They should have died out when the lightbulb was invented. Instead they’re a $10 billion industry. What does it mean that we still want tiny fires inside our homes?

• SOURCES:
  • Tim Cooper, professor emeritus of sustainable design and consumption at Nottingham Trent University.
  • Gökçe Günel, professor of anthropology at Rice University.
  • Steve Horenziak, president of the National Candle Association.
  • Meik Wiking, Danish happiness researcher, C.E.O. of the Happiness Research Institute.

• RESOURCES:
  • "The Great Lightbulb Conspiracy," by Markus Krajewski (IEEE Spectrum, 2024).
  • "The Obsolescence Issue," edited by Townsend Middleton, Gökçe Günel, and Ashley Carse (Limn, 2024).
  • More and More and More, by Jean-Baptiste Fressoz (2024).
  • "What Yankee Candle reviews can tell us about COVID," by Manuela López Restrepo, Christopher Intagliata, Ailsa Chang, and Sacha Pfeiffer (NPR, 2022).
  • Spaceship in the Desert, by Gökçe Günel (2019).
  • "The Birth of Planned Obsolescence," by Livia Gershon (JSTOR Daily, 2017).
  • "Beeswax for the Ages," by G. Jeffrey MacDonald (The Living Church, 2016).
  • The Waste Makers, by Vance Packard (2011).

• EXTRAS:
  • "Why Do People Still Hunt Whales?" by Freakonomics Radio (2023).
  • "How to Be Happy," by Freakonomics Radio (2018).

The former secretary of state isn’t a flamethrower, but he certainly has strong opinions. In this wide-ranging conversation with Stephen Dubner, he gives them all: on Israel, Gaza, China, Iran, Russia, Biden, Trump — and the rest of the world.

• SOURCES:
  • Antony Blinken, former Secretary of State.

• RESOURCES:
  • "Evaluating the impact of two decades of USAID interventions and projecting the effects of defunding on mortality up to 2030: a retrospective impact evaluation and forecasting analysis," by Daniella Cavalcanti, Lucas de Oliveira Ferreira de Sales, Andrea Ferreira da Silva, Elisa Basterra, Daiana Pena, Caterina Monti, Gonzalo Barreix, Natanael Silva, Paula Vaz, Francisco Saute, Gonzalo Fanjul, Quique Bassat, Denise Naniche, James Macinko, and Davide Rasella (The Lancet, 2025).
  • "What Bombs Can’t Do in Iran," by Karim Sadjadpour (New York Times, 2025).
  • "A New Palestinian Offer for Peace With Israel," by Elliot Kaufman (Wall Street Journal, 2025).
  • "America’s Strategy of Renewal," by Antony Blinken (Foreign Affairs, 2024).

Until recently, Delaware was almost universally agreed to be the best place for companies to incorporate. Now, with Elon Musk leading a corporate stampede out of the First State, we revisit an episode from 2023 that asked if Delaware’s “franchise” is wildly corrupt, wildly efficient … or both?

• SOURCES:
  • John Cassara, retired Special Agent detailee to the U.S. Department of Treasury’s Office of Terrorism Finance and Financial Intelligence.
  • Doneene Damon, director with Richards, Layton, and Finger.
  • Travis Laster, Vice Chancellor of the Delaware Court of Chancery.
  • Dan Nielson, professor of government at the University of Texas.
  • Hal Weitzman, professor of behavioral science, editor-in-chief of Chicago Booth Review, and executive director for intellectual capital at the University of Chicago's Booth School of Business.

• RESOURCES:
  • “A Silicon Valley Giant Calls for a Delaware Exodus,” by Andrew Ross Sorkin, Bernhard Warner, Sarah Kessler, Michael J. de la Merced, and Danielle Kaye (New York Times, 2025).
  • "Financial Secrecy Index," by Tax Justice Network (2025).
  • "Annual Report Statistics," by Delaware Division of Corporations (2023).
  • What’s the Matter with Delaware? How the First State Has Favored the Rich, Powerful, and Criminal — and How It Costs Us All, by Hal Weitzman (2022).
  • Global Shell Games: Experiments in Transnational Relations, Crime, and Terrorism, by Michael G. Findley, Daniel L. Nielson, and J. C. Sharman (2014).
  • "The FATF Recommendations," by the Financial Action Task Force (2012).

• EXTRAS:
  • "Will the Democrats 'Make America Great Again'?" by Freakonomics Radio (2023).