Podcast: Freakonomics Radio (LS 83 · TOP 0.01% what is this?)
Episode: 670. Beeconomics 101
Pub date: 2026-04-10

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How do beekeepers make a living? Why is there so much honey fraud? And why did billions of bees suddenly disappear? To find out, guest host Steve Levitt activates his hive mind.

SOURCES:
- Alex Sapoznik, historian, reader in late medieval history at King’s College London.
- Chris Hiatt, past president of the American Honey Producers Association, owner of Hiatt Honey Company.
- Michael Roberts, founding executive director of the Resnick Center for Food Law and Policy at U.C.L.A. Law School.
- Walter "Wally" Thurman, professor emeritus of agricultural economics at North Carolina State University.

RESOURCES:
- "U.S. honey is increasingly supplied through imports," by David Olsen (USDA Economic Research Service, 2018).
- "Economic Effects and Responses to Changes in Honey Bee Health," by Peyton Ferrier, Randal Rucker, Walter Thurman, and Michael Burgett (USDA Economic Research Service, 2018).
- "The Fable of the Bees: An Economic Investigation," by Steven Cheung (The Journal of Law and Economics, 1973).
- "Sugar and Sweeteners Yearbook Tables - Visualization: Meeting honey demand in the United States," (USDA Economic Research Service).

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