EconTalk

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EconTalk is an award-winning weekly talk show and podcast about economics in daily life. Host Russ Roberts talks to featured guests, professors, authors, and Nobel Prize winners about the economics behind current events, markets, the Great Depression, free trade, and the curiosities of everyday decision-making. Topics include school, health, business, finance, jobs, politics, book reviews, what's behind the recent mortgage and housing troubles, family, and more.

EconTalk is an award-winning weekly talk show and podcast about economics in daily life. Host Russ Roberts talks to featured guests, professors, authors, and Nobel Prize winners about the economics behind current events, markets, the Great Depression, free trade, and the curiosities of everyday decision-making. Topics include school, health, business, finance, jobs, politics, book reviews, what's behind the recent mortgage and housing troubles, family, and more.

More Information

Location:

Indianapolis, IN

Genres:

Economics

Business News

Podcasts

Description:

Twitter:

@EconTalker

Language:

English

Contact:

8335 Allison Pointe Trail Indianapolis, IN 46250 (317) 842-0880

Website:

http://www.econtalk.org/

Email:

mail@econtalk.org

Episodes

Jerry Muller on the Tyranny of Metrics

4/16/2018

Historian and author Jerry Muller of Catholic University talks about his latest book, The Tyranny of Metrics, with EconTalk host Russ Roberts. Muller argues that public policy and management are overly focused on measurable outcomes as a measure of success. This leads to organizations and agencies over-focusing on metrics rather than their broader mission. The conversation includes applications to education, crime, and health care.

Duration:01:04:45

Vincent Rajkumar on the High Price of Cancer Drugs

4/9/2018

Can a life-saving drug be too expensive? What explains the high price of cancer drugs? Dr. Vincent Rajkumar of the Mayo Clinic talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the high price of cancer drugs--drugs that can cost an American with cancer $300,000 per year and require multiple years of treatment. Rajkumar explains how little a role market forces play in setting prices and what might be done to improve the situation.

Duration:01:12:37

Michael Munger on Traffic

4/2/2018

Does rush-hour traffic drive you crazy? Is a congestion tax on car travel a good idea? Michael Munger of Duke University talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the economics of traffic and congestion taxes. It takes a while to get there (how appropriate!) but they eventually agree that a tax on congestion while reducing travel time is harmful to many drivers and may be best thought of as any tax placed on a particular good--a way to raise government revenue from the pockets of the...

Duration:01:14:08

Edward Glaeser on Joblessness and the War on Work

3/26/2018

Why are fewer men working over the last few decades? Is a universal basic income a good policy for coping with the loss of employment? Economist Edward Glaeser of Harvard University talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about what Glaeser calls the war on work--the policy changes that have reduced employment among prime-aged men. Glaeser does not see the universal basic income as a viable solution to the decrease in work especially if technology ends up reducing employment opportunities...

Duration:01:06:04

Beth Redbird on Licensing

3/19/2018

Economists often oppose the expansion of licensing in America in recent years because it makes it harder for people with low skills to get access to opportunity. Sociologist Beth Redbird of Northwestern University talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about a different perspective. Redbird finds that licensing expands opportunity for women and minorities and has little impact on wages. She argues that licensing helps historically disadvantaged groups discover ways into various careers they...

Duration:01:02:28

Arnold Kling on Economics for the 21st Century

3/12/2018

Economist, blogger, and author Arnold Kling talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the state of economics in the 21st century. Kling argues that economics would be more useful if it took account of intangibles like culture, incorporated the role of financial intermediation in the economy, and modeled some of the the subtleties of the labor market--how wages are set and the role of team production.

Duration:01:04:50

Nassim Nicholas Taleb on Rationality, Risk, and Skin in the Game

3/5/2018

Nassim Nicholas Taleb, author of Skin in the Game, talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the ideas in the book. This is the third episode of EconTalk with Taleb related to the general topic of skin in the game and how it affects decision-making and policy in an uncertain world. This episode focuses on rationality, religion, and the challenge of thinking about probability and risk correctly in a dynamic world.

Duration:01:14:26

Elizabeth Anderson on Worker Rights and Private Government

2/26/2018

>Philosopher Elizabeth Anderson of the University of Michigan and author of Private Government talks about her book with EconTalk host Russ Roberts. Anderson argues that employers have excessive power over employees that we would never accept from government authority. Topics discussed include the role of competition in potentially mitigating employer control, whether some worker rights should be inviolate, potential measures for empowering employees, and the costs and benefits over time...

Duration:01:07:04

Jordan Peterson on 12 Rules for Life

2/19/2018

Jordan Peterson, author of 12 Rules for Life, talks about the book with EconTalk host Russ Roberts. Topics covered include parenting, conversation, the role of literature in everyday life, and the relationship between sacrificial rites and trade.

Duration:01:18:22

Bryan Caplan on the Case Against Education

2/12/2018

Bryan Caplan of George Mason University and the author of The Case Against Education talks about the book with EconTalk host Russ Roberts. Caplan argues that very little learning takes place in formal education and that very little of the return to college comes from skills or knowledge that is acquired in the classroom. Schooling, he concludes, as it is currently conducted is mostly a waste of time and money. Caplan bring a great deal of evidence to support his dramatic claim and much of...

Duration:01:11:27

Helen Pluckrose and James Lindsay on the Enemies of Modernity

2/5/2018

Helen Pluckrose and James Lindsay talk with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about their essay on the enemies of modernity. Pluckrose and Lindsay argue that modernity--by which they mean democracy, reason, and individual liberty--is under attack from pre-modern and post-modern ideological enemies. They discuss why modernity is under attack and encourage people on the political left and right to support modernity.

Duration:01:09:26

Marian Goodell on Burning Man

1/29/2018

Marian Goodell, CEO of the Burning Man Project, talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about Burning Man, the 8-day art and music festival in the Nevada Desert. Goodell explains how Burning Man has evolved over the years, the principles and rules that govern the experience today, and plans for expanding the Burning Man experience around the world.

Duration:01:12:34

John Ioannidis on Statistical Significance, Economics, and Replication

1/22/2018

John Ioannidis of Stanford University talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about his research on the reliability of published research findings. They discuss Ioannidis's recent study on bias in economics research, meta-analysis, the challenge of small sample analysis, and the reliability of statistical significance as a measure of success in empirical research.

Duration:01:05:11

Bill James on Baseball, Facts, and the Rules of the Game

1/14/2018

Baseball stats guru and author Bill James talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the challenges of understanding complexity in baseball and elsewhere. James reflects on the lessons he has learned as a long-time student of data and the role it plays in understanding the underlying reality that exists between different variables in sports and outside of sports. The conversation closes with a discussion of our understanding of social processes and the connection to public policy and the...

Duration:01:02:20

Matt Stoller on Modern Monopolies

12/25/2017

Matt Stoller of the Open Market Institute talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the growing influence of Google, Facebook, and Amazon on commercial and political life. Stoller argues that these large firms have too much power over our options as consumers and creators as well as having a large impact on our access to information.

Duration:01:10:11

Brink Lindsey and Steven Teles on the Captured Economy

12/18/2017

Brink Lindsey of the Niskanen Center and Steven Teles of the Niskanen Center and Johns Hopkins University talk with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about their book, The Captured Economy. Lindsey and Teles argue that inequality has been worsened by special interests who steer policy to benefit themselves. They also argue that the influence of the politically powerful has lowered the overall growth of the American economy.

Duration:01:09:34

John Cogan on Entitlements and the High Cost of Good Intentions

12/12/2017

John Cogan of Stanford University's Hoover Institution talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about Cogan's book, The High Cost of Good Intentions, a history of U.S. entitlement policy. Cogan traces the evolution of government pensions beginning with Revolutionary War vets to the birth and evolution of the Social Security program. Surprises along the way include President Franklin Roosevelt as fiscal conservative and the hard-to-believe but true fact that there is still one person receiving...

Duration:01:06:07

Rachel Laudan on Food Waste

12/4/2017

Historian Rachel Laudan talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about food waste. Laudan argues that much of the alleged wasting of food serves a purpose and reducing waste would have costs that exceed the benefits. She also discusses the role of food taboos and moralizing about food. Along the way, Laudan defends the virtue of individual choice and freedom in deciding what to eat.

Duration:01:01:49

Simeon Djankov and Matt Warner on the Doing Business Report and Development Aid

11/27/2017

Simeon Djankov, creator of the World Bank's Doing Business Report, and Matt Warner, Chief Operating Officer of Atlas Network talk with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the role regulation plays in economic development and the challenges of measuring regulatory barriers to new business creation.

Duration:01:15:26

Tim Harford on Fifty Inventions That Shaped the Modern Economy

11/20/2017

Financial Times columnist and author Tim Harford talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about Harford's latest book, Fifty Inventions That Shaped the Modern Economy. Highlights include how elevators are an important form of mass transit, why washing machines didn't save quite as much time as you'd think, and the glorious illuminating aspects of light throughout history.

Duration:01:08:49

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