EconTalk
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.
Episodes
Economist Noah Smith was so focused on libertarianism's theoretical flaws, he overlooked its political importance. Trump's tariff policy opened his eyes and made him re-assess the virtues of both libertarianism and Econ 101. Listen as he and EconTalk's Russ Roberts explore the way political competition has shaped economic policy in surprising ways in recent years.
In honor of EconTalk's 1,000th episode, host Russ Roberts reflects on his long, strange journey from pioneer of the podcast format to weekly interviewer of leading economists, authors, and thinkers. Hear him answer your--and Chat GPT's--questions about why he got started, how he preps, and how he picks guests. He also explains why debate gave way to conversation--even about arguments with which he disagrees--and why EconTalk isn't ...
How much of our success or failure is written in our genes? How much is under our control? Is it nature or nurture or is that dichotomy too simplistic? Hear EconTalk's Russ Roberts and psychologist Paul Bloom discuss why the nature vs. nurture question is actually worth taking seriously and how by understanding it we can help ourselves and others.
Patrick McKenzie explains to EconTalk's Russ Roberts how credit cards work, who makes money from them and how, and gives his take on whether cash customers and debit card users subsidize the users of credit cards with reward programs.
A paradox of our time is our willingness to bare all to strangers while worrying about who exactly is watching us online and anywhere else. Listen as author Tiffany Jenkins discusses her book, Strangers and Intimates, with EconTalk's Russ Roberts. In this wide-ranging conversation, they explore the role of Martin Luther, J.S. Mill, reality TV, and social media, among other factors, in creating the norms of the public and private sp...
Is the United States victimized by trade? What causes trade deficits? Are higher tariffs a good idea? Can manufacturing jobs return to the United States? Economist Doug Irwin of Dartmouth College answers these questions and more in this wide-ranging conversation with EconTalk's Russ Roberts.
Dwarkesh Patel interviewed the most influential thinkers and leaders in the world of AI and chronicled the history of AI up to now in his book, The Scaling Era. Listen as he talks to EconTalk's Russ Roberts about the book, the dangers and potential of AI, and the role scale plays in AI progress. The conversation concludes with a discussion of the art of podcasting.
How does a nice Jewish boy who is also a gay atheist have the chutzpah to lecture Christianity on its obligations to democracy? Listen to author Jonathan Rauch talk about his book Cross Purposes with EconTalk's Russ Roberts as Rauch makes the case for what he calls a thicker Christianity.
How can we explain the world's underlying order? How does consciousness emerge? And why do people from such different cultures have such similar near-death experiences? Listen as Ross Douthat, New York Times columnist and author of the new book Believe: Why Everyone Should Be Religious, argues that these and other unanswerable questions underscore his argument for the rationality of religious belief. He and EconTalk's Russ Roberts ...
At the heart of the success of the Beatles was the creative chemistry and volatile friendship between John Lennon and Paul McCartney. Listen as author Ian Leslie discusses his book, John & Paul: A Love Story in Songs with EconTalk's Russ Roberts. It's a deep dive into music and friendship as well as a revisionist history about how John and Paul created musical magic.
Should monkeys have the same rights as humans? What about elephants, ants, or invertebrates? NYU philosopher Jeff Sebo makes the case for expanding your moral circle to many more beings than you might expect, including those based on silicon chips. Listen as Sebo and EconTalk's Russ Roberts discuss to whom and what we owe moral consideration, how we determine a being's intrinsic moral significance, and why we have ethical obligatio...
Bright colors, long tails, and dances of seduction: they may hurt a bird's chances of survival in the wild, but they seem to increase the chances of reproduction. Is this all part of natural selection or is sexual selection its own force in the bird world? Is there such a thing as beauty for beauty's sake? What can we learn from birds about the human experience of beauty? Listen as author and naturalist Matt Ridley speaks with Econ...
Feedback on exams and papers--grades and comments--should be more than an assessment. It should point the way to improvement. So argues educational consultant Daisy Christodoulou, emphasizing that actionable feedback has to be more than comments scribbled in the margins of a paper or at its end. Listen as she speaks with EconTalk's Russ Roberts about a new model for enabling educational improvement, with implications for learning t...
What can the restaurant business teach us about leadership and management? Listen as Will Guidara, the former owner of Eleven Madison Park, explains to EconTalk's Russ Roberts how his restaurant became good enough to be named the best restaurant in the world. Foodies will enjoy a look behind the scenes of a restaurant at the very top of its game, but the lessons for leadership and organizational culture are useful for anyone intere...
Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East but it seems a lot more alien and chaotic than many of the older democracies of the West. Hear Rachel Gur of Reichman University explain to EconTalk's Russ Roberts how the Israeli political system works and sometimes, doesn't work. The conversation brings into relief the challenges all democracies face and the ways that political minorities can wield power or be ignored depending on t...
Until the end of WWI, the Middle East as we know it didn't exist. No Israel, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, or Iraq. Instead, there was the Ottoman Empire, whose dissolution using an arbitrary line on a map set the region on a course of upheaval that's still with us. Listen as historian James Barr speaks with EconTalk's Russ Roberts about the 1916 Sykes-Picot Agreement, and how, in the century that followed, the machinations of the French...
For more than a century, some economists have insisted that central planning can outperform markets. Economists like Mises, Hayek, and Friedman disagreed. Who won this debate? Is it over? Does AI change how we should think about the power of planning? Listen as economist Peter Boettke of George Mason University discusses what is known as the "socialist calculation debate" with EconTalk's Russ Roberts.
Why do we buy stuff we don't need? Maybe for the same reason that some people can't stand stuff at all. Listen as author Michael Easter speaks with EconTalk's Russ Roberts about how two seemingly opposed approaches to our possessions--minimalism and hoarding--may stem from the same impulse to cope with uncertainty. They also discuss the downsides of minimalism and how to figure out whether we're really buying the right things.
Surely perfection is better than imperfection. But applying technology to improve decision-making can backfire. Listen as ed-tech innovator Daisy Christodoulou and EconTalk's Russ Roberts talk about the costs of seeking perfection when technology is used to improve refereeing in sports. They also talk about ways to embrace imperfection and how the economist Ronald Coase can help us understand the power of the rules of the game, bot...
Should we worry about the human future in a world of AI? Reid Hoffman is unafraid and even optimistic. He argues that the brave new world that awaits is going to be great for humanity. Listen as he talks about his book Superagency with EconTalk's Russ Roberts and argues that the future is bright not just for AI, but for the people who remake the world using it.
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