Highway Signs and Prison Labor

Freakonomics Radio

Freakonomics Radio + Stitcher

Documentary, Society & Culture

4.6 • 32K Ratings

🗓️ 6 January 2025

⏱️ 39 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Incarcerated people grow crops, fight wildfires, and manufacture everything from prescription glasses to highway signs — often for pennies an hour. Zachary Crockett takes the next exit, in this special episode of The Economics of Everyday Things.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey there, it's Stephen Dovner, and today we've got a bonus episode for you.
0:07.4	It is an episode of another show in our network.
0:10.1	It's called The Economics of Everyday Things, which is hosted by Zachary Crockett.
0:14.7	In the past, Zachary and his team have made episodes about Michelin Stars, snake venomom, Presthetic Lims.
0:22.1	Today, they bring us their reporting on highway signs and prison labor.
0:26.5	If you like this episode, be sure to follow the show on your podcast app.
0:30.3	Again, it's called The Economics of Everyday Things.
0:33.4	And let us know what you think.
0:35.0	Our email is radio at freakonomics.com.
0:38.2	Okay, here is Zachary Crockett.
0:43.3	The town of Bun, North Carolina, is easy to miss.
0:51.7	It occupies a total area of just half a square mile,
0:55.6	and it's home to fewer than 330 people.
0:59.2	Most of the surrounding land is used to grow tobacco and soybeans.
1:03.5	But off the main road,
1:05.2	behind a series of chain-link fences and secure gates,
1:08.3	is the state's primary manufacturer of highway signs.
1:13.6	Inside the plant, workers are busy shearing giant aluminum panels, cutting sheets of green
1:21.1	adhesive, and measuring out the spacing between letters. And outside in the shipping yard, the plant's general manager, Lee Blackman, is admiring
1:30.3	a row of completed products.
1:33.3	This sign right here is 12 foot tall.
1:35.3	This is going somewhere on Interstate 95 in North Carolina.
	...

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