Freakonomics Radio Ep. 670: “Beeconomics 101”

Air Date: April 10, 2026
Host: Steve Levitt (Guest Host), with Stephen J. Dubner
Guests: Chris Hyatt (Hyatt Honey Company), Michael T. Roberts (UCLA Food Law Center), Wally Thurman (NC State), Alex Saposnik (King’s College London)

Main Theme / Purpose

This episode uncovers the “hidden side” of the honey and honeybee industry, focusing on why beekeepers are struggling financially despite booming demand for honey, and how honey fraud, weak regulation, and changing crop economics threaten the future of both bees and those who keep them. The conversation expands into the economics of positive externalities (the benefits bees inadvertently provide society), modern and historical honey fraud, and what can be done to save the authentic honey industry.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

Introduction: The Undervalued Good of Bees

• Positive externalities, such as pollination and education, receive less attention than negative ones like pollution.
• The U.S. honey industry is plagued by fraud and weak regulations, even as demand and prices rise.

Segment 1: Inside the Beekeeping Business

[03:43–08:32]

• Chris Hyatt (Hyatt Honey Company) explains his family's 58-year-old, multi-state beekeeping business.
• He laments having to give up baseball for late-night almond orchard pollination runs in his youth.
• “These honeybees, you take care of them, they'll take care of you financially” — Chris Hyatt [04:19]
• U.S. beekeepers now produce only 20–25% of national consumption (down from 70–75%).
• Although honey consumption and retail price have surged since 2000, beekeeper profits have not kept pace, mainly due to cheap imports and flat farmgate prices.

Segment 2: Raising and Stewarding Bees

[06:11–09:09]

• Beekeeping remains a manual, labor-intensive trade.
• Each summer, Hyatt manages up to a billion bees.
• Bees don’t just make honey—they are essential pollinators for almonds, apples, cherries, and more.
• Annual production per hive is highly weather- and region-dependent, but yields per hive have plummeted since the 1970s due to habitat loss and pests like the varroa mite.
  • “All these things are death by a thousand cuts. So these bees are not as strong as they used to be.” — Chris Hyatt [10:12]

Segment 3: Market Distortions and Honey Fraud

[10:37–15:12]

• The gap between wholesale and retail honey prices has grown, fueled by cheap, often adulterated imports (mainly from China, Vietnam, and India).
• The Department of Commerce determined in 2001 that China was dumping honey—sometimes at “one-tenth” U.S. production costs—on the U.S. market.
• Much of this “honey” is actually syrup mixed with a small portion of real honey.
  • “Honey has for years been one of the top three most frauded foods in the world. There is economic motivated adulteration.” — Chris Hyatt [14:09]
• Techniques such as trans-shipping, false paperwork, and blending syrups are widespread.

Segment 4: Food Fraud: Legal and Regulatory Gaps

[15:20–26:08]

• Michael T. Roberts (UCLA Law) explains food fraud and the challenges of policing it.
• Honey, olive oil, spices, vinegars, and fish are the top foods most likely to be adulterated.
  • “High value, easy to adulterate, difficult to verify.” — Michael T. Roberts on why olive oil and honey are frequent targets [19:22]
• Taste tests are poor at detecting fraud; most consumers, and even students trained to spot it, can’t tell the difference.
• The U.S. has “no standard of identity” for honey, so authenticity enforcement is nearly impossible without a legal definition.
  • “If you don't have a standard of identity, so who's to say what honey is?” — Michael T. Roberts [25:17]

Segment 5: Economics of Pollination and Positive Externalities

[30:20–39:58]

• Wally Thurman (NC State) dives into the economics of beekeeping and pollination.
• Beekeeping’s value largely comes from pollination, not honey, especially for high-value crops like almonds.
• Classic positive externality case: Bees pollinate apple orchards (“helping” the orchard) and also make honey (“helping” the beekeeper), but historically, each side wasn’t paid for these spillover benefits.
• Later research showed these benefits often are internalized via contracts—farmers now pay beekeepers for pollination, especially for crops like almonds, while beekeepers may pay for premium floral access in late-season.

Segment 6: Colony Collapse and Industry Adaptation

[40:58–45:47]

• Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) in 2006–2007 doubled winter bee mortality from 15% to 30%, but did not reduce the total number of hives, due to rapid replacement by beekeepers (“splitting hives”).
  • “You can create a whole new colony of bees in as little as six weeks... and then a month or two later, you've got two healthy colonies.” — Wally Thurman [43:48]
• What changed most was the spike in pollination fees for almond orchards—a cost now critical to the economics of both industries.
• The almond industry must keep U.S. beekeepers alive—Chinese bees can’t fill the pollination need due to distance.

Segment 7: Beekeeping through History

[48:51–53:05]

• Alex Saposnik (King’s College London) traces the economics of medieval and early modern beekeeping.
• The main medieval product was beeswax (for church candles), not honey.
• Churches’ wax budget was second only to building maintenance.
  • “After the expenses for the actual building, the biggest expense, year on year, was for beeswax.” — Alex Saposnik [51:23]
• Demand, and thus the price, for wax plummeted after the Protestant Reformation banned most candle usage; a similar “catastrophe” befell beekeepers after the rise of cheap imported sugar.
• Medieval honey was also subject to branding fraud (e.g., selling Lisbon honey as “Porto honey”).

Segment 8: The Policy and Incentive Maze

[54:04–57:52]

• Roberts: The U.S. must strengthen consumer protection, supply chain liability, and criminal enforcement to combat honey fraud.
• Retailers and private brands increasingly care about fraud due to reputational risk, but actual enforcement is still weak.
• Some suggest bounty-style programs (like the False Claims Act) to incentivize whistleblowers to reveal food fraud.
  • “Great idea. I like that. Can I write an article about it and not give you any credit?” — Michael T. Roberts (to Dubner/Levitt, on bounties) [57:48]

Segment 9: Is There Hope?

[58:17–59:16]

• Chris Hyatt describes the emotional highs and lows of beekeeping: “It’s amazing being in the bee yard... it almost sounds like a Boeing 747 on a hot summer day.”
• But heavy losses, rampant fraud, and industry misalignment have “lost a little bit of the romance.”

Notable Quotes / Memorable Moments with Timestamps

• “Honey has for years been one of the top three most frauded foods in the world.” — Chris Hyatt [02:15]
• “If you drink too much bourbon and then you get in your car and drive, you raise the risk for me and everybody else on the road… positive externalities don't get as much airtime, which is a shame—also honeybees.” — Stephen Dubner [01:20]
• “When it comes to honeybees, and especially the making of honey, all is not well. Honey is more popular than ever, but the industry is very lightly regulated, which makes it vulnerable to fraud.” — Stephen Dubner [01:37]
• "It's amazing being in the bee yard... It almost sounds like a Boeing 747 on a hot summer day.” — Chris Hyatt [58:26]
• “Do you care? You like the taste? Do you care if it's not authentic?” — Michael T. Roberts, on food fraud [22:45]
• “If you have single source olive oil, you're probably in a pretty good position.” — Michael T. Roberts [21:19]
• “Not only did apple growers and other farmers know about beekeepers in the area, they could call them up and pay them a certain amount per colony to come over and pollinate their crops.” — Wally Thurman [36:59]
• “After the expenses for the actual building, the biggest expense, year on year, was for beeswax.” — Alex Saposnik [51:23]
• “We will die without pollinator bees.” — Michael T. Roberts, on the stakes of protecting bees [27:44]
• “Great idea. I like that. Can I write an article about it and not give you any credit?” — Michael T. Roberts, on bounty whistleblower incentives [57:48]

Timestamps for Key Segments

• 01:20 — Introduction: The Nature of Externalities
• 03:43 — Chris Hyatt Introduces the Beekeeping Business
• 06:32 — Hive Yields, Labor, and Pest Challenges
• 10:37 — The Price Gap: Imports and Adulteration
• 15:20 — Food Fraud and Legal Challenges
• 19:22 — Olive Oil Fraud Analogies
• 23:15 — Standards of Identity: Why Honey Has None
• 30:20 — Economic Theory: Externalities and Beekeeping
• 36:59 — How Pollination Markets Actually Work
• 41:09 — Colony Collapse Disorder and Industry Resilience
• 48:51 — A Medieval Beekeeping Crisis (with Alex Saposnik)
• 54:04 — Policy ideas: Enforcement and Retail
• 58:17 — Hyatt’s Reflection on Beekeeping’s Joys and Losses

Conclusions

• The American honey industry is caught between a surging demand for honey, fraudulent low-cost imports, and lax/absent regulatory protections.
• Beekeepers’ real business is now pollination, not honey—a service on which entire crop industries (especially almonds) depend.
• The history of beekeeping shows the vulnerability of the industry to technological and economic shocks.
• Meaningful regulatory or market reforms are stymied by complex supply chains, consumer ignorance, and lack of strong incentives or legal standards for honey.
• Unless change happens soon—better standards, enforcement, and consumer awareness—beekeeping and pollination may follow the fate of the medieval wax trade, with widespread losses and collapse.

Tone & Language

The conversation blends humor and warmth with analytic rigor. Quotes and stories from guests like Chris Hyatt provide heart and grounded perspective. Dubner and Levitt’s economic thinking is clear but accessible, helping listeners parse the nuances behind market failures and possible solutions.

This summary is designed to provide a comprehensive yet accessible account of the episode “Beeconomics 101,” including structure, insights, key moments, and supporting detail for those who may not have listened but want a rich, self-contained overview.