{marriage|Ellen Binder|1998}}<ref name=wed/>}} | children = 2 | awards = Quill Award (2005) | parents = | relatives = | website = {{URL|https://freakonomics.com/about}} | signature = | footnotes = }}
'''Stephen Joseph Dubner''' (born August 26, 1963) is an American author, journalist, and podcast and radio host. He is co-author of the popular ''Freakonomics'' book series: ''Freakonomics'',<ref name=freakobook>Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything (2005) {{ISBN|0-06-089637-X}}</ref> ''SuperFreakonomics'',<ref name=super/> ''Think Like a Freak''<ref name=tlaf/> and ''When to Rob a Bank''.<ref name=rob/> He is the host of ''Freakonomics Radio''.
==Early life and education== Born in 1963 in Duanesburg, New York, to Solomon Dubner (also known as Paul) and Florence Greenglass (also known as Florence Winters and Veronica Dubner), Dubner grew up as the youngest of eight children.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.stephenjdubner.com/journalism/033196.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060621135958/http://www.stephenjdubner.com/journalism/033196.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=June 21, 2006|title=Choosing My Religion|last=Dubner|first=Stephen|date=March 31, 1996|work=The New York Times|access-date=January 10, 2019}}</ref> His father, who died in 1973 when Dubner was 10 years old, worked as a copy editor at ''The Record'' in Troy, New York.<ref name=wed>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1998/09/13/style/weddings-ellen-binder-stephen-dubner.html|title=Weddings: Ellen Binder, Stephen Dubner|date=1998-09-13|work=The New York Times|access-date=2019-01-10|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> Dubner grew up in a devout Roman Catholic household, his parents having converted from Judaism to Catholicism before his birth. As an adult, Dubner himself converted back to Judaism, an experience he chronicles in his first book, ''Turbulent Souls: A Catholic Son's Return to His Jewish Family''.<ref name=turb>{{Cite book|title=Turbulent Souls: A Catholic Son's Return To His Jewish Family|last=Dubner|first=Stephen|publisher=William Morrow|year=1998|isbn=978-0688151805}}</ref>
Dubner completed his high school education at Duanesburg Central High School in 1980, a year ahead of his graduating class.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Foss |first=Sara |date=2011-09-25 |title=Writer Stephen Dubner recalls Duanesburg childhood |url=https://dailygazette.com/2011/09/25/0925_dubner/ |access-date=2023-04-03 |website=The Daily Gazette |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Moncure |first=Katherine |title=Is Envy Healthy? |url=https://freakonomics.com/podcast/is-envy-healthy/ |access-date=2023-04-03 |website=Freakonomics |language=en}}</ref> In 1984, he graduated from Appalachian State University in North Carolina, where he studied in the College of Fine and Applied Arts.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://appalachianmagazine.org/videos/id/21|title=Alumni Awards 2012: Stephen J. Dubner '84|website=appalachianmagazine.org|language=en|access-date=2019-01-10}}</ref> There, Dubner played in a rock band, ''The Right Profile'', which later signed with Arista Records shortly before he decided against a career in music. In 1990, Dubner earned a Master of Fine Arts degree in writing from Columbia University, where he also taught English.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=http://freakonomics.com/about/|title=About|website=freakonomics.com|language=en|access-date=January 10, 2018}}</ref>
== Career == Dubner's first published work appeared in ''Highlights for Children'', when he was 11 years old. Since then, his journalism has been published in ''The New York Times'', ''The New Yorker'', and ''Time'', and has been anthologized in ''The Best American Sports Writing'', ''The Best American Crime Writing'', and elsewhere.<ref name=":0" />
In 1998, Dubner wrote his first full-length book, ''Turbulent Souls: A Catholic Son's Return to His Jewish Family'',<ref name=turb/> for which he was named a finalist for the Koret Jewish Book Award.<ref name=turb /><ref name=choosing>Republished as ''Choosing My Religion: A Memoir of a Family Beyond Belief'' (2006) {{ISBN|0061132993}}</ref> Dubner has since written ''Confessions of a Hero-Worshiper'',<ref name=confessions>Confessions of a Hero-Worshiper (2003) {{ISBN|0-688-17365-9}}</ref> and a children's book, ''The Boy With Two Belly Buttons''.<ref name=belly>The Boy With Two Belly Buttons (2007) {{ISBN|978-0061134029}}</ref>
===Books === Dubner met Steven Levitt, a professor of economics at the University of Chicago, when his editor asked him to write a profile on Levitt for ''The'' ''New York Times Magazine''. At the time, Dubner was writing a book on the psychology of money and didn't have much interest in meeting the young economist from Chicago. Likewise, Levitt had little interest in the profile, but agreed to a two-hour interview because his mom liked ''The New York Times Magazine''.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/may/15/freakonomics-10-years-on-stephen-dubner-steven-levitt-interview|title=Freakonomics 10 years on: Stephen J Dubner and Steven D Levitt on what they got right and wrong|last=Dean|first=Michelle|date=2015-05-15|work=The Guardian|access-date=2019-01-10|language=en-GB|issn=0261-3077}}</ref> Upon meeting Levitt, Dubner extended the two-hour interview to three days.
After publication of Dubner's 2003 ''Times Magazine'' article,<ref name=riddles>{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/08/03/magazine/probability-that-real-estate-agent-cheating-you-other-riddles-modern-life.html|title=The Probability That a Real-Estate Agent Is Cheating You (and Other Riddles of Modern Life)|first=Stephen|last=Dubner|year=2003|website=The New York Times}}</ref> Dubner and Levitt were asked to co-write a book, which cemented their partnership. In 2005, William Morrow and Company published ''Freakonomics'',<ref name=freakobook/> a book about cheating teachers, bizarre baby-names, self-dealing realtors, and crack-selling mama's boys.<ref name=":0" /> ''Freakonomics'' would go on to be translated into 40 languages and sell 5 million copies worldwide.<ref name=":0" />
Dubner and Levitt have co-authored three other books: ''SuperFreakonomics'',<ref name=super>SuperFreakonomics (2009) {{ISBN|0-060-88957-8}}</ref> ''Think Like a Freak'',<ref name=tlaf>''Think Like a Freak: The Authors of'' Freakonomics ''Offer to Retrain Your Brain'' (2014) {{ISBN|0-062-21833-6}}</ref> and ''When to Rob a Bank''.<ref name=rob>When to Rob a Bank (2015) {{ISBN|0-062-38532-1}}</ref> Throughout their work, Dubner and Levitt use economics to explore real-world phenomena, answer perplexing questions, and offer unconventional analysis.
Dubner has a chapter giving advice in Tim Ferriss' book ''Tools of Titans''.<ref>Tools of the Titans {{oclc|1120516758}}</ref>
===Radio === In 2010, Dubner launched a weekly podcast, ''Freakonomics Radio'', which was getting 15 million global monthly downloads as of 2018.<ref name=":0" /> On March 5, 2020, Dubner appeared on the ''Joe Rogan Experience'' podcast.
Dubner also hosts ''Freakonomics Radio Live!'' (formerly ''Tell Me Something I Don’t Know)'', a game-show version of the podcast in which contestants share incredible, little-known facts in front of a live audience.
Other shows include:
* ''Tell Me Something I Don't Know'' is a game-show podcast that Dubner created in partnership with ''The New York Times'' in 2016 and that is now part of ''Freakonomics Radio'' * ''Footy for Two''<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://freakonomics.com/footyfortwo/|title=Freakonomics}}</ref> is a podcast produced by Stephen Dubner and his son, Solomon Dubner, in which Solomon educates his father on the politics, personalities, and news of international football. * ''No Stupid Questions''<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://freakonomics.com/nsq/|title = No Stupid Questions Archives}}</ref> is podcast that is part of ''Freakonomics Radio,'' where Dubner and Angela Duckworth ask each other questions about a range of subjects.
A film called ''Freakonomics: The Movie'' was released in 2010.<ref name=imdb>{{IMDb name}}</ref>
===Awards and honors=== * Finalist for the Koret Jewish Book Award, for ''Turbulent Souls''<ref name=turb/> * Quill Award, for ''Freakonomics'' * Short-listed for Financial Times and Goldman Sachs Business Book of the Year Award
== Personal life == As of June 2023, Dubner resides in New York City with his wife, documentary photographer Ellen Binder,<ref name=wed/> their two children, and their dog. In a 2017 ''New York Times'' profile, Dubner described his ideal Sunday as one in which he walks his dog in Central Park early in the morning, watches an FC Barcelona game with his son, and spends the afternoon cooking dinner with his daughter.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/10/nyregion/how-stephen-j-dubner-of-freakonomics-and-tell-me-something-i-dont-know-spends-his-sundays.html|title=How Stephen J. Dubner, of 'Freakonomics' and 'Tell Me Something I Don't Know,' Spends His Sundays|last=Gorce|first=Tammy La|date=2017-11-10|work=The New York Times|access-date=2019-01-10|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Dubner, Stephen J.}} Category:1963 births Category:Living people Category:21st-century American Jews Category:21st-century American journalists Category:21st-century American male writers Category:21st-century American memoirists Category:American economics writers Category:American male bloggers Category:American bloggers Category:21st-century American male journalists Category:American male non-fiction writers Category:American business and finance podcasters Category:Appalachian State University alumni Category:Columbia University School of the Arts alumni Category:Converts to Judaism from Roman Catholicism Category:Jewish American journalists Category:Jewish American memoirists Category:American memoirists Category:Jewish American non-fiction writers Category:People from Duanesburg, New York