The "Freakonomics" of Medicine | Harvard Physician-Economist and Freakonomics Host Dr. Bapu Jena
Fri Feb 06 2026
In this episode, we're speaking with Dr. Bapu Jena — a Harvard physician-economist and former host of Freakonomics, MD — to explore the hidden forces that shape how medicine actually works. Drawing from his research and his book Random Acts of Medicine, Dr. Jena explains how healthcare's interactions with chance and incentives aren't always intuitive.
The conversation spans natural experiments in healthcare, why more care isn’t always better care, how physician training and demographics can affect outcomes, and what we often misunderstand when we read medical studies or headlines. Along the way, Dr. Jena shares how curiosity (not policy agendas) has driven his work, and why asking the right questions matters more than having easy answers. This episode is a deep dive into the “Freakonomics of Medicine," and a reminder that understanding healthcare requires looking beyond intuition, averages, and assumptions.
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In this episode, we're speaking with Dr. Bapu Jena — a Harvard physician-economist and former host of Freakonomics, MD — to explore the hidden forces that shape how medicine actually works. Drawing from his research and his book Random Acts of Medicine, Dr. Jena explains how healthcare's interactions with chance and incentives aren't always intuitive. The conversation spans natural experiments in healthcare, why more care isn’t always better care, how physician training and demographics can affect outcomes, and what we often misunderstand when we read medical studies or headlines. Along the way, Dr. Jena shares how curiosity (not policy agendas) has driven his work, and why asking the right questions matters more than having easy answers. This episode is a deep dive into the “Freakonomics of Medicine," and a reminder that understanding healthcare requires looking beyond intuition, averages, and assumptions.