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Nov 27, 2024 | 
econtalk.org | Amy Willis
As we’ve become more vigilant in our attempt to revive price theory, we’ve been looking back through the archives for supporting material, and this early EconTalk episode with Richard McKenzie was at the top of our list! (We recommend McKenzie’s book Why Popcorn Costs So Much at the Movies, too!)We invite you to listen (or re-listen!) to this classic episode, and share your responses to the puzzles below.
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Oct 17, 2024 | 
econtalk.org | Amy Willis
How much do you know about Bruno Leoni? Friedrich Hayek credited Bruno Leoni with shaping his ideas on laws and legislation. James Buchanan said that Leoni identified problems that led to his own work on public choice. How is it possible, then, that so few of us know of the groundbreaking Italian political philosopher? But it seems, well, we don’t talk about Bruno…EconTalk fan fav Mike Munger and host Russ Roberts set out to change this in their recent conversation about Leoni.
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Sep 20, 2024 | 
econtalk.org | Amy Willis
…people are utility monsters when it comes to themselves. But something happens when you have children. This is how Erik Hoel begins this thoughtful conversation with EconTalk host Russ Roberts. According to new parent Hoel, life is no longer “a constant, almost exhausting game of optimization.” He has found a great relief in no longer being a utility monster.
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Aug 14, 2024 | 
econtalk.org | Amy Willis
In his latest book, American Covenant, Yuval Levin says he tried to provide a re-introduction to the United States Constitution. In this episode, he tells EconTalk host Russ Roberts he wanted to take a step back in a moment of division to better understand how we can hold together and how we might understand national unity in a tremendously diverse society.
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Jul 24, 2024 | 
econtalk.org | Amy Willis |Arthur C. Pigou |Ronald Coase
For all those who have taken an economics course, you’ve no doubt heard plenty about market failure. I suspect you’ve heard relatively less about government failure. Part of the allure of the public choice tradition for me has always been its very clear explication of the latter. But in this episode, leave it to perennial favorite Mike Munger to put a wrinkle in my contemplative ease.
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May 16, 2024 | 
econtalk.org | Amy Willis
When you think of statistics, do you think of a helpful tool for real-world analysis, or does the phrase, “Lies, damn lies, and statistics” come to mind? Regardless of your answer to that question, Jeremy Weber wrote his new book, Statistics for Public Policy, for YOU. In this episode, host Russ Roberts welcomes Weber to talk about it. Weber argues that no statistics textbooks include integration of context and purpose and audience with statistical analysis. That’s a problem.
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Apr 23, 2024 | 
econtalk.org | Amy Willis
It seems obvious that moral artificial intelligence would be better than the alternative. Can we make AI’s values align with ours, and would we want to? This is the question underlying this conversation between EconTalk host Russ Roberts and psychologist Paul Bloom. Setting aside (at least for now) the question of whether AI will become smarter, what benefits would a moral AI provide? Would those benefits be outweighed by the potential costs?
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Mar 22, 2024 | 
econtalk.org | Amy Willis
If you were having a bad day, is there someone you could call who you just know would make you feel better? If you answered yes, chances are high that person is a supercommunicator. What is a supercommunicator? In this episode, EconTalk host Russ Roberts welcomes author Charles Duhigg to talk about his eponymous book. Duhigg says communication is humans’ superpower; humans have built neural pathways specifically suited for communication. But what can we do to become better at it?
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Mar 13, 2024 | 
econtalk.org | Amy Willis
Did nations get rich on the backs of other nations? Did the West get rich from imperialism? Noah Smith says no. But why not? In this episode, EconTalk host Russ Roberts welcomes Smith back to discuss these questions, based in part on a piece Smith published on his Substack. Smith tells Roberts that when most people think of plunder, they generally think colonial plunder.
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Feb 15, 2024 | 
econtalk.org | Amy Willis
As war in Gaza rages on, in this episode, EconTalk host Russ Roberts welcomes Israeli journalist Haviv Rettig Gur for an historical look at antisemitism, the Holocaust, and “the long twentieth century.” Gur offers a deep dive into anti-Semitism, particularly in the European context, before turning to the present day conflict. Gur’s account starts in 1880 with the assassination of Russia’s Czar Alexander and the rise of industrialization.
