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EconTalk
A Lively Debate on the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict (with Robert Wright)
2024/02/19
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Journalist and author Robert Wright invited EconTalk's Russ Roberts to his podcast, NonZero, to discuss the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, knowing that there would be plenty to disagree about. The two then agreed to release their back-and-forth on their respective podcasts. The result is a lively but respectful discussion that is more debate than the usual EconTalk episode. We hope there will still be much to learn from this slightly more combative than usual episode.
Year Zero of the Arab-Israeli Conflict (with Hillel Cohen)
2024/02/12
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How far back should you go to understand the current moment in the relationship between Israel and its Palestinian neighbors and the attack of October 7? Some would say 2005, or 1967, or maybe 1948 when the State of Israel was founded. But for historian and author Hillel Cohen of Hebrew University, year zero was 1929. Listen as he explains to EconTalk's Russ Roberts the significance of that year for the current moment, and the challenge of being an open-minded historian when tribal issues loom large.
Should Israel Depend on the US? (with Michael Oren)
2024/02/05
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For decades, American aid to Israel has sent a strategic message: the greatest superpower in the world stands behind the Jewish state. But does it really? Historian and former Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Michael Oren tells EconTalk's Russ Roberts that it's time for Israel to stop accepting U.S. foreign aid. He also explains why he's optimistic about Israel's future even as the Gaza War drags on.
What Palestinians Are Thinking (with Dahlia Scheindlin)
2024/01/29
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Pollster and political scientist Dahlia Scheindlin has worked extensively with public opinion polls of both Palestinians and Israelis. Listen as she talks with EconTalk's Russ Roberts about the dreams, fears, anger, and frustration of both sides. Along the way she analyzes the mood of Arab-Israelis and what optimism, if any, she has for a peaceful coexistence between Israelis and Palestinians in the aftermath of October 7th.
If Life Is Random, Is It Meaningless? (with Brian Klaas)
2024/01/22
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How did a husband-and-wife vacation end up saving a city from the atomic bomb while destroying another? And how did a century-old murder of one family bring another into existence? Easily, explains political scientist Brian Klaas of University College London, who points out that history is replete with chance events that profoundly shaped both society and individual lives. Listen as Klaas discusses his book Fluke with EconTalk's Russ Roberts. Klaas argues that recognizing the randomness of everyday life and history can lead to a newfound appreciation for the meaning of every decision, and to a focus on joyful experimentation instead of relentless optimization.
Can a Nation Plunder Its Way to Wealth (with Noah Smith)
2024/01/15
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Did nations get rich on the backs of other nations? Did the West get rich from imperialism? Noah Smith says no. But why not? If you can steal stuff, isn't that better than having to make it yourself? Listen as Noah Smith and EconTalk's Russ Roberts discuss the impact of imperialism and industrialization on growth and wealth. Smith argues that understanding plunder and where wealth comes from is more than an exercise in economic history--it matters for today's world, too.
The Challenge of Covering the Most Important Story on Earth (with Matti Friedman)
2024/01/08
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Journalist Matti Friedman worked for the Jerusalem Bureau of the Associated Press from 2006 to 2011. Looking back at that experience, Friedman argues that little has changed in the journalism landscape. Listen as Friedman discusses with EconTalk host Russ Roberts the media's obsession with Israel and how and why the media often sidelines facts in service of ideology, and the challenge of objective reporting in wartime.
From the Second Intifada to October 7th (with Daniel Gordis)
2024/01/01
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Over the 25 years he's lived in Israel, author Daniel Gordis of Shalem College has seen many chapters of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, beginning with the Second Intifada that followed the Oslo Accords. Listen as he and EconTalk's Russ Roberts discuss why Hamas's massacre of October 7th is different and is an existential threat to Israel. They also speak about why Israelis are demanding a different response to Hamas than they have in the past, and how and why this war will change Israel and the Jewish people.
Can Artificial Intelligence Be Moral? (with Paul Bloom)
2023/12/25
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It seems obvious that moral artificial intelligence would be better than the alternative. But psychologist Paul Bloom of the University of Toronto thinks moral AI is not just a meaningless goal but a bad one. Listen as Bloom and EconTalk's Russ Roberts have a wide-ranging conversation about the nature of AI, the nature of morality, and the value of ensuring that we mortals can keep doing stupid or terrible things.
An Extraordinary Introduction to the Birth of Israel and the Arab-Israeli Conflict (with Haviv Rettig Gur)
2023/12/18
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Israeli journalist Haviv Rettig Gur takes us on a deep dive into the origins of Israel--how European Jew-hatred gave birth to Zionism and the founding of the Jewish state in 1948. He then turns to the rise of Palestinian terrorism and explains why the Palestinian experience and the Israeli experience are so incompatible. Along the way, Gur places the Holocaust in a much broader European context. I learned an immense amount from this conversation and hope you do, too.
Niall Ferguson on Free Speech and Kissinger's Role in the Middle East
2023/12/11
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How can we create a radically different atmosphere at American universities? Easy, says historian Niall Ferguson of Stanford University's Hoover Institution--have meaningful rules about free speech, and ensure that they're upheld. As with humans, as with institutions: It's all about incentives. Ferguson discusses the current state of free speech on American campuses and how the new University of Austin when it opens hopes to safeguard freedom of speech. The conversation shifts then to the war in the Middle East. Ferguson draws on his work on the biography of Henry Kissinger and compares the present moment for Israel to the Yom Kippur War and the role Kissinger played in 1973.
Yossi Klein Halevi on the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict
2023/12/04
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In 2018, author Yossi Klein Halevi wanted Palestinians to understand his story of how Israel came into existence. At the same time, he wanted Palestinians to tell him their personal and national stories, too, about the same land. The result was Letters to My Palestinian Neighbor , a candid, heartfelt book that engaged Jews and Arabs around the world in conversation. Listen as Klein Halevi talks about his book and the Palestinian-Israeli conflict with EconTalk's Russ Roberts. Halevi explains why he believes that dialogue is possible, even when there are things about which the two sides will never agree. Finally, he speaks about where he sees Israel headed in the wake of Hamas's brutal October 7th attack.
Tyler Cowen on the GOAT of Economics
2023/11/27
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Who is the greatest economist of all time? In Tyler Cowen's eclectic view, you need both breadth and depth, macro and micro. You can't have been too wrong--and you need to be mostly right. You have to have had a lasting impact, and done both theory and empirical work. If you meet all these criteria, you may just be history's greatest economist. Listen as Cowen talks about his new and freely accessible book GOAT with EconTalk's Russ Roberts. Along the way to crowning a winner, Cowen offers original insights into what shaped the theories and worldviews of the greatest economists of all time. Cowen and Roberts also talk about the evolution of economics from a field concerned mainly with ideas to one that mostly grapples with empirical challenges.
Andrew McAfee on the Geek Way
2023/11/20
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What's different about companies that accomplish amazing things? Perhaps surprisingly, says Andrew McAfee of MIT, it has nothing to do with being agile or with better technology. Instead, they've developed what he calls "geek" cultures, which emphasize intense cooperation, rapid learning curves, and a lack of hierarchy. Listen as McAfee talks about his book The Geek Way with EconTalk's Russ Roberts and how focusing on company norms, as opposed to organizational charts and structure, is a key to realizing big ambitions. They also discuss the role that data and evidence play in geek companies' decision-making and why the willingness to embrace failure is a winning strategy.
Jennifer Burns on Milton Friedman
2023/11/13
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Who was Milton Friedman? Jennifer Burns of Stanford University finds in her biography of Friedman that the answer to that question is more complicated than she thought. Listen as she and EconTalk's Russ Roberts discuss how the now-forgotten Henry Simons shaped Friedman's thought, the degree to which Friedman had a deep understanding and belief in the role of prices in a modern economy, and the influence of key women on Friedman's intellectual life. Finally, they explore whether or not Friedman's insights continue to affect public policy and the discipline of economics.
Zach Weinersmith on Space Settlement and A City on Mars
2023/11/06
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Loss of taste for most foods, vision problems, loss of muscle mass and bone density. In light of these and the many unpleasant our outright dangerous effects of space travel on human physiology, science writer and cartoonist Zach Weinersmith wonders: When it comes to the dream of space expansion, what exactly do we hope to gain? Listen as he and EconTalk's Russ Roberts discuss his new book (co-authored with Kelly Weinersmith) A City on Mars , which offers a hard-nosed yet humorous look at the sobering and lesser-discussed challenges involved in building space settlements. Topics include the particular problems posed by the moon and Mars's atmospheres; the potential difficulty of reproducing in zero gravity; and the dangerous tendency to overlook a key factor in whether space settlement is a good idea: the fact that people are people, wherever they may be.
Michael Easter on Excess, Moderation, and the Scarcity Brain
2023/10/30
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Slot machines, social media, and potato chips: we humans seem to find a lot of things hard to consume in moderation. Why does "enough" seem so much harder to say than "more?" Listen as Michael Easter discusses these questions and his book, The Scarcity Brain , with EconTalk's Russ Roberts. Easter shares ways that our awareness of how our brain works can help us reclaim balance--in our diets, our money, our emotions, and how we spend our time.
Robert Sapolsky on Determinism, Free Will, and Responsibility
2023/10/23
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Your mother's socio-economic status at the time of your birth. Whether your ancestors raised crops or led camels through the desert. The smell of the room you're in when you're making a decision--all of these things, says neuroscientist Robert Sapolsky, combine to affect your behavior, as well as everything in between. And if you're wondering where free will fits in, Sapolsky says, it doesn't: If we're all the sum of our biology and environments over which we had no control, it makes no sense to hold us accountable for anything that we do. In a conversation that's equal parts fascinating and frightening, Sapolsky and EconTalk's Russ Roberts discuss the science and philosophy behind determinism. They explore what this argument, taken to its logical conclusion, means for our social and legal systems, and the challenge of how to live if free will is an illusion.
Alexandra Hudson on the Soul of Civility
2023/10/16
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When Alexandra Hudson arrived in Washington, DC, she discovered that outward behavior is not always a reflection of a person's character. Her disillusionment led to an in-depth exploration of the historical concept and practice of civility, along with a newfound appreciation for not only empathy, but also debate and disagreement in a healthy society. Listen as she and EconTalk's Russ Roberts discuss her book The Soul of Civility , a call for less superficial politeness and more genuine respect for and consideration toward others in the social, cultural, and political spheres. They also discuss the power of social norms and how they can promote human flourishing.
Adam Mastroianni on Learning and Mostly Forgetting
2023/10/09
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How much do we remember of what we learn in school or from conversation? Psychologist Adam Mastroianni says: from little to nothing much. What do our brains retain? Mastroianni argues that often it's a mix of emotions, meanings, and values that end up shaping who we are, what Mastroianni calls "vibes." Listen as he and EconTalk's Russ Roberts discuss the role of vibes in knowledge acquisition and the implications for how we teach, learn, and speak to those around us.
Elie Hassenfeld on GiveWell
2023/10/02
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When then-hedge fund manager Elie Hassenfeld began his philanthropic journey in 2006, he knew that he wanted to get the most charitable bang for his buck. He quickly realized, however, that detailed data on charitable impact simply didn't exist. So he and Holden Karnovsky founded GiveWell, an organization inspired by effective altruism that identifies the charities that save or improve lives the most for every dollar given. Listen as Hassenfeld, GiveWell's CEO, explains to EconTalk's Russ Roberts how GiveWell determines the small number of charities they recommend to achieve optimal impact. They also discuss the dangers of an over-reliance on data and the case for bucketing our philanthropy to allow for local or personal giving.
Peter Attia on Lifespan, Healthspan, and Outlive
2023/09/25
We spend too much of our health care focus on lifespan and not enough on healthspan--the quality of our life as we get older. So argues Dr. Peter Attia, author of Outlive: The Science and Art of Longevity . Attia speaks with EconTalk's Russ Roberts about what kills us, what slows us down as we age, and the weapons we have to allow us to live better and longer.
Michael Munger on How Adam Smith Solved the Trolley Problem
2023/09/18
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In the original version of a now classic thought experiment, five people are about to be killed by a runaway trolley. Would you divert the trolley knowing that your choice will kill a single innocent bystander? Listen as Michael Munger of Duke University argues that Adam Smith gave an answer to this challenge a few hundred years before it was proposed by the philosopher Philippa Foot and brought vividly to life in the miniseries, The Good Place . Along the way, Munger and EconTalk's Russ Roberts discuss effective altruism, the moral claims of Peter Singer, what the trolley problem really tells us, if anything, and how our moral choices differ according to context.
Anupam Bapu Jena on Random Acts of Medicine
2023/09/11
Do marathons kill people who aren't in the race? Does when you're born make you more likely to get the flu? And what's the difference between a good doctor and a bad one? These are some of the questions Anupam Bapu Jena of Harvard University and EconTalk host Russ Roberts take up as they discuss Jena's book, Random Acts of Medicine .
Roland Fryer on Race, Diversity, and Affirmative Action
2023/09/04
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Can economics and better measurement help us understand racial disparities and suggest how to reduce or eliminate them? Economist Roland Fryer of Harvard University believes deeply in the power of data to help us understand how the world works and how we might change it. Listen as he tells EconTalk's Russ Roberts of his devotion to this mission, what he learned from his grandmother, and what colleges can do if they really want to increase minority enrollment.
Vinay Prasad on Cancer Screening
2023/08/28
Early detection of cancer seems like a very good idea. But it's a lot more complicated than it seems. Oncologist and epidemiologist Vinay Prasad of the University of California, San Francisco talks to EconTalk's Russ Roberts about why many tests to detect cancer do little or nothing to extend lifespan.
Walter Russell Mead on Innovation, Religion, and the State of the World
2023/08/21
Historian and author Walter Russell Mead of Bard College and the Hudson Institute talks with EconTalk's Russ Roberts about how innovation and religion can help us make sense of the current state of the world.
Adam Mastroianni on the Brain, the Ears, and How We Learn
2023/08/14
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Psychologist and writer Adam Mastroianni says our minds are like the keep of a castle protecting our deepest held values and beliefs from even the most skilled attacks. The only problem with this design for self-preservation is that it also can keep out wisdom that might be both useful and true. Mastroianni's summary of the problem is "you can't reach the brain through the ears." Listen as Mastroianni talks with EconTalk's Russ Roberts about the implication of this view of mind for teaching, learning, and our daily interactions with the people around us.
Zvi Mowshowitz on AI and the Dial of Progress
2023/08/07
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The future of AI keeps Zvi Mowshowitz up at night. He also wonders why so many smart people seem to think that AI is more likely to save humanity than destroy it. Listen as Mowshowitz talks with EconTalk's Russ Roberts about the current state of AI, the pace of AI's development, and where--unless we take serious action--the technology is likely to end up (and that end is not pretty). They also discuss Mowshowitz's theory that the shallowness of the AI extinction-risk discourse results from the assumption that you have to be either pro-technological progress or against it.
Daron Acemoglu on Innovation and Shared Prosperity
2023/07/31
Economist and author Daron Acemoglu of MIT discusses his book Power and Progress with EconTalk host Russ Roberts. Acemoglu argues that the productivity and prosperity that results from innovation is not always shared widely across the population. He makes the case for the importance of regulating new technologies to ensure that the benefits of innovation are distributed equitably.
Erik Hoel on Consciousness, Free Will, and the Limits of Science
2023/07/24
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Neuroscientist and author Erik Hoel talks about his book, The World Behind the World , with EconTalk's Russ Roberts. Is it possible to reconcile the seemingly subjective inner world of human experience with the seemingly objective outer world of observation, measurement, and science? Despite the promise of neuroscience, Hoel argues that this reconciliation is surprisingly difficult. Join Hoel and Roberts for a wide-ranging exploration of what it means to be human and the limits of science in helping us understand who we are.
Lydia Dugdale on the Lost Art of Dying
2023/07/17
Physician and author Lydia Dugdale wants to teach us a better way to die. She argues that this will help us find a better way to live. Listen as she discusses her book, The Lost Art of Dying , with EconTalk's Russ Roberts.
Marc Andreessen on Why AI Will Save the World
2023/07/10
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Marc Andreessen thinks AI will make everything better--if only we get out of the way. He argues that in every aspect of human activity, our ability to understand, synthesize, and generate knowledge results in better outcomes. Listen as the entrepreneur and venture capitalist speaks with EconTalk's Russ Roberts about AI's potential to improve the world and why those who fear that AI will destroy humanity are wildly over-reacting.
James Rebanks on the Shepherd's Life
2023/07/03
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James Rebanks's family has raised sheep in the same small English village for at least four centuries. There are records of people with his same last name going back a few hundred more. Even his sheep are rooted in place: their DNA is from Viking times. It's enough to make anyone feel insignificant--and according to Rebanks, that's a wonderful thing. Listen as the author of The Shepherd's Life speaks with EconTalk's Russ Roberts about the deep pleasures and humbling privilege of being a sheep farmer.
Jacob Howland on the Hidden Human Costs of AI
2023/06/26
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In the early 1900s, the philosopher Henry Adams expressed concern about the rapid rate of social change ushered in by new technologies, from the railways to the telegraph and ultimately airplanes. If we transpose Adams's concerns onto the power of artificial intelligence--a power whose rate of acceleration would have exceeded his wildest dreams--you might feel a bit uneasy. Listen as philosopher Jacob Howland of UATX speaks with EconTalk's Russ Roberts about why too much leisure is at best a mixed blessing, and how technology can lead to intellectual atrophy. They also speak about the role of AI in education and its implications for that most human of traits: curiosity. Finally, they discuss Howland's biggest concern when it comes to outsourcing our tasks, and our thinking, to machines: that we'll ultimately end up surrendering our own liberty.
Michael Munger on Obedience to the Unenforceable
2023/06/19
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Civilization and the pleasantness of everyday life depend on unwritten rules. Early in the 20th century, an English mathematician and government official, Lord Moulton, described complying with these rules as "obedience to the unenforceable"--the area of personal choice that falls between illegal acts and complete freedom. Listen as economist Michael Munger talks with EconTalk's Russ Roberts about the power and challenge of the unenforceable.
Rebecca Struthers on Watches, Watchmaking, and the Hands of Time
2023/06/12
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Called "a poem in clockwork," the self-winding Breguet watch made for Marie Antoinette was meant to be the most beautiful example of mechanical art in the world. Yet when she was imprisoned in the Tour du Temple, she wanted only a simple watch that would mark the passing of the hours until her meeting with the guillotine. Listen as Rebecca Struthers, the watchmaker, antiquarian horologist, and author of the Hands of Time talks with EconTalk's Russ Roberts about how our need to keep time has shaped watchmaking history, and how, in turn, the development of watches has shaped human culture and society. Other topics include the precise and painstaking craft of bespoke watchmaking and the challenge of restoring watches from another time.
Les Snead on Risk, Decisions, and Football
2023/06/05
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After nearly 12 years as general manager for the L.A. Rams, Les Snead has learned the power of humility when it comes to making big decisions--who to draft, who to hire as head coach, and how to create a shared vision for his team. Listen as he and EconTalk's Russ Roberts discuss what it's like to manage a professional football team along with the intense pressures that come with the territory. An episode for every fan who has played Monday-morning quarterback, and all of us who wonder how those who play for high stakes survive and thrive.
Luca Dellanna on Risk, Ruin, and Ergodicity
2023/05/29
Author and consultant Luca Dellanna talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the importance of avoiding ruin when facing risk. Along the way Dellanna makes understandable the arcane concept of ergodicity and shows the importance of avoiding ruin in every day life.
Casey Mulligan on Vaccines, the Pandemic, and the FDA
2023/05/22
When there's no vaccine on the market, people will look for other ways to be safe, including school closures and the handwashing of groceries. Listen as economist Casey Mulligan of the University Chicago talks with EconTalk's Russ Roberts about the costs of delaying a vaccine, the hidden costs of FDA regulation, and what we learned and failed to learn about the Covid pandemic.
Tyler Cowen on the Risks and Impact of Artificial Intelligence
2023/05/15
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Economist Tyler Cowen of George Mason University talks with EconTalk's Russ Roberts about the benefits and dangers of artificial intelligence. Cowen argues that the worriers--those who think that artificial intelligence will destroy mankind--need to make a more convincing case for their concerns. He also believes that the worriers are too willing to reduce freedom and empower the state in the name of reducing a risk that is far from certain. Along the way, Cowen and Roberts discuss how AI might change various parts of the economy and the job market.
Eliezer Yudkowsky on the Dangers of AI
2023/05/08
Eliezer Yudkowsky insists that once artificial intelligence becomes smarter than people, everyone on earth will die. Listen as Yudkowsky speaks with EconTalk's Russ Roberts on why we should be very, very afraid, and why we're not prepared or able to manage the terrifiying risks of artificial intelligence.
Patrick House and Itzhak Fried on the Brain's Mysteries
2023/05/01
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While operating on a 16-year-old girl who suffered from severe seizures, neurosurgeon Itzhak Fried stumbled on the region of the brain that makes us laugh. To neuroscientist Patrick House, Fried's ability to produce laughter surgically raises deep and disconcerting questions about how the brain works. Join Fried, House, and EconTalk's Russ Roberts for a live broadcast from Jerusalem's Shalem College that is a sequel of sorts to House's earlier appearance on EconTalk. House and Fried discuss the mystery of consciousness and try to square the biological bases for emotions with the circle of our humanity.
Michael Munger on the Perfect vs. the Good
2023/04/24
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Is the perfect really the enemy of the good? Or is it the other way around? In 2008, Duke University economist Michael Munger ran for governor and proposed increasing school choice through vouchers for the state's poorest counties. But some lovers of liberty argued that it's better to fight for eliminating public schools instead of trying to improve them. Munger realized his fellow free-marketers come in two flavors: directionalists--who take our political realities as given and try to move outcomes closer to the ideal--and destinationists--who want no compromises with what they see as the perfect outcome. Listen as Munger talks to EconTalk's Russ Roberts about two different strategies for achieving political goals. Along the way, they discuss rent control, the minimum wage, and why free-market policies are so rare.
Dana Gioia on Poetry, Death and Mortality
2023/04/17
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When he was a child, poet Dana Gioia's mother would come home from a long day of work and recite poems while she cleaned. It was a way, he realized later, for her to express the feelings she didn't want to describe directly, and to vent her sorrows without burdening her son. This, he believes, is what makes poetry so compelling: It's the secret language of emotions, a bit of magic that gets us through the day. Listen as Gioia speaks with EconTalk's Russ Roberts about poems, mortality, and loved ones who died too young. Gioia also explains the fundamental role of allusions in poems, and how--if they’re really good--they have the power to summon the dead.
Daniel Gordis on Israel and Impossible Takes Longer
2023/04/10
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As Israel turns 75, has it fulfilled the promise of its founders? Daniel Gordis of Shalem College talks about his book, Impossible Takes Longer , with EconTalk's Russ Roberts looking at the successes and failures of Israel. Topics discussed include the history of Zionism, the plight of the Palestinians, the Jewishness of the Jewish state, and the current debate in Israel over judicial reform.
Erik Hoel on the Threat to Humanity from AI
2023/04/03
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They operate according to rules we can never fully understand. They can be unreliable, uncontrollable, and misaligned with human values. They're fast becoming as intelligent as humans--and they're exclusively in the hands of profit-seeking tech companies. "They," of course, are the latest versions of AI, which herald, according to neuroscientist and writer Erik Hoel, a species-level threat to humanity. Listen as he tells EconTalk's Russ Roberts why we need to treat AI as an existential threat.
Kevin Kelly on Advice, AI, and Technology
2023/03/27
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Photographer, author, and visionary Kevin Kelly talks about his book Excellent Advice for Living with EconTalk's Russ Roberts. His advice includes how to have a deep conversation, why it's better to control time than money--and whether, in the end, we should give advice in the first place. Other topics of discussion include the right object of our aspirations, the reason for optimism when it comes to technology, and why Kelly is not worried about AI.
Megan McArdle on the Oedipus Trap
2023/03/20
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When physician Walter Freeman died in 1972, he still believed that lobotomies were the best treatment for mental illness. A pioneer in the method, he was a deeply confident and charismatic man who eagerly spread the technique in America, long after the rise of alternative treatments that were less destructive. Listen as journalist Megan McArdle and EconTalk's Russ Roberts discuss what McArdle calls the "Oedipus Trap": mistakes that no one can live with, even if they were innocently made, and how admitting such mistakes to ourselves is nearly impossible. They also discuss the complexity of the credo, "follow the science."
Zach Weinersmith on Beowulf and Bea Wolf
2023/03/13
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Tolkien read it as a tale about mortality. The poet David Whyte said it was a metaphor for the psychological demons deep in our minds. And that, insists the cartoonist and writer Zach Weinersmith, is precisely Beowulf's appeal: Its richness opens the door to endless interpretation. Listen as the author of Bea Wolf , a graphic novel for children based on the Old English poem, speaks with EconTalk's Russ Roberts about poetry in general, Beowulf in particular, whether we should require students to memorize poems, and the value of stories for children even without a moral lesson.
Omer Moav on the Emergence of the State
2023/03/06
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Since at least Adam Smith, the common wisdom has been that the transition from hunter-gathering to farming allowed the creation of the State. Farming, so went the theory, led to agricultural surplus, and that surplus is the prerequisite for taxation and a State. But economist Omer Moav of the University of Warwick and Reichman University argues that it wasn't farming but the farming of a particular kind of crop (but not others) that led to hierarchy and the State. Moav explains to EconTalk host Russ Roberts storability is the key dimension that allows for taxation and a State. The conversation includes a discussion of why it's important to understand the past and the challenges of confirming or refuting theories about history.
Paul Bloom on Psych, Psychology, and the Human Mind
2023/02/27
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Do psychologists know anything? Psychologist Paul Bloom says yes--but not the things that you might think. Bloom discusses his book Psych with EconTalk's Russ Roberts and what the field of psychology can teach us about human intelligence, consciousness, and unhelpful instincts. They also discuss just how far psychology is from a true understanding of the human mind, and why, according to Bloom, that might not be such a bad thing.
Marco Ramos on Misunderstanding Mental Illness
2023/02/20
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When psychiatrist Marco Ramos of Yale University prescribes antidepressants to patients in distress and they ask him how they work, Ramos admits: We don't really know. And too often, they don't work at all. Despite decades of brain research and billions of dollars spent, psychiatry has made little progress in understanding mental illness. Listen as Ramos explains to EconTalk's Russ Roberts how the myth of the biological basis for mental illness began, why it stubbornly persists, and why honesty about what we know and don't know is the best policy.
Adam Mastroianni on Peer Review and the Academic Kitchen
2023/02/13
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Psychologist Adam Mastroianni says peer review has failed. Papers with major errors make it through the process. The ones without errors often fail to replicate. One approach to improve the process is better incentives. But Mastroianni argues that peer review isn't fixable. It's a failed experiment. Listen as he makes the case to EconTalk host Russ Roberts for a new approach to science and academic research.
Sam Harris on Meditation, Mindfulness, and Morality
2023/02/06
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According to neuroscientist and philosopher Sam Harris, rationality is the key to safeguarding everything we cherish, and its only true enemy is dogmatic inflexibility. Harris speaks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the views that have made Harris famous, teasing out the often mind-blowing subtleties of his religious and cultural critiques. They discuss what Harris has learned as a podcaster and author, and how ecstasy launched his spiritual journey. Finally, they move on to the power of meditation, exploring the way it can lead to self-transcendence and real connection with others.
Vinay Prasad on Pharmaceuticals, the FDA, and the Death of Duty
2023/01/30
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Oncologist and epidemiologist Vinay Prasad argues that too many very expensive drugs get approved by the FDA that have very limited impact on the lives of patients. Prasad explains the incentives that distort the current system. The general problem, he explains to EconTalk host Russ Roberts, is the death of duty--too many players in the health care landscape and elsewhere stay quiet or do the wrong thing in order to serve themselves.
Dwayne Betts on Beauty, Prison, and Redaction
2023/01/23
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Dwayne Betts was a 16-year-old in solitary confinement when a fellow inmate slid a book of poetry under his cell door. What happened next is an astounding story of transformation: from desperation to the discovery of beauty, even behind bars. Listen as the lawyer, prison reform advocate, and award-winning poet explains to EconTalk host Russ Roberts why he's on a mission to bring books--and beauty--into prisons. They also discuss Betts's latest book, Redaction , a collaboration with the artist Titus Kaphar.
Tiffany Jenkins on Plunder, Museums, and Marbles
2023/01/16
Should the British Museum return the Elgin Marbles, taken from the Parthenon in Athens about 200 years ago? What should be the purpose of museums, education or social justice? Listen as Tiffany Jenkins, author of Keeping Their Marbles, discusses these questions and more with EconTalk host Russ Roberts.
Ian Leslie on Being Human in the Age of AI
2023/01/09
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When OpenAI launched its conversational chatbot this past November, author Ian Leslie was struck by the humanness of the computer's dialogue. Then he realized that he had it exactly backward: In an age that favors the formulaic and generic to the ambiguous, complex, and unexpected, it's no wonder that computers can sound eerily lifelike. Leslie tells EconTalk host Russ Roberts that we should worry less about the lifelike nature of AI and worry more that human beings are being more robotic and predictable. Leslie bolsters his argument with evidence from music and movies. The conversation includes a discussion of the role of education in wearing down the mind's rougher, but more interesting and more authentic, edges as well as how we might strive to be more human in the age of AI.
Hannah Ritchie on Eating Local
2023/01/02
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Having completed several degrees in environmental science, Hannah Ritchie nearly left the field out of helplessness and frustration, worried she would never make a real difference. Today, she's a passionate advocate for changing climate messaging, replacing what she believes are paralyzing--and often false--claims with empowering arguments that people can embrace. Listen as the head of research at Our World in Data talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about food emissions, low-carbon technologies, and what the data shows about what matters (and what matters much less) when it comes to climate change.
Judge Glock on Zoning and Local Government
2022/12/26
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Economic historian Judge Glock talks to EconTalk host Russ Roberts about zoning and the housing market. Glock argues the impact on zoning on housing affordability is small and that we should learn to love property taxes as long as they're administered properly. The conversation includes a discussion of the environmental impact of urban sprawl--Glock argues sprawl has certain environmental benefits.
Arnold Kling on Twitter, FTX, and ChatGPT
2022/12/19
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Economist and author Arnold Kling talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the recent drama in the tech world--Elon Musk's acquisition of Twitter, the collapse of FTX, and the appearance of ChatGPT. Underlying topics discussed include the potential for price discrimination to make social media profitable, whether you could tell Jeff Bezos from Sam Bankman-Fried early on, and the role of human beings in the world of artificial intelligence.
Monica Guzman on Curiosity and Conversation in Contentious Times
2022/12/12
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In our highly polarized times, everyone seems obsessed with the truth: what is it, who has it, and which side's got it all wrong. What we don't seem to care about, says journalist Monica Guzman, is the truth behind perspectives other than our own. Listen as Guzman and host Russ Roberts discuss Guzman's book I Never Thought of It That Way , a call to get interested in the people behind the positions, and the experiences, hopes, and fears that lead to their beliefs. Guzman and Roberts also discuss the role of great questions in sparking meaningful conversations, and how we can not only get along with, but even learn from, those with whom we ardently disagree.
Patrick House on Consciousness
2022/12/05
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How does the mind work? What makes us sad? What makes us laugh? Despite advances in neuroscience, the answers to these questions remain elusive. Neuroscientist Patrick House talks about these mysteries and about his book Nineteen Ways of Looking at Consciousness with EconTalk host Russ Roberts. House's insights illuminate not just what we know and don't know about our minds--he also helps us understand what it means to be human.
Annie Duke on the Power of Quitting
2022/11/28
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Annie Duke is angry that quitting gets such a bad rap. Instead of our relentless focus on grit and "going for it," the former professional poker player, decision strategist, and author of Quit wants us to recognize the costs associated with sticking to a losing outcome. Listen as she explains to EconTalk host Russ Roberts how society's conflation of grit with character has made quitting unnecessarily hard, and why our desire for certainty harms our decision-making ability. Additional topics include the flawed mental accounting that makes us confuse wins for losses, what we can learn from ants, and the tragic story of how the refusal to quit cost 16 lives one terrible night at the top of Mt. Everest.
Johnathan Bi on Mimesis and René Girard
2022/11/21
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When the 20-year-old overachiever Johnathan Bi's first startup crashed and burned, he headed to a Zen retreat in the Catskills to "debug himself." He discovered René Girard and his mimetic theory--the idea that imitation is a key and often unconscious driver of human behavior. Listen as entrepreneur and philosopher Bi shares with EconTalk host Russ Roberts what he learned from Girard and Girard's insights into how we meet our primal need for money, fame, and power. The conversation includes the contrasts between economics and Girard's perspective.
Agnes Callard on Meaning, the Human Quest, and the Aims of Education
2022/11/14
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Suppose all of humanity was infected by a virus that left us all infertile--no one will come along after us. How would you react to such a world? Agnes Callard of the University of Chicago says she would be filled with despair. But why does this seem worse than our own inevitable deaths? Callard speaks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the meaning of life, and what exactly about the end of humanity is so demoralizing. The conversation concludes with a discussion of whether humanity is making progress.
Jessica Todd Harper on Beauty, Family, and Photography
2022/11/07
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When everyone is carrying a camera in their pocket, what raises the act of taking pictures to the level of fine art photography? Jessica Todd Harper, the award-winning portrait photographer, says that it's equal parts mindset and technique--and lots of setting the stage to seize that perfect light. Listen as Harper speaks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about her desire to capture the complexity of life in a single image, why family relationships and home life are her chosen subjects, and the integral role beauty plays in her images, despite its diminished status in art today.
Michael Munger on Industrial Policy
2022/10/31
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Economist and political scientist Michael Munger of Duke University talks about industrial policy with EconTalk host Russ Roberts. Munger argues that in a democracy, the default outcome for industrial policy is crony capitalism--attempts to improve on that outcome either by appointing experts or eliminating cronyism are going to fail for political reasons. The conversation concludes with a discussion of the reliability of Munger's claim and what options are left for dissatisfied reformers.
Ryan Holiday on Discipline Is Destiny
2022/10/24
Author Ryan Holiday talks about his book, Discipline Is Destiny , with EconTalk host Russ Roberts. Holiday discusses the mentor who taught him discipline, the self-control of Queen Elizabeth, the world-champion boxer who counseled the man who defeated him in the ring, and the forgotten Roman emperor who helped make Marcus Aurelius the man he would become.
Devon Zuegel on Inflation, Argentina, and Crypto
2022/10/17
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Devon Zuegel talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the crazy world of money and finance in Argentina. When inflation is often high and unpredictable, people look for unusual ways to hold their savings. And when banks are unreliable because of public policy, people look for unusual ways to keep their savings safe and to make financial transactions. Welcome to Argentina, where Zuegel finds surprising applications of cryptocurrency for solving problems.
Roland Fryer on Educational Reform
2022/10/10
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The good news about educational reform, says Harvard economist Roland Fryer, is that we know what it takes to turn a school around. The bad news is that it's hard work--and implementing it won't win you any popularity contests. Listen as the MacArthur Genius Award Winner and John Bates Clark medalist speaks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about how pizza parties revealed the potential of incentives to improve students' test scores, and why he's far more concerned about closing the racial achievement gap than keeping the love of learning pure. He also discusses the five best practices of successful schools, and why it's his failures far more than his successes that keep him in this fight.
Sonat Birnecker Hart on Whiskey
2022/10/03
Scholar and distiller Sonat Birnecker Hart of the Koval Distillery talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about her career move from academia to whiskey-making. She explains that the heart is the key to great flavor--when making whiskey, and when making the right choices in life.
Erik Hoel on Effective Altruism, Utilitarianism, and the Repugnant Conclusion
2022/09/26
Neuroscientist Erik Hoel talks about why he is not an "effective altruist" with EconTalk host, Russ Roberts. Hoel argues that the utilitarianism that underlies effective altruism--a movement co-founded by Will MacAskill and Peter Singer--is a poison that inevitably leads to repugnant conclusions and thereby weakens the case for the strongest claims made by effective altruists.
Kieran Setiya on Midlife
2022/09/19
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John Stuart Mill's midlife crisis came at 20 when he realized that if he got what he desired he still wouldn't be happy. Art and poetry (and maybe love) saved the day for him. In this week's episode, philosopher Kieran Setiya of MIT talks about his book Midlife with EconTalk host Russ Roberts. Setiya argues we can learn from Mill to help deal with the ennui to which so many midlifers succumb--along with regrets for roads not taken and wistfulness for what could have been. Setiya argues that a well-lived life needs fewer projects and more pursuits that don't have goals or endpoints. He explains why past mistakes can turn out to be good things and how lost chances can help us appreciate the richness of life.
David McRaney on How Minds Change
2022/09/12
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To the Founding Fathers it was free libraries. To the 19th century rationalist philosophers it was a system of public schools. Today it's access to the internet. Since its beginnings, Americans have believed that if facts and information were available to all, a democratic utopia would prevail. But missing from these well-intentioned efforts, says author and journalist David McRaney, is the awareness that people's opinions are unrelated to their knowledge and intelligence. In fact, he explains, the better educated we become, the better we are at rationalizing what we already believe. Listen as the author of How Minds Change speaks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about why it's so hard to change someone's mind, the best way to make it happen (if you absolutely must), and why teens are hard-wired not to take good advice from older people even if they are actually wiser.
Will MacAskill on Longtermism and What We Owe the Future
2022/09/05
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Philosopher William MacAskill of the University of Oxford and a founder of the effective altruism movement talks about his book What We Owe the Future with EconTalk host Russ Roberts. MacAskill advocates "longtermism," giving great attention to the billions of people who will live on into the future long after we are gone. Topics discussed include the importance of moral entrepreneurs, why it's moral to have children, and the importance of trying to steer the future for better outcomes.
Amor Towles on A Gentleman in Moscow and the Writer's Craft
2022/08/29
Author Amor Towles talks about his book, A Gentleman in Moscow , with EconTalk host Russ Roberts. Along the way they discuss the craft of writing, the wellsprings of persistence, and Towles's reading habits.
Raj Chetty on Economic Mobility
2022/08/22
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Economist Raj Chetty of Harvard University talks about his work on economic mobility with EconTalk host Russ Roberts. The focus is on Chetty's recent co-authored study in Nature where he finds that poor people in America who are only connected to other poor people do dramatically worse financially than poor people who are connected to a wider array of economic classes. The discussion includes the policy implications of this result as well as a discussion of Chetty's earlier work on the American Dream and the challenge of Americans born in recent decades to do better financially than their parents.
Tyler Cowen on Talent
2022/08/15
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How do you hone your craft on an everyday basis? It could be writing, meeting with experts, even listening to podcasts, just so long, argues economist and blogger Tyler Cowen, as it makes you better at what you already do. Perhaps more than anything else, he believes, it's practice that divides middle managers from founders, and mere good hires from the creative obsessives who end up transforming the world. Join Cowen and EconTalk host Russ Roberts for a conversation about Talent , Cowen's new book on how (and how not) to identify the talented. Hear Cowen explain why, for high-level positions, unstructured interviews are important, why stamina is usually preferable to grit, and why credentials are largely a relic of the past.
Russ Roberts and Mike Munger on Wild Problems
2022/08/08
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Waze and Google Maps tell us the best way to get to where we're going. But no app or algorithm can tell us whether we should head there in the first place. To economist Russ Roberts, the reason is simple: Humans are dynamic and aspirational beings. When it comes to making life's big decisions, from what to study to whom to marry or whether to have a child, it's not always us doing the deciding, he argues, but rather the people we want to be. Join the host of EconTalk, the president of Shalem College, and the author of the new book Wild Problems: A Guide to the Decisions that Define Us , as he speaks with friend and EconTalk favorite Michael Munger about why the traditional economic models for decision making can lead us astray--and why life should be less about solving problems than embracing possibilities.
Gerd Gigerenzer on How to Stay Smart in a Smart World
2022/08/01
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IBM's super-computer Watson was a runaway success on Jeopardy! But it wasn't nearly as good at diagnosing cancer. This came as no surprise to Max Planck Institute psychologist Gerd Gigerenzer, who argues that when it comes to life-and-death decisions, we'll always need real, not artificial, brains. Listen as the author of How to Stay Smart in a Smart World tells EconTalk host Russ Roberts why computers aren't nearly as smart as we think. But, Gigerenzer says, human beings need to get smarter in order to avoid being manipulated by people who use AI for their own ends.
John List on Scale, Uber, and the Voltage Effect
2022/07/25
Economist John List of the University of Chicago talks about his book, The Voltage Effect , with EconTalk host Russ Roberts. He discusses what determines scalability and argues that the only good ideas that count are those that scale. Along the way, he draws on his experiences as chief economist of Uber and Lyft to peer inside the black box of ride sharing.
Vinay Prasad on the Pandemic
2022/07/18
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When it comes to the COVID-19 vaccination, is the risk of myocarditis greater than the benefit to a healthy male teen? Is natural immunity really better than vaccination--and were we right to mask the kids? Dr. Vinay Prasad of the University of California San Francisco talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about what we learned and didn't learn from COVID so far and how we should handle a pandemic going forward.
Nassim Nicholas Taleb on the Nations, States, and Scale
2022/07/11
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A language, a flag, a national anthem and shared history—like a heart that has to pump harder to support a heavier body, the bigger a nation gets, the harder to curate an identity. Nassim Nicholas Taleb talks about scale and governance with EconTalk host Russ Roberts. Taleb sings the virtues of smaller relative to larger and decentralized as much as possible relative to centralized. Along the way, he provides a framework for Russia's war against Ukraine and explains why the United States has thrived despite its size and scope.
Ran Abramitzky and Leah Boustan on Immigration Then and Now
2022/07/04
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Immigration to the United States, say Ran Abramitzky and Leah Boustan, is more novel than short story: It takes decades for new immigrants to catch up economically. But their kids on average thrive economically and have higher rates of upward mobility than American-born kids. Abramitzky and Boustan talk about their book Streets of Gold with EconTalk host Russ Roberts. Using an extraordinary data set of millions of Americans, Boustan and Abramitzky find that today's immigrants and their children are surprisingly similar to yesterday's.
A.J. Jacobs on Solving Life's Puzzles
2022/06/27
How much of life can be solved by algorithms, and how much just can't be solved? Listen as A.J. Jacobs, author of The Puzzler , talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the lessons he learned from solving every kind of puzzle imaginable, including the biggest stumper of all: what it really means to be a human being.
Roosevelt Montás on Rescuing Socrates
2022/06/20
How do books change our lives? Educator and author Roosevelt Montás of Columbia University talks about his book Rescuing Socrates with EconTalk host Russ Roberts. Drawing on his own educational and life journey, Montás shows how great books don't just teach us stuff--they get inside us and make us who we are.
Sridhar Ramaswamy on Google, Search, and Neeva
2022/06/13
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Former Google ads boss Sridhar Ramaswamy says that we live in a world that seems to give out free content when we use a search engine. But that world comes with a hidden cost--search results that distort what we find and serve advertisers rather than searchers. Ramaswamy talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about how Google works and why he started a new search engine, Neeva, with a different business model.
Matti Friedman on Leonard Cohen and the Yom Kippur War
2022/06/06
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In October 1973, an unhappy Leonard Cohen was listening to the radio on his Greek island home when he heard that Israel was at war. He headed to Tel Aviv, exchanging a personal and creative crisis for a national one. Absent a plan and even a guitar, Cohen wound up serenading Israeli soldiers at the front. Journalist Matti Friedman talks about his book Who by Fire with EconTalk host Russ Roberts and explains how a songwriter and a nation were transformed in the crucible of war.
Ian Leslie on Curiosity
2022/05/30
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Why are some people incurious? Is curiosity a teachable thing? And why, if all knowledge can be googled, is curiosity now the domain of a small elite? Listen as Ian Leslie, author of Curious , talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts why curiosity is a critical virtue, why it's now in dangerous decline, and why, when it comes to what sustains long-term fascination, mysteries beat puzzles every time.
Diane Coyle on Cogs, Monsters, and Better Economics
2022/05/23
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Mainstream economics, says author Diane Coyle, keeps treating people like cogs: self-interested, rational agents. But in the digital economy, we're less sophisticated consumer and more monster under the influece of social media. Listen as the economist and former UK Treasury advisor tells EconTalk host Russ Roberts how, for economics to remain relevant, it needs both more diverse methodologies and more engagement with the broader issues of the day.
Marc Andreessen on Software, Immortality, and Bitcoin
2022/05/16
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What's the single best thing happening in technology right now? According to entrepreneur and venture capitalist Marc Andreessen, it's the ability to live in rural Wisconsin but still earn a Silicon Valley salary. Andreessen also explains to EconTalk host Russ Roberts why software is still eating the world, why he's an optimist, and why he's still bullish on Bitcoin and the blockchain.
Chris Blattman on Why We Fight
2022/05/09
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It's tempting to explain Russia's invasion of Ukraine with Putin's megalomania. Economist Chris Blattman of the University of Chicago talks about his book Why We Fight with EconTalk host Russ Roberts. Blattman explains why only a fraction of rivalries ever erupt into violence, the five main reasons adversaries can't arrive at compromise, and the problem with trying to get into Putin's head (and why it's not all about Putin. Really).
Dwayne Betts on Ellison, Levi, and Human Suffering
2022/05/02
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In his memoir of his time in Auschwitz, Primo Levi describes Jewish prisoners bathing in freezing water without soap--not because they thought it would make them cleaner, but because it helped them hold on to their dignity. For poet and author Dwayne Betts, Levi's description of his fellow inmates' suffering, much like the novelist Ralph Ellison's portrayal of early twentieth-century black life in America, is much more than bearing witness to the darkest impulses of mankind. Rather, Betts tells EconTalk host Russ Roberts, both authors' writing turns experiences of inhumanity into lessons on what it means to be a human being.
Michael Munger on Antitrust
2022/04/25
Are tech giants such as Google, Amazon, or Facebook dangerous? Do they have too much power? Dive into the murky waters of antitrust as Michael Munger of Duke University talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about monopoly, antitrust policy, and competition in the 21st century.
Tyler Cowen on Reading
2022/04/18
Intellectual omnivore Tyler Cowen of George Mason University and EconTalk host Russ Roberts talk about their reading habits, their favorite books, and the pile of books on their nightstands right now.
Russ Roberts on Education
2022/04/11
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What do crossing rivers and investing in stocks have in common? Real education is seeing the connection between things that seem very different. EconTalk's host Russ Roberts talks about education with Alex Aragona of the podcast, The Curious Task . Roberts argues that the ability to apply insights from one area to another with which we're unfamiliar is one of the ways that real education differs from the mere accumulation of knowledge. And when we combine insights from two areas into something completely new, we can not only navigate rivers and stock markets, but also scale the heights of the human experience.
Richard Gunderman on Greed, Adam Smith, and Leo Tolstoy
2022/04/04
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Physician and careful reader Richard Gunderman of Indiana University talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about how Adam Smith and Leo Tolstoy looked at greed. Drawing on Tolstoy's short story, "Master and Man," and adding some Thomas Hobbes along the way, Gunderman argues that a life well-lived requires us to rise above our lower desires. Join Gunderman and Roberts for a sleigh ride into a snowy blizzard, where you won't find your way by following rules, but rather by recognizing what needs to be seen.
Pano Kanelos on Education and UATX
2022/03/28
What is real education? What can colleges provide their students? Pano Kanelos, president of the new college-to-be in Austin, UATX, talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the nature of education, what the Great Books can teach us, and how we should rethink college education in today's world.
Robert Pindyck on Averting and Adapting to Climate Change
2022/03/21
Economist Robert Pindyck of MIT talks about his book, Climate Future, with EconTalk host Russ Roberts. Pindyck lays out what we know and do not know about climate change. He argues that because of the nature of greenhouse gases, adaptation must be part of the policy response to climate change.
Maxine Clark on Building the Build-a-Bear Workshop
2022/03/14
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Stuff it, fluff it, stitch it, dress it: Build-a-Bear Founder and former CEO Maxine Clark built a retail-entertainment empire by letting people make their own furry friends. Two hundred million of them. What's the secret to her success? Listen as she tells EconTalk's Russ Roberts how she developed a customer-focused culture, why she sought to join (and not beat) her competition, and about some of the (seriously) strange things people have stuffed into their bears.
Angela Duckworth on Character
2022/03/07
Many people think schools are no place for teaching character. Psychologist Angela Duckworth of the University of Pennsylvania and founder of Character Lab, disagrees. She talks with EconTalk's Russ Roberts about the implicit curriculum for character, the critical role early education plays in shaping our adult values, and why the Marshmallow Test doesn't determine our destiny.
Tamar Haspel on First-Hand Food
2022/02/28
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What did author and Washington Post columnist Tamar Haspel learn from her quest to eat at least one thing she'd grown, caught, or killed every day? For starters, that just-caught fish always tastes better (unless you've caught a false albacore). That all it takes to build a coop is the will and the right power tools, and that when it comes to homegrown produce, you've got none until you've got way too much. But most of all, she tells EconTalk's Russ Roberts in talking about her book To Boldly Grow , she learned that figuring stuff out to solve problems is more delicious than the most decadent of desserts.
Luca Dellanna on Compulsion, Self-deception, and the Brain
2022/02/21
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Why do people eat too much even when they don't want to? Why are there so many bad managers? And why might anti-vaxxers be useful? Luca Dellanna, author of The Control Heuristic , thinks the answers to all of these questions are in our heads, or rather in our basal ganglia. Dellanna talks to EconTalk's Russ Roberts about why both brains and employees need immediate feedback, why we're wired to believe our best guesses, and why addiction is just our brain's way of making sure we survive.
Michael Eisenberg on the Start-Up Nation, Storytelling, and the Power of Technology
2022/02/14
Michael Eisenberg, venture capitalist and the author of The Tree of Life and Prosperity talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the secret of the Start-Up Nation, the role of principles in investing, and why he's optimistic about technology's contribution to humanity.
John Taylor on Inflation, the Fed, and the Taylor Rule
2022/02/07
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What's so bad about rising inflation? Why should we aim for a rate of 2 percent? Why is it a problem if interest rates are too low--and what do we mean by inflation, anyway? Stanford University's John Taylor talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about these questions, the Taylor Rule, why inflation is rising, and what the Fed should do about it. At the end of the conversation, Taylor discusses whether stimulus stimulates and the dangers of the national debt.
Moshe Koppel on Norms, Tradition, and Resilient Societies
2022/01/31
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Traditions and norms can seem at best out-of-touch and at worst offensive to many a modern mind. But Israeli computer scientist and Talmud scholar Moshe Koppel argues that traditions and norms--if they evolve slowly--create trust, develop our capacity for deferred gratification, and even, in the case of how we prepare cassava, protect us from poisoning. Listen as the author of Judaism Straight Up: Why Real Religion Endures talks with EconTalk Russ Roberts about tradition, religion, tribalism, resilience, and emergent order.
Penny Lane on Loving and Loathing Kenny G
2022/01/24
Love it or hate it, but you've definitely heard it: the so-called "smooth jazz" of saxophonist Kenny G. Filmmaker Penny Lane talks about her documentary, Listening to Kenny G with EconTalk host Russ Roberts. They discuss the pursuit of perfection, the power of vulnerability in art, and why Kenny G is loved by the people and reviled by the critics.
Tyler Cowen and Russ Roberts on Nation, Immigration, and Israel
2022/01/17
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Can Israeli society survive the loss of universal military service? Will the deregulation of Israel's kosher supervision spell the end of its Jewish character? And, speaking of Israel, what is it that makes its television dramas so good? Tyler Cowen discusses these and other subjects with EconTalk host Russ Roberts, new immigrant to Israel and unabashed fan of the Prisoners of War miniseries and Homer's Odyssey .
Gregory Zuckerman on the Crazy Race to Create the COVID Vaccine
2022/01/10
Lorne Buchman on Creativity, Leadership, and Art
2022/01/03
Megan McArdle on Belonging, Home, and National Identity
2021/12/27
Michael Munger on Constitutions
2021/12/20
Frank Rose on Internet Narratives
2021/12/13
Michael Faye and Paul Niehaus on GiveDirectly
2021/12/06
Nina Kraus on Hearing, Noise, and Of Sound Mind
2021/11/29
Eric Jacobus on the Art and Science of Violence
2021/11/22
Emily Oster on the Family Firm
2021/11/15
Sandra Faber on the Future of the Earth
2021/11/08
Jennifer Frey on Education, Philosophy, and the University
2021/11/01
Paul Bloom on Happiness, Suffering, and the Sweet Spot
2021/10/25
Rowan Jacobsen on Truffle Hound
2021/10/18
Sam Quinones on Meth, Fentanyl, and the Least of Us
2021/10/11
Arnold Kling on Reforming Government and Expertise
2021/10/04
Noreena Hertz on the Lonely Century
2021/09/27
David Henderson on the Essential UCLA School of Economics
2021/09/20
Glen Weyl on Antitrust, Capitalism, and Radical Reform
2021/09/13
Johann Hari on Lost Connections
2021/09/06
Bret Devereaux on Ancient Greece and Rome
2021/08/30
Michael Heller and James Salzman on Mine!
2021/08/23
Nicholas Wapshott on Samuelson and Friedman
2021/08/16
Michael Munger on Free Markets
2021/08/09
Jonathan Rauch on the Constitution of Knowledge
2021/08/02
James Heckman on Inequality and Economic Mobility
2021/07/26
Michael Easter on the Comfort Crisis
2021/07/19
Don Boudreaux on the Pandemic
2021/07/12
Claudia Hauer on War, Education, and Strategic Humanism
2021/07/05
Sebastian Junger on Freedom
2021/06/28
Anja Shortland on Lost Art
2021/06/21
Donald Shoup on the Economics of Parking
2021/06/14
Ian Leslie on Conflicted
2021/06/07
Bruce Meyer on Poverty
2021/05/31
Jason Riley on Race in America
2021/05/24
Julia Galef on the Scout Mindset
2021/05/17
Agnes Callard on Anger
2021/05/10
Katy Milkman on How to Change
2021/05/03
Roya Hakakian on A Beginner's Guide to America
2021/04/26
Mark Rank on Poverty and Poorly Understood
2021/04/19
Emiliana Simon-Thomas on Happiness
2021/04/12
Tyler Cowen on the Pandemic, Revisited
2021/04/05
Max Kenner on Crime, Education, and the Bard Prison Initiative
2021/03/29
Megan McArdle on Catastrophes and the Pandemic
2021/03/22
Sherry Turkle on Family, Artificial Intelligence, and the Empathy Diaries
2021/03/15
Leon Kass on Human Flourishing, Living Well, and Aristotle
2021/03/08
Michael Munger on Desires, Morality, and Self-Interest
2021/03/01
John Cochrane on the Pandemic
2021/02/22
Dana Gioia on Learning, Poetry, and Studying with Miss Bishop
2021/02/15
Lamorna Ash on Dark, Salt, Clear
2021/02/08
Michael McCullough on the Kindness of Strangers
2021/02/01
Scott Newstok on How to Think Like Shakespeare
2021/01/25
Gary Shiffman on the Economics of Violence
2021/01/18
Don Boudreaux on Buchanan
2021/01/11
Matthew Crawford on Why We Drive
2021/01/04
Michael Blastland on the Hidden Half
2020/12/28
Jay Bhattacharya on the Pandemic
2020/12/21
Katherine Levine Einstein on Neighborhood Defenders
2020/12/14
Branko Milanovic on the Big Questions of Economics
2020/12/07
Emily Oster on the Pandemic
2020/11/30
Daniel Haybron on Happiness
2020/11/23
Virginia Postrel on Textiles and the Fabric of Civilization
2020/11/16
Steven Levitt on Freakonomics and the State of Economics
2020/11/09
Rob Wiblin and Russ Roberts on Charity, Science, and Utilitarianism
2020/11/02
Fredrik deBoer on the Cult of Smart
2020/10/26
Dwayne Betts on Reading, Prison, and the Million Book Project
2020/10/19
Anne Applebaum on the Twilight of Democracy
2020/10/12
Zena Hitz on Lost in Thought
2020/10/05
Agnes Callard on Aspiration
2020/09/28
Lisa Cook on Racism, Patents, and Black Entrepreneurship
2020/09/21
Robert Chitester on Milton Friedman and Free to Choose
2020/09/14
Margaret Heffernan on Uncharted
2020/09/07
Matt Ridley on How Innovation Works
2020/08/31
Franklin Zimring on When Police Kill
2020/08/24
Michael Munger on the Future of Higher Education
2020/08/17
Ben Cohen on the Hot Hand
2020/08/10
John Kay and Mervyn King on Radical Uncertainty
2020/08/03
Nassim Nicholas Taleb on the Pandemic
2020/07/27
Glenn Loury on Race, Inequality, and America
2020/07/20
Josh Williams on Online Gaming, Blockchain, and Forte
2020/07/13
Robert Lerman on Apprenticeships
2020/07/06
Vivian Lee on The Long Fix
2020/06/29
Agnes Callard on Philosophy, Progress, and Wisdom
2020/06/22
Diane Ravitch on Slaying Goliath
2020/06/15
Rebecca Henderson on Reimagining Capitalism
2020/06/08
Sarah Carr on Charter Schools, Educational Reform, and Hope Against Hope
2020/06/01
Martin Gurri on the Revolt of the Public
2020/05/25
Robert Pondiscio on How the Other Half Learns
2020/05/18
Paul Romer on the COVID-19 Pandemic
2020/05/15
Branko Milanovic on Capitalism, Alone
2020/05/11
L.A. Paul on Vampires, Life Choices, and Transformation
2020/05/04
Alan Lightman on Stardust, Meaning, Religion, and Science
2020/04/27
Vinay Prasad on Cancer Drugs, Medical Ethics, and Malignant
2020/04/20
Ed Leamer on Manufacturing, Effort, and Inequality
2020/04/13
Arnold Kling on the Three Languages of Politics, Revisited
2020/04/06
Jenny Schuetz on Land Regulation and the Housing Market
2020/03/30
Azra Raza on The First Cell
2020/03/23
Tyler Cowen on the COVID-19 Pandemic
2020/03/19
Isabella Tree on Wilding
2020/03/16
Richard Davies on Extreme Economies
2020/03/09
Yuval Levin on A Time to Build
2020/03/02
Richard Robb on Willful
2020/02/24
Peter Singer on The Life You Can Save
2020/02/17
Marty Makary on the Price We Pay
2020/02/10
Robert Shiller on Narrative Economics
2020/02/03
Daniel Klein on Honest Income
2020/01/27
Janine Barchas on the Lost Books of Jane Austen
2020/01/20
Adam Minter on Secondhand
2020/01/13
Melanie Mitchell on Artificial Intelligence
2020/01/06
Kimberly Clausing on Open and the Progressive Case for Free Trade
2019/12/30
Joe Posnanski on the Life and Afterlife of Harry Houdini
2019/12/23
Binyamin Appelbaum on the Economists' Hour
2019/12/16
Terry Moe on Educational Reform, Katrina, and Hidden Power
2019/12/09
Gerd Gigerenzer on Gut Feelings
2019/12/02
Susan Mayer on What Money Can't Buy
2019/11/25
Keith Smith on Free Market Health Care
2019/11/18
Rory Sutherland on Alchemy
2019/11/11
Venkatesh Rao on Waldenponding
2019/11/04
Michele Gelfand on Rule Makers, Rule Breakers
2019/10/28
Susan Houseman on Manufacturing
2019/10/21
Andrew McAfee on More from Less
2019/10/14
Ryan Holiday on Stillness Is the Key
2019/10/07
Sabine Hossenfelder on Physics, Reality, and Lost in Math
2019/09/30
Dani Rodrik on Neoliberalism
2019/09/23
George Will on the Conservative Sensibility
2019/09/16
Daron Acemoglu on Shared Prosperity and Good Jobs
2019/09/09
David Deppner on Leadership, Confidence, and Humility
2019/09/02
Andrew Roberts on Churchill and the Craft of Biography
2019/08/26
Tyler Cowen on Big Business
2019/08/19
Arthur Diamond on Openness to Creative Destruction
2019/08/12
Andy Matuschak on Books and Learning
2019/08/05
Shoshana Zuboff on Surveillance Capitalism
2019/07/29
Chris Arnade on Dignity
2019/07/22
Michael Brendan Dougherty on My Father Left Me Ireland
2019/07/15
Arthur Brooks on Love Your Enemies
2019/07/08
Adam Cifu on the Case for Being a Medical Conservative
2019/07/01
Eric Topol on Deep Medicine
2019/06/24
Anja Shortland on Kidnap
2019/06/17
Bjorn Lomborg on the Costs and Benefits of Attacking Climate Change
2019/06/10
Alain Bertaud on Cities, Planning, and Order Without Design
2019/06/03
David Epstein on Mastery, Specialization, and Range
2019/05/27
Mary Hirschfeld on Economics, Culture, and Aquinas and the Market
2019/05/20
Robert Burton on Being Certain
2019/05/13
Mauricio Miller on Poverty, Social Work, and the Alternative
2019/05/06
Emily Oster on Cribsheet
2019/04/29
Paul Romer on Growth, Cities, and the State of Economics
2019/04/22
Jill Lepore on Nationalism, Populism, and the State of America
2019/04/15
Robin Feldman on Drugs, Money, and Secret Handshakes
2019/04/08
Jacob Stegenga on Medical Nihilism
2019/04/01
Daniel Hamermesh on Spending Time
2019/03/25
Amy Tuteur on Birth, Natural Parenting, and Push Back
2019/03/18
Amy Webb on Artificial Intelligence, Humanity, and the Big Nine
2019/03/11
Jacob Vigdor on the Seattle Minimum Wage
2019/03/04
Michael Munger on Crony Capitalism
2019/02/25
Catherine Semcer on Poaching, Preserves, and African Wildlife
2019/02/18
Jessica Riskin on Life, Machinery, and the Restless Clock
2019/02/11
Gary Greenberg on the Placebo Effect
2019/02/04
Patrick Collison on Innovation and Scientific Progress
2019/01/28
Jennifer Doleac on Crime
2019/01/21
Stephen Kotkin on Solzhenitsyn
2019/01/14
Ed Dolan on Employer-Sponsored Health Insurance
2019/01/07
Sebastian Junger on Tribe
2018/12/31
Mariana Mazzucato on the Value of Everything
2018/12/24
John Horgan on Mind-Body Problems
2018/12/17
Peter Berkowitz on Locke, Liberty, and Liberalism
2018/12/09
Maeve Cohen on Rethinking Economics
2018/12/03
Anat Admati on the Financial Crisis of 2008
2018/11/26
A.J. Jacobs on Thanks a Thousand
2018/11/19
Julia Belluz on Epidemiology, Nutrition, and Metabolism
2018/11/12
Alan Lightman on Science, Spirituality, and Searching for Stars on an Island in Maine
2018/11/05
Michael Munger on Sharing, Transaction Costs, and Tomorrow 3.0
2018/10/29
Ran Abramitzky on the Mystery of the Kibbutz
2018/10/22
Kevin McKenna on Characters, Plot, and Themes of In the First Circle
2018/10/18
John Gray on the Seven Kinds of Atheism
2018/10/15
Neil Monnery on Hong Kong and the Architect of Prosperity
2018/10/08
Noah Smith on Worker Compensation, Co-determination, and Market Power
2018/10/01
Rodney Brooks on Artificial Intelligence
2018/09/24
Paul Bloom on Cruelty
2018/09/17
Kevin McKenna on Solzhenitsyn, the Soviet Union, and In the First Circle
2018/09/10
Yoram Hazony on the Virtue of Nationalism
2018/09/03
Charlan Nemeth on In Defense of Troublemakers
2018/08/27
Lilliana Mason on Uncivil Agreement
2018/08/20
David Meltzer on the Doctor-Patient Relationship
2018/08/13
Frank Dikotter on Mao's Great Famine
2018/08/06
Alberto Alesina on Immigration and Redistribution
2018/07/30
Teppo Felin on Blindness, Rationality, and Perception
2018/07/23
Russ Roberts on the Information Revolution, Politics, Yeats, and Yelling
2018/07/16
Patrick Deneen on Why Liberalism Failed
2018/07/09
Arnold Kling on Morality, Culture, and Tribalism
2018/07/02
Michael Pollan on Psychedelic Drugs and How to Change Your Mind
2018/06/25
Richard Reinsch on the Enlightenment, Tradition, and Populism
2018/06/18
Moises Velasquez-Manoff on Cows, Carbon Farming, and Climate Change
2018/06/11
Janet Golden on Babies Made Us Modern
2018/06/04
Iain McGilchrist on the Divided Brain and the Master and His Emissary
2018/05/28
Glen Weyl on Radical Markets
2018/05/21
Peter Boettke on Public Administration, Liberty, and the Proper Role of Government
2018/05/20
Joel Peterson on Leadership, Betrayal, and the 10 Laws of Trust
2018/05/07
Ryan Holiday on Conspiracy, Gawker, and the Hulk Hogan Trial
2018/04/30
Jonah Goldberg on The Suicide of the West
2018/04/23
Jerry Muller on the Tyranny of Metrics
2018/04/16
Vincent Rajkumar on the High Price of Cancer Drugs
2018/04/09
Michael Munger on Traffic
2018/04/02
Edward Glaeser on Joblessness and the War on Work
2018/03/26
Beth Redbird on Licensing
2018/03/19
Arnold Kling on Economics for the 21st Century
2018/03/12
Nassim Nicholas Taleb on Rationality, Risk, and Skin in the Game
2018/03/05
Elizabeth Anderson on Worker Rights and Private Government
2018/02/26
Jordan Peterson on 12 Rules for Life
2018/02/19
Bryan Caplan on the Case Against Education
2018/02/12
Helen Pluckrose and James Lindsay on the Enemies of Modernity
2018/02/05
Marian Goodell on Burning Man
2018/01/29
John Ioannidis on Statistical Significance, Economics, and Replication
2018/01/22
Bill James on Baseball, Facts, and the Rules of the Game
2018/01/14
Dick Carpenter on Bottleneckers
2018/01/08
Kelly Weinersmith and Zach Weinersmith on Soonish
2018/01/01
Matt Stoller on Modern Monopolies
2017/12/25
Brink Lindsey and Steven Teles on the Captured Economy
2017/12/18
John Cogan on Entitlements and the High Cost of Good Intentions
2017/12/12
Rachel Laudan on Food Waste
2017/12/04
Simeon Djankov and Matt Warner on the Doing Business Report and Development Aid
2017/11/27
Tim Harford on Fifty Inventions That Shaped the Modern Economy
2017/11/20
Anthony Gill on Tipping
2017/11/13
Dennis Rasmussen on Hume and Smith and The Infidel and the Professor
2017/11/06
Michael Munger on Permissionless Innovation
2017/10/30
Jennifer Burns on Ayn Rand and the Goddess of the Market
2017/10/23
Megan McArdle on Internet Shaming and Online Mobs
2017/10/16
Tim O'Reilly on What's the Future
2017/10/09
Robert Wright on Meditation, Mindfulness, and Why Buddhism is True
2017/10/02
Philip Auerswald on the Rise of Populism
2017/09/25
Gabriel Zucman on Inequality, Growth, and Distributional National Accounts
2017/09/18
Gillian Hadfield on Law and Rules For a Flat World
2017/09/11
Rob Reich on Foundations and Philanthropy
2017/09/03
Benedict Evans on the Future of Cars
2017/08/28
John McWhorter on the Evolution of Language and Words on the Move
2017/08/21
Nassim Nicholas Taleb on Work, Slavery, the Minority Rule, and Skin in the Game
2017/08/14
Tyler Cowen on Stubborn Attachments, Prosperity, and the Good Society
2017/08/07
Alex Guarnaschelli on Food
2017/07/31
Sally Satel on Organ Donation
2017/07/24
Tamar Haspel on Food Costs, Animal Welfare, and the Honey Bee
2017/07/17
Martha Nussbaum on Alexander Hamilton
2017/07/10
Chris Blattman on Chickens, Cash, and Development Economics
2017/07/03
Robin Feldman on Drug Patents, Generics, and Drug Wars
2017/06/26
Thomas Ricks on Churchill and Orwell
2017/06/19
Don Boudreaux, Michael Munger, and Russ Roberts on Emergent Order
2017/06/12
Christy Ford Chapin on the Evolution of the American Health Care System
2017/06/05
David Boaz, P.J. O'Rourke, and George Will on the State of Liberty
2017/05/29
Lant Pritchett on Poverty, Growth, and Experiments
2017/05/22
Cass Sunstein on #Republic
2017/05/15
Tyler Cowen on The Complacent Class
2017/05/08
Jennifer Pahlka on Code for America
2017/05/01
Elizabeth Pape on Manufacturing and Selling Women's Clothing and Elizabeth Suzann
2017/04/24
Rana Foroohar on the Financial Sector and Makers and Takers
2017/04/17
Erica Sandberg on Homelessness and Downtown Streets Team
2017/04/10
Vanessa Williamson on Taxes and Read My Lips
2017/04/03
Jason Barr on Building the Skyline and the Economics of Skyscrapers
2017/03/27
Andrew Gelman on Social Science, Small Samples, and the Garden of the Forking Paths
2017/03/20
Robert Whaples on the Economics of Pope Francis
2017/03/13
Nicholas Crafts, Luis Garicano, and Luigi Zingales on the Economic Future of Europe
2017/03/06
Paul Bloom on Empathy
2017/02/27
Tom Wainwright on Narconomics
2017/02/20
Jim Epstein on Bitcoin, the Blockchain, and Freedom in Latin America
2017/02/13
Gary Taubes on the Case Against Sugar
2017/02/06
George Borjas on Immigration and We Wanted Workers
2017/01/30
Sam Quinones on Heroin, the Opioid Epidemic, and Dreamland
2017/01/23
Michael Munger on the Basic Income Guarantee
2017/01/16
Robert Hall on Recession, Stagnation, and Monetary Policy
2017/01/09
Mark Warshawsky on Compensation, Health Care Costs, and Inequality
2017/01/02
Chris Blattman on Sweatshops
2016/12/26
Terry Anderson on Native American Economics
2016/12/19
Bruce Bueno de Mesquita on the Spoils of War
2016/12/12
Thomas Leonard on Race, Eugenics, and Illiberal Reformers
2016/12/05
Doug Lemov on Reading
2016/11/28
Erik Hurst on Work, Play, and the Dynamics of U.S. Labor Markets
2016/11/21
Tim Harford on the Virtues of Disorder and Messy
2016/11/14
David Gelernter on Consciousness, Computers, and the Tides of Mind
2016/11/07
Judith Donath on Signaling, Design, and the Social Machine
2016/10/31
Casey Mulligan on Cuba
2016/10/24
Chris Arnade on the Mexican Crisis, TARP, and American Poverty
2016/10/17
Angus Deaton on Inequality, Trade, and the Robin Hood Principle
2016/10/10
Cathy O'Neil on Weapons of Math Destruction
2016/10/03
John Cochrane on Economic Growth and Changing the Policy Debate
2016/09/26
Eric Wakin on Archiving, Preservation, and History
2016/09/19
Susan Athey on Machine Learning, Big Data, and Causation
2016/09/12
Terry Moe on the Constitution, the Presidency, and Relic
2016/09/05
Leo Katz on Why the Law is So Perverse
2016/08/29
Michael Munger on Slavery and Racism
2016/08/22
Chuck Klosterman on But What If We're Wrong
2016/08/15
Adam D'Angelo on Knowledge, Experimentation, and Quora
2016/08/08
Matthew Futterman on Players and the Business of Sports
2016/08/01
Angela Duckworth on Grit
2016/07/25
Ryan Holiday on Ego is the Enemy
2016/07/18
Jonathan Skinner on Health Care Costs, Technology, and Rising Mortality
2016/07/11
Yuval Levin on The Fractured Republic
2016/07/04
Richard Epstein on Cruises, First-Class Travel, and Inequality
2016/06/27
Kevin Kelly on the Inevitable
2016/06/20
Abby Smith Rumsey on Remembering, Forgetting, and When We Are No More
2016/06/13
Jason Zweig on Finance and the Devil's Financial Dictionary
2016/06/06
David Beckworth on Money, Monetary Policy, and the Great Recession
2016/05/30
James Bessen on Learning by Doing
2016/05/23
Leif Wenar on Blood Oil
2016/05/16
Pedro Domingos on Machine Learning and the Master Algorithm
2016/05/09
Arnold Kling on Specialization and Trade
2016/05/02
Alberto Alesina on Fiscal Policy and Austerity
2016/04/25
Gary Belsky on the Origins of Sports
2016/04/18
Robert Frank on Success and Luck
2016/04/11
Richard Jones on Transhumanism
2016/04/04
Jayson Lusk on Food, Technology, and Unnaturally Delicious
2016/03/28
Marina Krakovsky on the Middleman Economy
2016/03/21
David Autor on Trade, China, and U.S. Labor Markets
2016/03/14
Will Davies on the Economics, Economists, and the Limits of Neoliberalism
2016/03/07
Alison Wolf on Women, Inequality and the XX Factor
2016/02/29
Matt Ridley on the Evolution of Everything
2016/02/22
Adam Cifu on Ending Medical Reversal
2016/02/15
Adam Ozimek on the Power of Econometrics and Data
2016/02/08
Timothy Taylor on Government vs. Business
2016/02/01
James Heckman on Facts, Evidence, and the State of Econometrics
2016/01/25
Josh Luber on Sneakers, Sneakerheads, and the Second-hand Market
2016/01/18
Greg Ip on Foolproof
2016/01/11
Robert Frank on Dinner Table Economics
2016/01/04
Noah Smith on Whether Economics is a Science
2015/12/28
Philip Tetlock on Superforecasting
2015/12/21
George Selgin on Monetary Policy and the Great Recession
2015/12/14
Canice Prendergast on How Prices Can Improve a Food Fight (and Help the Poor)
2015/12/07
David Mindell on Our Robots, Ourselves
2015/11/30
Michael Munger on EconTalk's 500th Episode
2015/11/23
Brian Nosek on the Reproducibility Project
2015/11/16
Robert Aronowitz on Risky Medicine
2015/11/09
Michael Matheson Miller on Poverty, Inc
2015/11/02
Cesar Hidalgo on Why Information Grows
2015/10/26
Yuval Harari on Sapiens
2015/10/19
Peter Boettke on Katrina, Ten Years After
2015/10/12
Tim O'Reilly on Technology and Work
2015/10/05
Pete Geddes on the American Prairie Reserve
2015/09/28
Tina Rosenberg on the Kidney Market in Iran
2015/09/21
Mitch Weiss on the Business of Broadway
2015/09/14
William MacAskill on Effective Altruism and Doing Good Better
2015/09/07
Paul Robinson on Cooperation, Punishment and the Criminal Justice System
2015/08/31
Jesse Ausubel on Agriculture, Technology, and the Return of Nature
2015/08/24
Rachel Laudan on the History of Food and Cuisine
2015/08/17
Summer Brennan on Wilderness, Politics and the Oyster War
2015/08/10
Roger Berkowitz on Fish, Food, and Legal Sea Foods
2015/08/03
Eric Hanushek on the Education, Skills, and the Millennium Development Goals
2015/07/27
Wences Casares on Bitcoin and Xapo
2015/07/20
Lee Ohanian, Arnold Kling, and John Cochrane on the Future of Freedom, Democracy, and Prosperity
2015/07/13
Alvin Roth on Matching Markets
2015/07/06
Matt Ridley on Climate Change
2015/06/29
Morten Jerven on African Economic Growth
2015/06/22
Adam Davidson on Hollywood and the Future of Work
2015/06/15
Nathaniel Popper on Bitcoin and Digital Gold
2015/06/08
Martin Weitzman on Climate Change
2015/06/01
Bent Flyvbjerg on Megaprojects
2015/05/25
Nicholas Vincent on the Magna Carta
2015/05/18
Eric Topol on the Power of Patients in a Digital World
2015/05/11
Michael O'Hare on Art Museums
2015/05/04
Leonard Wong on Honesty and Ethics in the Military
2015/04/27
Scott Sumner on Interest Rates
2015/04/20
Phil Rosenzweig on Leadership, Decisions, and Behavioral Economics
2015/04/13
Vernon Smith and James Otteson on Adam Smith
2015/04/06
David Skarbek on Prison Gangs and the Social Order of the Underworld
2015/03/30
Campbell Harvey on Randomness, Skill, and Investment Strategies
2015/03/23
Paul Romer on Urban Growth
2015/03/16
Lawrence H. White on Monetary Constitutions
2015/03/09
David Zetland on Water
2015/03/02
Michael Munger on Choosing in Groups
2015/02/23
Benn Steil on the Battle of Bretton Woods
2015/02/16
Daniel Sumner on the Political Economy of Agriculture
2015/02/09
Luigi Zingales on the Costs and Benefits of the Financial Sector
2015/02/02
Alex Tabarrok on Private Cities
2015/01/26
Nassim Nicholas Taleb on the Precautionary Principle and Genetically Modified Organisms
2015/01/19
Greg Page on Food, Agriculture, and Cargill
2015/01/12
Joshua Greene on Moral Tribes, Moral Dilemmas, and Utilitarianism
2015/01/05
James Tooley on Private Schools for the Poor and the Beautiful Tree
2014/12/29
Joshua Angrist on Econometrics and Causation
2014/12/22
Gary Marcus on the Future of Artificial Intelligence and the Brain
2014/12/15
James Otteson on the End of Socialism
2014/12/08
Nick Bostrom on Superintelligence
2014/12/01
Emily Oster on Infant Mortality
2014/11/24
Vernon Smith on Adam Smith and the Human Enterprise
2014/11/17
Becky Liddicoat Yamarik on Palliative Care and End-of-Life Medical Issues
2014/11/10
Daron Acemoglu on Inequality, Institutions, and Piketty
2014/11/03
Robert Solow on Growth and the State of Economics
2014/10/27
Luigi Zingales on Incentives and the Potential Capture of Economists by Special Interests
2014/10/20
Russ Roberts and Michael Munger on How Adam Smith Can Change Your Life
2014/10/13
David Autor on the Future of Work and Polanyi's Paradox
2014/10/06
Martha Nussbaum on Creating Capabilities and GDP
2014/09/29
Thomas Piketty on Inequality and Capital in the 21st Century
2014/09/22
Elizabeth Green on Education and Building a Better Teacher
2014/09/15
Paul Pfleiderer on the Misuse of Economic Models
2014/09/08
Nathan Blecharczyk on Airbnb and the Sharing Economy
2014/09/01
Daphne Koller on Education, Coursera, and MOOCs
2014/08/25
Terry Anderson on the Environment and Property Rights
2014/08/18
Barry Weingast on Law
2014/08/11
Reid Hoffman and Ben Casnocha on LinkedIn and The Alliance
2014/08/04
Sam Altman on Start-ups, Venture Capital, and the Y Combinator
2014/07/28
Chris Blattman on Cash, Poverty, and Development
2014/07/21
D. G. Myers on Cancer, Dying, and Living
2014/07/14
Michael Munger on the Sharing Economy
2014/07/07
Lars Peter Hansen on Risk, Ambiguity, and Measurement
2014/06/30
Gregory Zuckerman on the Frackers and the Energy Revolution
2014/06/23
William Easterly on the Tyranny of Experts
2014/06/16
Edward Lazear on Becker
2014/06/09
Andrew McAfee, Megan McArdle, and Lee Ohanian on the Future of Work
2014/06/02
Yuval Levin on Burke, Paine, and the Great Debate
2014/05/26
Marc Andreessen on Venture Capital and the Digital Future
2014/05/19
Charles Marohn on Strong Towns, Urban Development, and the Future of American Cities
2014/05/12
Gavin Andresen on the Present and Future of Bitcoin
2014/05/05
Diane Coyle on GDP
2014/04/28
Megan McArdle on Failure, Success, and the Up Side of Down
2014/04/21
Steven Teles on Kludgeocracy
2014/04/14
Bryan Caplan on College, Signaling and Human Capital
2014/04/07
John Cochrane on Education and MOOCs
2014/03/31
John Christy and Kerry Emanuel on Climate Change
2014/03/24
Jeffrey Sachs on the Millennium Villages Project
2014/03/17
Richard Epstein on Classical Liberalism, Libertarianism, and Lochner
2014/03/10
Moises Velasquez-Manoff on Autoimmune Disease, Parasites, and Complexity
2014/03/03
Robert Frank on Coase
2014/02/24
Charles Calomiris and Stephen Haber on Fragile by Design
2014/02/17
Paul Sabin on Ehrlich, Simon and the Bet
2014/02/10
Erik Brynjolfsson on the Second Machine Age
2014/02/03
Nina Munk on Poverty, Development, and the Idealist
2014/01/27
Jonathan Haidt on the Righteous Mind
2014/01/20
Laurence Kotlikoff on Debt, Default, and the Federal Government's Finances
2014/01/13
Anthony Gill on Religion
2014/01/06
Richard Fisher on Too Big to Fail and the Fed
2013/12/30
Judith Curry on Climate Change
2013/12/23
Wally Thurman on Bees, Beekeeping, and Coase
2013/12/16
Doug Lemov on Teaching
2013/12/09
Lant Pritchett on Education in Poor Countries
2013/12/02
Joel Mokyr on Growth, Innovation, and Stagnation
2013/11/25
Angus Deaton on Health, Wealth, and Poverty
2013/11/18
Edmund Phelps on Mass Flourishing
2013/11/11
John Ralston Saul on Reason, Elites, and Voltaire's Bastards
2013/11/04
Don Boudreaux on Coase
2013/10/28
Guillermo Calvo on the Crisis, Money, and Macro
2013/10/21
Cliff Winston on Transportation
2013/10/14
Emily Oster on Pregnancy, Causation, and Expecting Better
2013/10/07
Tyler Cowen on Inequality, the Future, and Average is Over
2013/09/30
David Epstein on the Sports Gene
2013/09/23
David Laidler on Money
2013/09/16
Nassim Nicholas Taleb on Skin in the Game
2013/09/09
Capitalism, Government, and the Good Society
2013/09/04
Michael Munger on Milk
2013/09/02
Eric Hanushek on Education and Prosperity
2013/08/26
Jagdish Bhagwati on India
2013/08/19
Barry Weingast on the Violence Trap
2013/08/12
Robert Pindyck on Climate Change
2013/08/05
Amrita Narlikar on Fair Trade and Free Trade
2013/07/29
Michael Lind on Libertarianism
2013/07/22
Michael Clemens on Aid, Migration, and Poverty
2013/07/15
Morris Fiorina on Polarization, Stability, and the State of the Electorate
2013/07/08
Michael Munger on Sports, Norms, Rules, and the Code
2013/07/01
Betsey Stevenson and Justin Wolfers on Happiness, Growth, and the Reinhart-Rogoff Controversy
2013/06/24
Dan Pallotta on Charity and the Culture of the Non-Profit Sector
2013/06/17
Bruce Schneier on Power, the Internet, and Security
2013/06/10
Arnold Kling on the Three Languages of Politics
2013/06/03
Jim Manzi on the Oregon Medicaid Study, Experimental Evidence, and Causality
2013/05/27
Richard Epstein on the Constitution
2013/05/20
Austin Frakt on Medicaid and the Oregon Medicaid Study
2013/05/13
William Bernstein on Communication, Power and the Masters of the Word
2013/05/06
James Galbraith on Inequality
2013/04/29
Edward Glaeser on Cities
2013/04/22
Jeffrey Sachs on the Crisis, the Recovery, and the Future
2013/04/15
Anat Admati on Bank Regulation and the Bankers' New Clothes
2013/04/08
Eric Topol on the Creative Destruction of Medicine
2013/04/01
Scott Sumner on Money, Business Cycles, and Monetary Policy
2013/03/25
Angus Burgin on Hayek, Friedman, and the Great Persuasion
2013/03/18
Doc Searls on the Intention Economy
2013/03/11
Leigh Steinberg on Sports, Agents, and Athletes
2013/03/04
Yanis Varoufakis on Valve, Spontaneous Order, and the European Crisis
2013/02/25
Glenn Reynolds on Politics, the Constitution, and Technology
2013/02/18
Cathy O'Neil on Wall St and Occupy Wall Street
2013/02/11
Louis Michael Seidman on the Constitution
2013/02/04
Peter Boettke on Living Economics
2013/01/28
Kevin Kelly on the Future, Productivity, and the Quality of Life
2013/01/21
Esther Dyson on the Attention Economy and the Quantification of Everything
2013/01/14
Morten Jerven on Measuring African Poverty and Progress
2013/01/07
Becky Pettit on the Prison Population, Survey Data and African-American Progress
2012/12/31
Lisa Turner on Organic Farming
2012/12/24
Don Boudreaux on Reading Hayek
2012/12/17
Chris Anderson on Makers and Manufacturing
2012/12/10
Mulligan on Redistribution, Unemployment, and the Labor Market
2012/12/03
Marcia Angell on Big Pharma
2012/11/26
John Cochrane on Health Care
2012/11/19
Michael Munger on John Locke, Prices, and Hurricane Sandy
2012/11/12
Joshua Rauh on Public Pensions
2012/11/05
Steve Hanke on Hyperinflation, Monetary Policy, and Debt
2012/10/29
Jonathan Rodden on the Geography of Voting
2012/10/22
Arnold Kling on Education and the Internet
2012/10/15
Garett Jones on Fisher, Debt, and Deflation
2012/10/08
Robert Skidelsky on Money, the Good Life, and How Much is Enough
2012/10/01
Robert Frank and Russ Roberts on Infrastructure
2012/09/24
Paul Tough on How Children Succeed
2012/09/17
Brian Nosek on Truth, Science, and Academic Incentives
2012/09/10
Neil Barofsky on Bailouts
2012/09/03
Roger Noll on the Economics of Sports
2012/08/27
Lee Ohanian on the Great Recession and the Labor Market
2012/08/20
Tammy Frisby on Tax Reform
2012/08/13
Josiah Ober on the Ancient Greek Economy
2012/08/06
Scott Atlas on American Health Care
2012/07/30
David Brady on the 2012 US Election
2012/07/23
Gary Taubes on Why We Get Fat
2012/07/16
Joseph Stiglitz on Inequality
2012/07/09
Luigi Zingales on Capitalism and Crony Capitalism
2012/07/02
Enrico Moretti on Jobs, Cities, and Innovation
2012/06/25
Jim Manzi on Knowledge, Policy, and Uncontrolled
2012/06/18
Jonah Lehrer on Creativity and Imagine
2012/06/11
Ed Yong on Science, Replication, and Journalism
2012/06/04
Larry White on the Clash of Economic Ideas
2012/05/28
Ronald Coase on Externalities, the Firm, and the State of Economics
2012/05/21
David Owen on Parenting, Money, and the First National Bank of Dad
2012/05/14
David Schmidtz on Rawls, Nozick, and Justice
2012/05/07
John Taylor on Rules, Discretion, and First Principles
2012/04/30
Tyler Cowen on Food
2012/04/23
David Autor on Disability
2012/04/16
Richard Burkhauser on the Middle Class
2012/04/09
Eugene White on Bank Regulation
2012/04/02
Don Boudreaux on Public Debt
2012/03/26
Daron Acemoglu on Why Nations Fail
2012/03/19
Emanuel Derman on Theories, Models, and Science
2012/03/12
Charles Calomiris on Capital Requirements, Leverage, and Financial Regulation
2012/03/05
David Weinberger on Too Big to Know
2012/02/27
Adam Davidson on Manufacturing
2012/02/20
David Owen on the Environment, Unintended Consequences, and The Conundrum
2012/02/13
William Black on Financial Fraud
2012/02/06
Eugene Fama on Finance
2012/01/30
David Rose on the Moral Foundations of Economic Behavior
2012/01/23
Nassim Nicholas Taleb on Antifragility
2012/01/16
Dean Baker on the Crisis
2012/01/09
Scott Sumner on Money and the Fed
2012/01/02
Alex Tabarrok on Innovation
2011/12/26
Dan Klein on Knowledge and Coordination
2011/12/19
Michael Munger on Profits, Entrepreneurship, and Storytelling
2011/12/12
Tyler Cowen on the European Crisis
2011/12/05
Simon Johnson on the Financial Crisis
2011/11/28
Gary Taubes on Fat, Sugar and Scientific Discovery
2011/11/21
Roy Baumeister on Gender Differences and Culture
2011/11/14
Steven Kaplan on the Inequality and the Top 1%
2011/11/07
Ryan Avent on Cities, Urban Regulations, and Growth
2011/10/31
Ramey on Stimulus and Multipliers
2011/10/24
Nicholas Wapshott on Keynes and Hayek
2011/10/17
Frank Rose on Storytelling and the Art of Immersion
2011/10/10
Bruce Meyer on the Middle Class, Poverty, and Inequality
2011/10/03
Alex Rosenberg on the Nature of Economics
2011/09/26
Garett Jones on Stimulus
2011/09/19
Robert Frank on Competition, Government, and Darwin
2011/09/12
Clifford Winston on Lawyers
2011/09/05
Eric Hanushek on Teachers
2011/08/29
Brendan O'Donohoe on Potato Chips and Salty Snacks
2011/08/22
David Brady on the Electorate and the Elections of 2010 and 2012
2011/08/15
Debra Satz on Markets
2011/08/08
Anat Admati on Financial Regulation
2011/08/01
Keith Hennessey on the Debt Ceiling and the Budget Process
2011/07/25
John Taylor on Fiscal and Monetary Policy
2011/07/18
Abhijit Banerjee on Poverty and Poor Economics
2011/07/11
David Skeel on Bankruptcy and the Auto Industry Bailout
2011/07/04
James Otteson on Adam Smith
2011/06/27
Michael Munger on Exchange, Exploitation and Euvoluntary Transactions
2011/06/20
Todd Buchholz on Competition, Stress, and the Rat Race
2011/06/13
Barry Eichengreen on the Dollar and International Finance
2011/06/06
William Easterly on Benevolent Autocrats and Growth
2011/05/30
Tim Harford on Adapt and the Virtues of Failure
2011/05/23
William Byers on the Blind Spot, Science, and Uncertainty
2011/05/16
Bryan Caplan on Parenting
2011/05/09
John Papola on the Keynes Hayek Rap Videos
2011/05/02
Ariel Rubinstein on Game Theory and Behavioral Economics
2011/04/25
Michael Munger on Microfinance, Savings, and Poverty
2011/04/18
Dani Rodrik on Globalization, Development, and Employment
2011/04/11
Gavin Andresen on BitCoin and Virtual Currency
2011/04/04
Vincent Reinhart on Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers, and the Financial Crisis
2011/03/28
Diane Coyle on the Economics of Enough
2011/03/21
Robert Townsend on Development, Poverty, and Financial Institutions
2011/03/14
Freeman Dyson on Heresy, Climate Change, and Science
2011/03/07
George Will on America, Politics, and Baseball
2011/02/28
Daron Acemoglu on Inequality and the Financial Crisis
2011/02/21
Tyler Cowen on the Great Stagnation
2011/02/14
Arnold Kling on Patterns of Sustainable Specialization and Trade
2011/02/07
Brian Deer on Autism, Vaccination, and Scientific Fraud
2011/01/31
Steve Fazzari on Stimulus and Keynes
2011/01/24
Don Boudreaux on Monetary Misunderstandings
2011/01/17
Bruce Caldwell on Hayek
2011/01/10
Robin Hanson on the Technological Singularity
2011/01/03
Peter Boettke on Mises
2010/12/27
Joe Nocera on the Crisis and All the Devils Are Here
2010/12/20
Wafaya Abdallah on Hair and Running a Small Business
2010/12/13
George Selgin on the Fed
2010/12/06
Kevin Kelly on Technology and What Technology Wants
2010/11/29
Nicholas Phillipson on Adam Smith
2010/11/22
Robert Frank on Inequality
2010/11/15
Don Boudreaux on China, Currency Manipulation, and Trade Deficits
2010/11/08
John Quiggin on Zombie Economics
2010/11/01
Thomas Hazlett on Apple vs. Google
2010/10/25
Ridley on Trade, Growth, and the Rational Optimist
2010/10/18
Douglas Irwin on the Great Depression and the Gold Standard
2010/10/11
Bryan Caplan on Immigration
2010/10/04
Gary Greenberg on Depression, Addiction, and the Brain
2010/09/27
Richard Epstein on Regulation
2010/09/20
Alain de Botton on the Pleasures and Sorrows of Work
2010/09/13
Arnold Kling on Knowledge, Power, and Unchecked and Unbalanced
2010/09/06
Daniel Pink on Drive, Motivation, and Incentives
2010/08/30
Michael Munger on Private and Public Rent-Seeking (and Chilean Buses)
2010/08/23
David Kennedy on the Great Depression and the New Deal
2010/08/16
Robert Laughlin on the Future of Carbon and Climate
2010/08/09
David Brady on the State of the Electorate
2010/08/02
Robert Service on Leon Trotsky
2010/07/26
John Taylor on the State of the Economy
2010/07/19
Paul Gregory on Politics, Murder, and Love in Stalin's Kremlin
2010/07/12
Arnold Kling on the Unseen World of Banking, Mortgages, and Government
2010/07/05
Bryan Caplan on Hayek, Richter, and Socialism
2010/06/28
Scott Sumner on Growth and Economic Policy
2010/06/21
Johanna Blakley on Fashion and Intellectual Property
2010/06/14
Daniel Okrent on Prohibition and His Book, Last Call
2010/06/07
Louis Menand on Psychiatry
2010/05/31
Gary Belsky on Journalism, Editing, and Trivia
2010/05/24
Russ Roberts on the Crisis
2010/05/17
Ed Leamer on the State of Econometrics
2010/05/10
Nassim Nicholas Taleb on Black Swans, Fragility, and Mistakes
2010/05/03
Paul Romer on Charter Cities
2010/04/26
Michael Munger on Love, Money, Profits, and Non-profits
2010/04/19
Diane Ravitch on Education
2010/04/12
Yochai Benkler on Net Neutrality, Competition, and the Future of the Internet
2010/04/05
Arthur De Vany on Steroids, Baseball, and Evolutionary Fitness
2010/03/29
Steve Meyer on the Music Industry and the Internet
2010/03/22
Don Boudreaux on Public Choice
2010/03/15
Katherine Newman on Low-wage Workers
2010/03/08
Barry Ritholtz on Bailouts, the Fed, and the Crisis
2010/03/01
Garett Jones on Macro and Twitter
2010/02/22
Edmund Phelps on Unemployment and the State of Macroeonomics
2010/02/15
Russ Roberts on Smith, Ricardo, and Trade
2010/02/08
Larry White on Hayek and Money
2010/02/01
Michael Spence on Growth
2010/01/25
Michael Munger on Many Things
2010/01/18
Michael Belongia on the Fed
2010/01/11
Thomas Rustici on Smoot-Hawley and the Great Depression
2010/01/04
Clifford Winston on Market Failure and Government Failure
2009/12/28
James Hamilton on Debt, Default, and Oil
2009/12/21
Arnold Kling on Prosperity, Poverty, and Economics 2.0
2009/12/14
Megan McArdle on Debt and Self-Restraint
2009/12/07
Peter Boettke on Elinor Ostrom, Vincent Ostrom, and the Bloomington School
2009/11/30
Carmen Reinhart on Financial Crises
2009/11/23
Richard Posner on the Financial Crisis
2009/11/16
Scott Sumner on Monetary Policy
2009/11/09
Michael Heller on Gridlock and the Tragedy of the Anticommons
2009/11/02
Charles Calomiris on the Financial Crisis
2009/10/26
Munger on Shortages, Prices, and Competition
2009/10/19
Daniel Willingham on Education, School, and Neuroscience
2009/10/12
Gary Stern on Too Big to Fail
2009/10/05
Willaim Cohan on the Life and Death of Bear Stearns
2009/09/28
Paul Buchheit on Google, Friendfeed, and Start-ups
2009/09/21
John Nye on the Great Depression, Political Economy, and the Evolution of the State
2009/09/14
Tyler Cowen on Culture, Autism, and Creating Your Own Economy
2009/09/07
Michael Munger on Cultural Norms
2009/08/31
David Brady on Health Care Reform, Public Opinion, and Party Politics
2009/08/24
Christopher Hitchens on George Orwell
2009/08/17
Eric Hanushek on Test-based Accountability, Federal Funding, and School Finance
2009/08/10
Paul Graham on Start-ups, Innovation, and Creativity
2009/08/03
Peter Henry on Growth, Development, and Policy
2009/07/27
John Taylor on the Financial Crisis
2009/07/20
Justin Fox on the Rationality of Markets
2009/07/13
Paul Collier on Democracy and Violence
2009/07/06
Mark Helprin on Copyright
2009/06/29
Michael Munger on Franchising, Vertical Integration, and the Auto Industry
2009/06/22
Charles Platt on Working at Wal-Mart
2009/06/15
Riccardo Rebonato on Risk Management and the Crisis
2009/06/08
Richard Epstein on the Rule of Law
2009/06/01
Dan Klein on The Theory of Moral Sentiments, Episode 6--A Discussion of Parts VI and VII, and Summary
2009/05/27
Peter Leeson on Pirates and the Invisible Hook
2009/05/25
Michele Boldrin on Intellectual Property
2009/05/18
Dan Klein on The Theory of Moral Sentiments, Episode 5--A Discussion of Parts III (cont.), IV, and V
2009/05/13
Alan Wolfe on Liberalism
2009/05/11
Ed Leamer on Macroeconomic Patterns and Stories
2009/05/04
Dan Klein on The Theory of Moral Sentiments, Episode 4--A Discussion of Part III
2009/04/29
Ricardo Reis on Keynes, Macroeconomics, and Monetary Policy
2009/04/27
Dan Klein on The Theory of Moral Sentiments, Episode 3--A Discussion of Part II
2009/04/22
Russ Roberts on Wealth, Growth, and Economics as a Science
2009/04/20
Dan Klein on The Theory of Moral Sentiments, Episode 2--A Discussion of Part I
2009/04/15
Don Boudreaux on Macroeconomics and Austrian Business Cycle Theory
2009/04/13
Dan Klein on The Theory of Moral Sentiments, Episode 1--An Overview
2009/04/06
Brink Lindsey on the Age of Abundance
2009/03/30
Nassim Nicholas Taleb on the Financial Crisis
2009/03/23
Dan Klein on Truth, Bias, and Disagreement
2009/03/16
Jimmy Wales on Wikipedia
2009/03/09
Todd Zywicki on Debt and Bankruptcy
2009/03/02
Allan Meltzer on Inflation
2009/02/23
Amar Bhide on Outsourcing, Uncertainty, and the Venturesome Economy
2009/02/16
Daron Acemoglu on the Financial Crisis
2009/02/09
John Cochrane on the Financial Crisis
2009/02/02
Russ Roberts (and Robin Hanson) on Truth and Economics
2009/01/26
Eric Raymond on Hacking, Open Source, and the Cathedral and the Bazaar
2009/01/19
Steve Fazzari on Keynesian Economics
2009/01/12
Peter Boettke on the Austrian Perspective on Business Cycles and Monetary Policy
2009/01/05
George Srour on Education, African Schools, and Building Tomorrow
2008/12/22
Robert Higgs on the Great Depression
2008/12/15
Steven Lipstein on Hospitals
2008/12/08
Eric Rauchway on the Great Depresson and the New Deal
2008/12/01
Thomas Hazlett on Telecommunications
2008/11/24
George Selgin on Free Banking
2008/11/17
Arnold Kling on Credit Default Swaps, Counterparty Risk, and the Political Economy of Financial Regulation
2008/11/10
Richard Epstein on Happiness, Inequality, and Envy
2008/11/03
Michael Munger on Middlemen
2008/10/27
Clay Shirky on Coase, Collaboration and Here Comes Everybody
2008/10/20
Patri Friedman on Seasteading
2008/10/13
William Bernstein on Inequality
2008/10/06
Arnold Kling on Freddie and Fannie and the Recent History of the U.S. Housing Market
2008/09/29
Karol Boudreaux on Wildlife, Property, and Poverty in Africa
2008/09/22
Robert Shiller on Housing and Bubbles
2008/09/15
Joseph Ellis on American Creation and the Founding
2008/09/08
Jonathan Rauch on the Volt, Risk, and Corporate Culture
2008/09/01
Russ Roberts on the Price of Everything
2008/08/25
John Taylor on Monetary Policy
2008/08/18
Bruce Bueno de Mesquita on Iran and Threats to U.S. Security
2008/08/11
Robert Barro on Disasters
2008/08/04
Hal Varian on Technology
2008/07/28
Doug Rivers on Polling
2008/07/21
Eric Hanushek on Education and School Finance
2008/07/14
Michael Munger on the Political Economy of Public Transportation
2008/07/07
Arnold Kling on Hospitals and Health Care
2008/06/30
Richard McKenzie on Prices
2008/06/23
Don Boudreaux on Energy Prices
2008/06/16
Steve Cole on the Market for New Cars
2008/06/09
Gene Epstein on Gold, the Fed, and Money
2008/06/02
Robin Hanson on Signalling
2008/05/26
Allan Meltzer on the Fed, Money, and Gold
2008/05/19
Chris Anderson on Free
2008/05/12
John Nye on Wine, War and Trade
2008/05/05
William Bernstein on the History of Trade
2008/04/28
Russ Roberts on the Least Pleasant Jobs
2008/04/21
Diane Coyle on the Soulful Science
2008/04/14
Christopher Coyne on Exporting Democracy after War
2008/04/07
Deirdre McCloskey on Capitalism and the Bourgeois Virtues
2008/03/31
Michael Munger on Subsidies and Externalities
2008/03/24
Tyler Cowen on Monetary Policy
2008/03/17
Stephen Marglin on Markets and Community
2008/03/10
Vernon Smith on Rationality in Economics
2008/03/03
Thomas Sowell on Economic Facts and Fallacies
2008/02/25
Timothy Brook on Vermeer's Hat and the Dawn of Global Trade
2008/02/19
William Easterly on Growth, Poverty, and Aid
2008/02/11
Dan Klein on Coordination and Cooperation
2008/02/04
Paul Collier on the Bottom Billion
2008/01/28
Don Boudreaux on Globalization and Trade Deficits
2008/01/21
Michael Munger on the Nature of the Firm
2008/01/14
Edward Castronova on the Exodus to the Virtual World
2008/01/07
William Duggan on Strategic Intuition
2007/12/24
Karol Boudreaux on Property Rights and Incentives in Africa
2007/12/17
Peter Boettke on Austrian Economics
2007/12/10
Michael Munger on Fair Trade and Free Trade
2007/12/03
Daniel Botkin on Nature, the Environment and Global Warming
2007/11/26
Cass Sunstein on Worst-case Scenarios
2007/11/19
Henry Aaron on Health Care Costs
2007/11/15
Joel Waldfogel on Markets, Choice, and the Tyranny of the Market
2007/11/12
Arnold Kling on the Economics of Health Care and the Crisis of Abundance
2007/11/05
Bruce Yandle on the Tragedy of the Commons and the Implications for Environmental Regulation
2007/10/29
Ian Ayres on Super Crunchers and the Power of Data
2007/10/22
Robert Frank on Economics Education and the Economic Naturalist
2007/10/15
Thomas McCraw on Schumpeter, Innovation, and Creative Destruction
2007/10/08
Don Boudreaux on Market Failure, Government Failure and the Economics of Antitrust Regulation
2007/10/01
Grab Bag: Mike Munger and Russ Roberts on Recycling, Peak Oil and Steroids
2007/09/24
Richard Epstein on Property Rights, Zoning and Kelo
2007/09/17
Tyler Cowen on Your Inner Economist
2007/09/10
George Shultz on Economics, Human Rights and the Fall of the Soviet Union
2007/09/03
Paul Romer on Growth
2007/08/27
Deborah Gordon on Ants, Humans, the Division of Labor and Emergent Order
2007/08/20
Barry Weingast on Violence, Power and a Theory of Nearly Everything
2007/08/13
Eric Hanushek on Educational Quality and Economic Growth
2007/08/06
David Henderson on Disagreeable Economists
2007/07/30
Bruce Bueno de Mesquita on Reagan, Yeltsin, and the Strategy of Political Campaigning
2007/07/23
Russ Roberts on Ticket Prices and Scalping
2007/07/16
Ed Leamer on Outsourcing and Globalization
2007/07/09
Michael Munger on Recycling
2007/07/02
Bryan Caplan on the Myth of the Rational Voter
2007/06/25
David Weinberger on Everything is Miscellaneous and the Wonderful World of Digital Information
2007/06/18
Dan Pink on How Half Your Brain Can Save Your Job
2007/06/11
Amity Shlaes on the Great Depression
2007/06/04
Robin Hanson on Health
2007/05/28
Vernon Smith on Markets and Experimental Economics
2007/05/21
Cass Sunstein on Infotopia, Information and Decision-Making
2007/05/14
John Allison on Strategy, Profits, and Self-Interest
2007/05/07
Nassim Nicholas Taleb on Black Swans
2007/04/30
Alvin Rabushka on the Flat Tax
2007/04/23
Don Boudreaux on the Economics of "Buy Local"
2007/04/16
John Bogle on Investing
2007/04/09
Mike Munger on the Division of Labor
2007/04/02
Kevin Kelly on the Future of the Web and Everything Else
2007/03/26
David Leonhardt on the Media
2007/03/19
Tyler Cowen on Liberty, Art, Food and Everything Else in Between
2007/03/12
Gregg Easterbrook on the American Standard of Living
2007/03/05
Viviana Zelizer on Money and Intimacy
2007/02/26
Richard Epstein on Property Rights and Drug Patents
2007/02/19
Bruce Bueno de Mesquita on Democracies and Dictatorships
2007/02/12
Bob Lucas on Growth, Poverty and Business Cycles
2007/02/05
Michael Lewis on the Hidden Economics of Baseball and Football
2007/01/29
Greg Mankiw on Gasoline Taxes, Keynes and Macroeconomics
2007/01/22
Bruce Yandle on Bootleggers and Baptists
2007/01/15
Michael Munger on Price Gouging
2007/01/08
Peter Boettke on Katrina and the Economics of Disaster
2006/12/18
Don Boudreaux on Law and Legislation
2006/12/11
Bryan Caplan on Discrimination and Labor Markets
2006/12/04
Virginia Postrel on Style
2006/11/27
Stanley Engerman on Slavery
2006/11/21
Sam Peltzman on Regulation
2006/11/13
Richard Thaler on Libertarian Paternalism
2006/11/06
Clint Bolick Defends Judicial Activism
2006/10/31
Skip Sauer on the Economics of Moneyball
2006/10/23
Walter Williams on Life, Liberty and Economics
2006/10/16
Larry Iannaccone on the Economics of Religion
2006/10/09
Michael Munger on Private vs. Public Risk-Taking
2006/10/03
Darius Lakdawalla on the Economics of Obesity
2006/09/25
Ed Glaeser on the Economics of Paternalism
2006/09/18
Richard Epstein on Legislators vs. Wal-Mart
2006/09/11
Milton Friedman on Capitalism and Freedom
2006/09/04
Milton Friedman on Money
2006/08/28
The Political Economy of Power
2006/08/14
Chris Anderson and the Long Tail
2006/08/07
John Cogan on Improving the Health Care System
2006/07/31
Making Schools Better: A Conversation with Rick Hanushek
2006/07/24
Robert Barro on Growth
2006/07/17
An Interview with Gary Becker
2006/07/10
Michael Munger on Giving Away Money: An Economist's Guide to Political Life
2006/06/23
Russ Roberts on Intermittent Explosive Disorder: Mental Illness or Made-Up Malady?
2006/06/16
Richard Epstein on the Economics of Organ Donation
2006/06/05
Alex Tabarrok on the Economics of Medical Malpractice
2006/05/30
Don Cox on the Economics of Inheritance
2006/05/04
Skip Sauer on the Economics of Sports
2006/04/18
Michael Munger on Ticket Scalping and Opportunity Cost
2006/04/10
Don Cox on the Economics of Parenting
2006/03/16
EconTalk
https://simplecast.econtalk.org
EconTalk: Conversations for the Curious is an award-winning weekly podcast hosted by Russ Roberts of Shalem College in Jerusalem and Stanford's Hoover Institution. The eclectic guest list includes authors, doctors, psychologists, historians, philosophers, economists, and more. Learn how the health care system really works, the serenity that comes from humility, the challenge of interpreting data, how potato chips are made, what it's like to run an upscale Manhattan restaurant, what caused the 2008 financial crisis, the nature of consciousness, and more. EconTalk has been taking the Monday out of Mondays since 2006. All 900+ episodes are available in the archive. Go to EconTalk.org for transcripts, related resources, and comments.
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