…

EconTalk

By Russ Roberts

EconTalk is an award-winning weekly podcast hosted by Russ Roberts of Stanford University'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 750+ episodes are available in the archive. Go to EconTalk.org for transcripts, related resources, and comments.

#771

Don Boudreaux on Buchanan

Economist and author Don Boudreaux of George Mason University discusses the life and work of the economist James Buchanan with EconTalk host Russ Roberts. Buchanan received the Nobel Prize in 1986 for his work creating and developing public choice--the field which applies the tools of economics to politicians and political behavior. After discussing the importance of public choice, Boudreaux and Roberts focus on two contrarian articles of Buchanan's where he argues for the importance of markets and life as processes rather than problems to be solved analytically. ... Read more

11 Jan 2021

1 HR 16 MINS

1:16:18

11 Jan 2021

#770

Matthew Crawford on Why We Drive

Author Matthew Crawford talks about his book Why We Drive with EconTalk host Russ Roberts. The conversation is about driving but also much more: how human beings interact with technology and what we gain and give up when we embrace technology driven by corporate profit-seeking. ... Read more

04 Jan 2021

1 HR 15 MINS

1:15:20

04 Jan 2021

#769

Michael Blastland on the Hidden Half

Author Michael Blastland talks about his book The Hidden Half with EconTalk host Russ Roberts. Blastland argues that the deeper you delve into science, medicine, astrophysics--pick a topic--the more you realize there is a lot we don't understand. Things we can't explain. Blastland believes we would all do well to admit that and stop pretending that everything is knowable and every problem solvable. ... Read more

28 Dec 2020

1 HR 14 MINS

1:14:45

28 Dec 2020

#768

Jay Bhattacharya on the Pandemic

Economist and physician Jay Bhattacharya of Stanford University talks about the pandemic with EconTalk host Russ Roberts. Bhattacharya, along with Sunetra Gupta of the University of Oxford and Martin Kulldorff of Harvard University, authored The Great Barrington Declaration, which advocates a very different approach to fighting the pandemic than current policy and practice. Bhattacharya and his colleagues argue the best way to reduce overall harm is to focus protection efforts on those most at risk, while allowing low-risk populations to return to a more normal way of life. Bhattacharya argues that we have greatly neglected the costs of lockdown and self-quarantine. ... Read more

21 Dec 2020

1 HR 20 MINS

1:20:58

21 Dec 2020

#767

Katherine Levine Einstein on Neighborhood Defenders

Why is affordable housing in such short supply? Author and political scientist Katherine Levine Einstein of Boston University talks about her book Neighborhood Defenders with EconTalk host Russ Roberts. Einstein focuses on the ability of local residents to use the zoning and permit process to prevent development of housing or to reduce the amount of housing that can be built. ... Read more

14 Dec 2020

1 HR 02 MINS

1:02:45

14 Dec 2020

#766

Branko Milanovic on the Big Questions of Economics

Author and economist Branko Milanovic of CUNY talks about the big questions in economics with EconTalk host Russ Roberts. Milanovic argues that the Nobel Prize Committee is missing an opportunity to encourage more ambitious work by awarding the prize to economists tackling questions like the rise of China's economy and other challenging but crucial areas of scholarship. In the conversation, he lays out what those questions might be and discusses what we know and don't know in these areas. ... Read more

07 Dec 2020

1 HR 22 MINS

1:22:40

07 Dec 2020

#765

Emily Oster on the Pandemic

Economist and author Emily Oster of Brown University talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the challenge of reopening schools in a pandemic. Oster has been collecting data from K-12 schools around the country. Her preliminary analysis finds little evidence that schools are super-spreaders of COVID. She argues that closing schools comes at a high cost for the students with little benefit in reducing the spread of the disease. The conversation ends with a discussion of parenting. ... Read more

30 Nov 2020

1 HR 04 MINS

1:04:26

30 Nov 2020

#764

Daniel Haybron on Happiness

Philosopher and author Daniel Haybron of St. Louis University talks about his book, Happiness, with EconTalk host Russ Roberts. Happiness turns out to be a little more complicated than it sounds. Haybron discusses the good life and different philosophical perspectives on how to achieve happiness. ... Read more

23 Nov 2020

1 HR 24 MINS

1:24:01

23 Nov 2020

#763

Virginia Postrel on Textiles and the Fabric of Civilization

Author and journalist Virginia Postrel talks about her book The Fabric of Civilization and How Textiles Made the World with EconTalk host Russ Roberts. Postrel tells the fascinating story behind the clothes we wear and everything that goes into producing them throughout history. The history of textiles, Postrel argues, is a good way of understanding the history of the world. ... Read more

16 Nov 2020

1 HR 06 MINS

1:06:40

16 Nov 2020

#762

Steven Levitt on Freakonomics and the State of Economics

Author and economist Steven Levitt is the William B. Ogden Distinguished Service Professor of Economics at the University of Chicago and host of the podcast "People I (Mostly) Admire." He is best known as the co-author, with Stephen Dubner, of Freakonomics. The book, published in 2005, became a phenomenon, selling more than 5 million copies in 40 languages. Levitt talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the book's surprising success, the controversy it generated, and how it shaped his career. Levitt says, for him, "economics is about going into the world and finding puzzles and thinking about how understanding incentives or markets might help us get a better grasp of what's really going on." ... Read more

09 Nov 2020

1 HR 33 MINS

1:33:36

09 Nov 2020

#761

Rob Wiblin and Russ Roberts on Charity, Science, and Utilitarianism

Rob Wiblin, host of the 80,000 Hours podcast, interviews EconTalk host Russ Roberts about charity, the reliability of data to inform decision-making, and utilitarianism. ... Read more

02 Nov 2020

1 HR 47 MINS

1:47:17

02 Nov 2020

Podurama

Home

Top Charts

Personal

Subscribed Podcasts

New Episodes

Favourite Episodes

Recently Played

Featured

Free podcast player

Limited Time Offer