EconTalk Archives, 2011
By EconTalk: Russ Roberts, Library of Economics and Liberty
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Description
EconTalk is an award-winning weekly talk show about economics in daily life. Featured guests include renowned economics professors, Nobel Prize winners, and exciting speakers on all kinds of topical matters related to economic thought. Topics include health care, business cycles, economic growth, free trade, education, finance, politics, sports, book reviews, parenting, and the curiosities of everyday decision-making. Russ Roberts, of the Library of Economics and Liberty (econlib.org) and George Mason U., draws you in with lively guests and creative repartee. Look for related readings and the complete archive of previous shows at EconTalk.org, where you can also comment on the podcasts and ask questions.
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1 |
CleanTabarrok on Innovation | Alex Tabarrok talks with host Russ Roberts about his new book, Launching the Innovation Renaissance. Tabarrok argues that U.S. innovation is being held back by patent law, the legal system, and immigration policies. He then suggests how these might be imp | 12/26/2011 | Free | View in iTunes |
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2 |
CleanKlein on Knowledge and Coordination | Dan Klein talks with host Russ Roberts about the ideas in Klein's new book, Knowledge and Coordination. Klein argues that allegory is a powerful way to think about outcomes of emergent order. He goes deeply into the concept of the invisible hand and creat | 12/19/2011 | Free | View in iTunes |
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3 |
CleanMunger on Profits, Entrepreneurship, and Storytelling | Mike Munger talks with host Russ Roberts about profit. What is profit's role in allocating resources? How should we feel about the people who earn profits or who take them in ways that may not be earned? How easy is it to discover profitable opportunities | 12/12/2011 | Free | View in iTunes |
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4 |
CleanCowen on the European Crisis | Tyler Cowen talks with host Russ Roberts about the European crisis. He argues that Greece is likely to default either in fact or in spirit but that the key question is which nations might follow--whether Italy and Spain can find a road to economic health, | 12/5/2011 | Free | View in iTunes |
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CleanSimon Johnson on the Financial Crisis | Simon Johnson talks with host Russ Roberts about the origins of the financial crisis and how to prevent the next one. He argues that the financial sector has captured the regulatory process and that regulation has been steered more by the interests of the | 11/28/2011 | Free | View in iTunes |
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6 |
CleanTaubes on Fat, Sugar and Scientific Discovery | Author Gary Taubes talks to host Russ Roberts about what we know about the relationship between diet and disease. Doctors and government agencies have encouraged Americans to reduce fat and increase carbohydrates in their diet to reduce heart disease. Tau | 11/21/2011 | Free | View in iTunes |
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7 |
CleanBaumeister on Gender Differences and Culture | Roy Baumeister, author of Is There Anything Good About Men, talks with host Russ Roberts about the differences between men and women in cultural and economic areas. He argues that men aren't superior to women nor are women superior to men. Rather there ar | 11/14/2011 | Free | View in iTunes |
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8 |
CleanKaplan on the Inequality and the Top 1% | Steven Kaplan talks with host Russ Roberts about the richest Americans and income inequality. He talks about the composition of the richest 1% and 1/10 of 1%. What proportions come from the financial sector, CEOs from non-financial corporations, athletes, | 11/7/2011 | Free | View in iTunes |
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9 |
CleanAvent on Cities, Urban Regulations, and Growth | Ryan Avent of the Economist and author of The Gated City talks with host Russ Roberts about the book and how cities have restricted access to land and housing. He argues that restricted access has raised housing prices artificially on both the east and we | 10/31/2011 | Free | View in iTunes |
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10 |
CleanRamey on Stimulus and Multipliers | Valerie Ramey talks with host Russ Roberts about the effect of government spending on output and employment. Ramey's work exploits the exogenous nature of wartime spending. She finds a multiplier between .8 and 1.2. She also discusses a survey looking at | 10/24/2011 | Free | View in iTunes |
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11 |
CleanWapshott on Keynes and Hayek | Nicholas Wapshott, author of Keynes Hayek: The Clash That Defined Modern Economics, talks with host Russ Roberts about J. M. Keynes and F. A. Hayek--their ideas, their disagreements, their friendship and how the two men influenced economists and public po | 10/17/2011 | Free | View in iTunes |
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12 |
CleanFrank Rose on Storytelling and the Art of Immersion | Frank Rose, author of The Art of Immersion and correspondent for Wired Magazine, talks with host Russ Roberts about how the web has changed the art of storytelling and the interactions between the web, advertising, games, movies, and television. Rose argu | 10/10/2011 | Free | View in iTunes |
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13 |
CleanBruce Meyer on the Middle Class, Poverty, and Inequality | Bruce Meyer talks with host Russ Roberts about the middle class, poverty, and inequality. Many people argue that the middle class has made little or no economic progress over the last 30 years and that poverty and inequality have increased. Meyer argues t | 10/3/2011 | Free | View in iTunes |
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14 |
CleanRosenberg on the Nature of Economics | Alex Rosenberg talks with host Russ Roberts about the scientific nature of economics. He talks about whether economics is a science and surveys the changes in economics over the last 25 years--the rise of experimental and behavioral economics. He argues t | 9/26/2011 | Free | View in iTunes |
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15 |
CleanGarett Jones on Stimulus | Garett Jones talks with host Russ Roberts about the workers who were hired with money from the 2009 American Recovery and Re-investment Act--the stimulus package. Jones (with co-author Daniel Rothschild) recently completed two studies based on surveys and | 9/19/2011 | Free | View in iTunes |
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16 |
CleanFrank on Competition, Government, and Darwin | Robert Frank, author of The Darwin Economy, talks with host Russ Roberts about competition, government and the relevance of Darwin for economics. In a lively and spirited discussion, Frank argues that because people care about their relative standing with | 9/12/2011 | Free | View in iTunes |
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17 |
CleanWinston on Lawyers | Clifford Winston talks with host Russ Roberts about the market for lawyers and the role of lawyers in the political process. Drawing on a new co-authored book, First Thing We Do, Let's Deregulate All the Lawyers, Winston argues that restrictions on the su | 9/5/2011 | Free | View in iTunes |
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18 |
CleanHanushek on Teachers | Eric Hanushek talks with host Russ Roberts about the importance of teacher quality in education. He argues that standard measures of quality--experience and advanced degrees--are uncorrelated with student performance. But some teachers consistently cover | 8/29/2011 | Free | View in iTunes |
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19 |
CleanO'Donohoe on Potato Chips and Salty Snacks | Brendan O'Donohoe of Frito-Lay talks with host Russ Roberts about how potato chips and other salty snacks get made, distributed, and marketed. The interview follows a tour of a local supermarket where O'Donohoe showed some ways that chips and snacks get d | 8/22/2011 | Free | View in iTunes |
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20 |
CleanBrady on the Electorate and the Elections of 2010 and 2012 | David Brady talks with host Russ Roberts about the lessons of the 2010 election and what we might expect from the 2012 elections. Brady draws on political history as well as survey results from work with colleagues Doug Rivers and Morris Fiorina. Along th | 8/15/2011 | Free | View in iTunes |
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21 |
CleanSatz on Markets | Debra Satz talks with host Russ Roberts about her book, Why Some Things Should Not Be For Sale. Satz argues that some markets are noxious and should not be allowed to operate freely. Topics discussed include organ sales, price spikes after natural disaste | 8/8/2011 | Free | View in iTunes |
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22 |
CleanAdmati on Financial Regulation | Anat Admati talks with host Russ Roberts about how to make the financial system more stable. She explores the implications of higher capital requirements. She argues that current policies subsidize leverage--high levels of debt relative to equity--and tha | 8/1/2011 | Free | View in iTunes |
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23 |
CleanHennessey on the Debt Ceiling and the Budget Process | Keith Hennessey talks with host Russ Roberts about the debt ceiling and the budget process. Hennessey, who worked for Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott on budget issues in the late 1990s, explains the politics of the debt ceiling and the budget process. H | 7/25/2011 | Free | View in iTunes |
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24 |
CleanTaylor on Fiscal and Monetary Policy | John Taylor talks with host Russ Roberts about the state of the economy and the prospects for recovery. He argues that the design of the fiscal stimulus was ineffective and monetary policy, so-called quantitative easing, has also failed to improve matters | 7/18/2011 | Free | View in iTunes |
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25 |
CleanBanerjee on Poverty and Poor Economics | Abhijit Banerjee talks with host Russ Roberts about Banerjee's book (co-authored with Esther Duflo), Poor Economics. The conversation begins with how randomized control trials (a kind of social experiment) have been used to measure the effectiveness of ai | 7/11/2011 | Free | View in iTunes |
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26 |
CleanSkeel on Bankruptcy and the Auto Industry Bailout | David Skeel talks with host Russ Roberts about bankruptcy and the government bailout of the auto industry. Skeel argues that the bailout damaged the rule of law by not allowing a bankruptcy procedure to run its course. Skeel speculates on how bankruptcy f | 7/4/2011 | Free | View in iTunes |
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27 |
CleanOtteson on Adam Smith | James Otteson talks with host Russ Roberts about Adam Smith. The conversation begins with David Hume's influence on Smith and then turns to the so-called Adam Smith problem--the author of The Wealth of Nations appears to have a different take on human nat | 6/27/2011 | Free | View in iTunes |
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28 |
CleanMunger on Exchange, Exploitation and Euvoluntary Transactions | Mike Munger talks with host Russ Roberts about the psychology, sociology, and economics of buying and selling. Why are different transactions that seemingly make both parties better off frowned on and often made illegal? In theory, all voluntary transacti | 6/20/2011 | Free | View in iTunes |
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29 |
CleanBuchholz on Competition, Stress, and the Rat Race | Todd Buchholz, author of Rush, talks with host Russ Roberts about the book. He argues that competition and striving for excellence is part of our evolutionary inheritance. He criticizes attempts to remake human beings into gentle creatures who long to ret | 6/13/2011 | Free | View in iTunes |
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30 |
CleanEichengreen on the Dollar and International Finance | Barry Eichengreen talks with host Russ Roberts about the history and importance of the dollar as the dominant international currency. He explains the advantages behind the U.S. dollar's dominance and the likelihood that the dollar might be supplanted by a | 6/6/2011 | Free | View in iTunes |
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31 |
CleanEasterly on Benevolent Autocrats and Growth | William Easterly talks with host Russ Roberts about the oft-heard claim that poor countries led by autocrats grow faster than poor countries that are democratic. Drawing on a recent paper, "Benevolent Autocrats," he argues that while some autocracies do i | 5/30/2011 | Free | View in iTunes |
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32 |
CleanHarford on Adapt and the Virtues of Failure | Author and journalist Tim Harford talks with host Russ Roberts about Adapt, Harford's book on the virtues of failure and the trial and error process. He argues that success is more likely when there is experimentation and trial and error followed by adapt | 5/23/2011 | Free | View in iTunes |
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33 |
CleanByers on the Blind Spot, Science, and Uncertainty | William Byers, author of The Blind Spot, talks with host Russ Roberts about the nature of knowledge, science and mathematics. Byers argues that there is an inherent uncertainty about science and our knowledge that is frequently ignored. He contrasts a sci | 5/16/2011 | Free | View in iTunes |
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34 |
CleanCaplan on Parenting | Bryan Caplan talks with host Russ Roberts about the ideas in Caplan's new book, Selfish Reasons to Have More Kids. Caplan argues that parents spend too much time trying to influence how their kids will turn out as adults. Using research on twins and adopt | 5/9/2011 | Free | View in iTunes |
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35 |
CleanPapola on the Keynes Hayek Rap Videos | John Papola talks with host Russ Roberts about their collaboration creating rap videos based on the ideas of John M. Keynes and F.A. Hayek. Their first was "Fear the Boom and Bust". This week they released "Fight of the Century," discussing the overarchin | 5/2/2011 | Free | View in iTunes |
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36 |
CleanRubinstein on Game Theory and Behavioral Economics | Ariel Rubinstein talks with host Russ Roberts about the state of game theory and behavioral economics, two recently influential areas of economics. Drawing on his Afterword for the 60th anniversary edition of Von Neumann and Morgenstern's Theory of Games | 4/25/2011 | Free | View in iTunes |
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37 |
CleanMunger on Microfinance, Savings, and Poverty | Mike Munger of Duke University talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about microfinance. Munger argues that cultural forces make it difficult for some families to save, and the main value of microfinance is to allow a higher level of savings. Families are | 4/18/2011 | Free | View in iTunes |
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38 |
CleanRodrik on Globalization, Development, and Employment | Dani Rodrik talks with host Russ Roberts about trade, the labor market, and trade policy. Drawing on a recent paper with Margaret McMillan on trade and productivity, Rodrik argues that countries have differing abilities to respond to increases in producti | 4/11/2011 | Free | View in iTunes |
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39 |
CleanAndresen on BitCoin and Virtual Currency | Gavin Andresen, Principal of the BitCoin Virtual Currency Project, talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about BitCoin, an innovative attempt to create a decentralized electronic currency. Andresen explains the origins of BitCoin, how new currency gets cr | 4/4/2011 | Free | View in iTunes |
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40 |
CleanVincent Reinhart on Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers, and the Financial Crisis | Vincent Reinhart talks with host Russ Roberts about the government interventions and non-interventions into financial markets in 2008. Conventional wisdom holds that the failure to intervene in the collapse of Lehman Brothers precipitated the crisis. Rein | 3/28/2011 | Free | View in iTunes |
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41 |
CleanCoyle on the Economics of Enough | Author Diane Coyle talks with host Russ Roberts about the future and the ideas in her book. Coyle argues that the financial crisis, the entitlement crisis, and climate change all reflect a failure to deal with the future appropriately. The conversation ra | 3/21/2011 | Free | View in iTunes |
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42 |
CleanTownsend on Development, Poverty, and Financial Institutions | Robert Townsend talks with host Russ Roberts about development and the role of financial institutions in growth. Drawing on his research, particularly his surveys of households in Thailand, he argues that both informal networks and formal financial instit | 3/14/2011 | Free | View in iTunes |
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43 |
CleanDyson on Heresy, Climate Change, and Science | Freeman Dyson talks with host Russ Roberts about science, his career, and the future. Dyson argues for the importance of what he calls heresy--challenging the scientific dogmas of the day. He argues that our knowledge of climate science is incomplete and | 3/7/2011 | Free | View in iTunes |
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44 |
CleanGeorge Will on America, Politics, and Baseball | George Will, author and syndicated columnist, talks with host Russ Roberts about the state of the country, the nature of politics, and baseball. Will discusses his career and how someone with a Princeton Ph.D. got involved in politics and writing. He then | 2/28/2011 | Free | View in iTunes |
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45 |
CleanAcemoglu on Inequality and the Financial Crisis | Daron Acemoglu talks with host Russ Roberts about the role income inequality may have played in creating the financial crisis. Raghuram Rajan argues in Fault Lines that growing income inequality created a political demand for redistribution. Acemoglu sugg | 2/21/2011 | Free | View in iTunes |
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46 |
CleanCowen on the Great Stagnation | Tyler Cowen talks with host Russ Roberts about the ideas in his e-book book, The Great Stagnation. Cowen argues that in the last four decades, the growth in prosperity for the average U.S. family has slowed dramatically. Cowen argues that this is the resu | 2/14/2011 | Free | View in iTunes |
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47 |
CleanKling on Patterns of Sustainable Specialization and Trade | Arnold Kling talks with host Russ Roberts about a new paradigm for thinking about macroeconomics and the labor market. Kling calls it PSST--patterns of sustainable specialization and trade. Kling rejects the Keynesian approach that emphasizes shortfalls i | 2/7/2011 | Free | View in iTunes |
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48 |
CleanDeer on Autism, Vaccination, and Scientific Fraud | Investigative journalist Brian Deer talks with host Russ Roberts about Deer's 7 years of reporting surrounding the 1998 Lancet article claiming that the MMR vaccine causes autism and bowel problems. Deer's pursuit of the truth led to the discovery that th | 1/31/2011 | Free | View in iTunes |
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49 |
CleanFazzari on Stimulus and Keynes | Steve Fazzari talks with host Russ Roberts about the economics of Keynesian stimulus. They discuss the stimulus package passed in February 2009 and whether it improved the economy and created jobs. How should claims about its impact be evaluated? What can | 1/24/2011 | Free | View in iTunes |
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50 |
CleanBoudreaux on Monetary Misunderstandings | Don Boudreaux talks with host Russ Roberts on some of the common misunderstandings people have about prices, money, inflation and deflation. They discuss what is harmful about inflation and deflation, the importance of expectations and the implications fo | 1/17/2011 | Free | View in iTunes |
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51 |
CleanCaldwell on Hayek | Bruce Caldwell talks with host Russ Roberts about Friedrich A. Hayek's life, ideas, books, and articles, whose Collected Works he has edited. The conversation covers Hayek's intellectual encounters with Keynes, his role in the socialist calculation debate | 1/10/2011 | Free | View in iTunes |
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52 |
CleanHanson on the Technological Singularity | Robin Hanson talks with host Russ Roberts about the idea of a technological singularity--a sudden, large increase in the rate of growth due to technological change. He argues that it is plausible that a change in technology could lead to world output doub | 1/3/2011 | Free | View in iTunes |
| 52 Items |
Customer Reviews
Insightful
Somewhat dry but very insightful.
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