Stephen J. Dubner

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. Dubner has since written Confessions of a Hero-Worshiper, and a children's book, The Boy With Two Belly Buttons.

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. Upon meeting Levitt, Dubner extended the two-hour interview to three days.

After publication of Dubner's 2003 Times Magazine article, Dubner and Levitt were asked to co-write a book, which cemented their partnership. In 2005, William Morrow and Company published Freakonomics, Think Like a Freak, and When to Rob a Bank. 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.

Radio In 2010, Dubner launched a weekly podcast, Freakonomics Radio, which was getting 15 million global monthly downloads as of 2018. 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 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.

Awards and honors Finalist for the Koret Jewish Book Award, for Turbulent Souls