EconTalk

George Selgin on Free Banking

17 Nov 2008

Contributed by Lukas

George Selgin of West Virginia University talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about free banking, where government treats banks as no different from...

Arnold Kling on Credit Default Swaps, Counterparty Risk, and the Political Economy of Financial Regulation

10 Nov 2008

Contributed by Lukas

Arnold Kling of EconLog talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the role of credit default swaps and counterparty risks in the current financial m...

Richard Epstein on Happiness, Inequality, and Envy

03 Nov 2008

Contributed by Lukas

Richard Epstein of the University of Chicago talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the relationship between happiness and wealth, the effects of...

Michael Munger on Middlemen

27 Oct 2008

Contributed by Lukas

Mike Munger of Duke University talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the often-vilified middleman--someone who buys cheap, sells dear and does n...

Clay Shirky on Coase, Collaboration and Here Comes Everybody

20 Oct 2008

Contributed by Lukas

Clay Shirky, author of Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations, talks about the economics of organizations with EconTalk h...

Patri Friedman on Seasteading

13 Oct 2008

Contributed by Lukas

Patri Friedman, Executive Director of the Seasteading Institute, talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about seasteading, the creation of autonomous o...

William Bernstein on Inequality

06 Oct 2008

Contributed by Lukas

William Bernstein, author of A Splendid Exchange, talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about inequality. Bernstein is worried about it; Roberts is no...

Arnold Kling on Freddie and Fannie and the Recent History of the U.S. Housing Market

29 Sep 2008

Contributed by Lukas

Arnold Kling of EconLog talks with host Russ Roberts about the economics of the housing market with a focus on the role of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac....

Karol Boudreaux on Wildlife, Property, and Poverty in Africa

22 Sep 2008

Contributed by Lukas

Karol Boudreaux, Senior Research Fellow at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about wildlife manage...

Robert Shiller on Housing and Bubbles

15 Sep 2008

Contributed by Lukas

Robert Shiller of Yale University talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the current housing mess and related financial market problems. Shiller ...

Joseph Ellis on American Creation and the Founding

08 Sep 2008

Contributed by Lukas

Joseph Ellis, of Mt. Holyoke College and author of American Creation, talks about the triumphs and tragedies of the founding of the United States. His...

Jonathan Rauch on the Volt, Risk, and Corporate Culture

01 Sep 2008

Contributed by Lukas

Jonathan Rauch, of the Brookings Institution and the Atlantic Monthly, talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the evolution of the Chevy Volt, GM...

Russ Roberts on the Price of Everything

25 Aug 2008

Contributed by Lukas

Russ Roberts, host of EconTalk and author of the economics novel, The Price of Everything, talks with guest host Arnold Kling about the ideas in The P...

John Taylor on Monetary Policy

18 Aug 2008

Contributed by Lukas

John Taylor of Stanford University talks about the Taylor Rule, his description of what the Fed ought to do and what it sometimes actually does, to ke...

Bruce Bueno de Mesquita on Iran and Threats to U.S. Security

11 Aug 2008

Contributed by Lukas

Bruce Bueno de Mesquita of Stanford University's Hoover Institution and New York University talks to EconTalk host Russ Roberts about threats to U.S. ...

Robert Barro on Disasters

04 Aug 2008

Contributed by Lukas

Robert Barro of Harvard University and Stanford University's Hoover Institution talks about disasters--significant national and international catastro...

Hal Varian on Technology

28 Jul 2008

Contributed by Lukas

Hal Varian, Google's Chief Economist and University of California at Berkeley professor, talks with Russ Roberts about Google, the role of technology ...

Doug Rivers on Polling

21 Jul 2008

Contributed by Lukas

Doug Rivers of Stanford University and YouGov.com talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the world of political polling. Rivers explains why publ...

Eric Hanushek on Education and School Finance

14 Jul 2008

Contributed by Lukas

Eric Hanushek of Stanford University's Hoover Institution talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the strange evolution of school finance in the l...

Michael Munger on the Political Economy of Public Transportation

07 Jul 2008

Contributed by Lukas

Michael Munger of Duke University talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about Munger's recent trip to Chile and the changes Chile has made to Santiago...

Arnold Kling on Hospitals and Health Care

30 Jun 2008

Contributed by Lukas

Arnold Kling of EconLog talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the death of his father and the lessons to be learned for how hospitals treat pati...

Richard McKenzie on Prices

23 Jun 2008

Contributed by Lukas

Richard McKenzie of the University California, Irvine and the author of Why Popcorn Costs So Much at the Movies and Other Pricing Puzzles, talks with ...

Don Boudreaux on Energy Prices

16 Jun 2008

Contributed by Lukas

Don Boudreaux of George Mason University talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the recent surge in energy prices. They talk about why prices hav...

Steve Cole on the Market for New Cars

09 Jun 2008

Contributed by Lukas

Steve Cole, the Sales Manager at Ourisman Honda of Laurel in Laurel, Maryland talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the strange world of new car...

Gene Epstein on Gold, the Fed, and Money

02 Jun 2008

Contributed by Lukas

Gene Epstein, Barron's economics editor, talks to EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the virtues of the gold standard relative to fiat money. Epstein ar...

Robin Hanson on Signalling

26 May 2008

Contributed by Lukas

Robin Hanson of George Mason University talks about the phenomenon of signalling--the ways people spend resources to convey information about ourselve...

Allan Meltzer on the Fed, Money, and Gold

19 May 2008

Contributed by Lukas

Allan Meltzer of Carnegie Mellon University talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about what the Fed really does and the political pressures facing th...

Chris Anderson on Free

12 May 2008

Contributed by Lukas

Chris Anderson talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about his next book project based on the idea that many delightful things in the world are increa...

John Nye on Wine, War and Trade

05 May 2008

Contributed by Lukas

John Nye of George Mason University talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about his book, War, Wine, and Taxes. The conversation covers the history of...

William Bernstein on the History of Trade

28 Apr 2008

Contributed by Lukas

William Bernstein talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the history of trade. Drawing on the insights from his recent book, A Splendid Exchange:...

Russ Roberts on the Least Pleasant Jobs

21 Apr 2008

Contributed by Lukas

EconTalk host Russ Roberts talks about the claim that for capitalism to succeed there have to be people at the bottom to do the unpleasant tasks and t...

Diane Coyle on the Soulful Science

14 Apr 2008

Contributed by Lukas

Diane Coyle talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the ideas in her new book, The Soulful Science: What Economists Really Do and Why it Matters. ...

Christopher Coyne on Exporting Democracy after War

07 Apr 2008

Contributed by Lukas

Christopher Coyne of West Virginia University and George Mason University's Mercatus Center talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about his book, Afte...

Deirdre McCloskey on Capitalism and the Bourgeois Virtues

31 Mar 2008

Contributed by Lukas

Deirdre McCloskey of the University of Illinois at Chicago and the author of The Bourgeois Virtues talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about capital...

Michael Munger on Subsidies and Externalities

24 Mar 2008

Contributed by Lukas

Mike Munger of Duke University talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the economics of subsidies. What is the economic argument for subsidies? Wh...

Tyler Cowen on Monetary Policy

17 Mar 2008

Contributed by Lukas

Tyler Cowen of George Mason University and Marginal Revolution talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about money, inflation, the Federal Reserve and t...

Stephen Marglin on Markets and Community

10 Mar 2008

Contributed by Lukas

Stephen Marglin of Harvard University and author of The Dismal Science: How Thinking Like an Economist Undermines Community talks with EconTalk host R...

Vernon Smith on Rationality in Economics

03 Mar 2008

Contributed by Lukas

Nobel Laureate Vernon Smith of Chapman University and George Mason University talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the ideas in his new book, R...

Thomas Sowell on Economic Facts and Fallacies

25 Feb 2008

Contributed by Lukas

Thomas Sowell of Stanford University's Hoover Institution talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the ideas in his new book, Economic Facts and Fa...

Timothy Brook on Vermeer's Hat and the Dawn of Global Trade

19 Feb 2008

Contributed by Lukas

Timothy Brook, professor of history at the University of British Columbia and author of Vermeer's Hat: The Seventeenth Century and the Dawn of the Glo...

William Easterly on Growth, Poverty, and Aid

11 Feb 2008

Contributed by Lukas

William Easterly of NYU talks about why some nations escape poverty while others do not, why aid almost always fails to create growth, and what can re...

Dan Klein on Coordination and Cooperation

04 Feb 2008

Contributed by Lukas

Dan Klein of George Mason University talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the marvel of economic coordination that takes place without a coordi...

Paul Collier on the Bottom Billion

28 Jan 2008

Contributed by Lukas

Paul Collier of Oxford University talks about the ideas in his recent book, The Bottom Billion, an analysis of why the poorest countries in the world ...

Don Boudreaux on Globalization and Trade Deficits

21 Jan 2008

Contributed by Lukas

Don Boudreaux, of George Mason University, talks about the ideas in his book, Globalization. He discusses comparative advantage, the winners and loser...

Michael Munger on the Nature of the Firm

14 Jan 2008

Contributed by Lukas

Mike Munger, of Duke University, talks about why firms exist. If prices and markets work so well (and they do) in steering economic resources, then wh...

Edward Castronova on the Exodus to the Virtual World

07 Jan 2008

Contributed by Lukas

Edward Castronova, of Indiana University and author of Exodus to the Virtual World, talks about his provocative thesis that a growing number of people...

William Duggan on Strategic Intuition

24 Dec 2007

Contributed by Lukas

William Duggan, professor of management at Columbia Business School at Columbia University, talks about his latest book, Strategic Intuition. Duggan c...

Karol Boudreaux on Property Rights and Incentives in Africa

17 Dec 2007

Contributed by Lukas

Karol Boudreaux, Senior Research Fellow at George Mason University's Mercatus Center, talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about her field work and r...

Peter Boettke on Austrian Economics

10 Dec 2007

Contributed by Lukas

Pete Boettke, of George Mason University, talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the origins and tenets of Austrian economics. This is a wonderfu...

Michael Munger on Fair Trade and Free Trade

03 Dec 2007

Contributed by Lukas

Mike Munger, frequent guest and longtime Econlib contributor, speaks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about fair trade coffee and free trade agreements...

Daniel Botkin on Nature, the Environment and Global Warming

26 Nov 2007

Contributed by Lukas

Daniel Botkin, ecologist and author, talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about how we think about our role as humans in the natural world, the dynam...

Cass Sunstein on Worst-case Scenarios

19 Nov 2007

Contributed by Lukas

Cass Sunstein of the University of Chicago talks about the ideas in his latest book, Worst-Case Scenarios. How should individuals and societies cope w...

Henry Aaron on Health Care Costs

15 Nov 2007

Contributed by Lukas

In this bonus middle-of-the-week podcast, Henry Aaron of the Brookings Institution talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about health care costs. Rese...

Joel Waldfogel on Markets, Choice, and the Tyranny of the Market

12 Nov 2007

Contributed by Lukas

Joel Waldfogel of the Wharton School of Business talks about the idea in his new book, The Tyranny of Markets: Why You Can't Always Get What You Want....

Arnold Kling on the Economics of Health Care and the Crisis of Abundance

05 Nov 2007

Contributed by Lukas

Arnold Kling of EconLog talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the economics of health care and his book, A Crisis of Abundance: Rethinking How W...

Bruce Yandle on the Tragedy of the Commons and the Implications for Environmental Regulation

29 Oct 2007

Contributed by Lukas

Bruce Yandle of Clemson University and George Mason University's Mercatus Center looks at the tragedy of the commons and the various ways that people ...

Ian Ayres on Super Crunchers and the Power of Data

22 Oct 2007

Contributed by Lukas

Ian Ayres of Yale University Law School talks about the ideas in his new book, Super Crunchers: Why Thinking-by-Numbers Is the New Way to Be Smart. Ay...

Robert Frank on Economics Education and the Economic Naturalist

15 Oct 2007

Contributed by Lukas

Author Robert Frank of Cornell University talks about economic education and his recent book, The Economic Naturalist. Frank argues that the tradition...

Thomas McCraw on Schumpeter, Innovation, and Creative Destruction

08 Oct 2007

Contributed by Lukas

Thomas McCraw of Harvard University talks about the ideas of Joseph Schumpeter from his book, Prophet of Innovation: Joseph Schumpeter and Creative De...

Don Boudreaux on Market Failure, Government Failure and the Economics of Antitrust Regulation

01 Oct 2007

Contributed by Lukas

Don Boudreaux of George Mason University talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about when market failure can be improved by government intervention. A...

Grab Bag: Mike Munger and Russ Roberts on Recycling, Peak Oil and Steroids

24 Sep 2007

Contributed by Lukas

Mike Munger, of Duke University, and EconTalk host Russ Roberts clean up some loose ends from their previous conversation on recycling, move on to tal...

Richard Epstein on Property Rights, Zoning and Kelo

17 Sep 2007

Contributed by Lukas

Richard Epstein, of the University of Chicago and Stanford's Hoover Institution, makes the case that many current zoning restrictions are essentially ...

Tyler Cowen on Your Inner Economist

10 Sep 2007

Contributed by Lukas

Tyler Cowen, of George Mason University, talks about his new book, Discover Your Inner Economist: Use Incentives to Fall in Love, Survive Your Next Me...

George Shultz on Economics, Human Rights and the Fall of the Soviet Union

03 Sep 2007

Contributed by Lukas

George Shultz, the Thomas W. and Susan B. Ford Distinguished Fellow at Stanford's Hoover Institution and Secretary of State under Ronald Reagan, talks...

Paul Romer on Growth

27 Aug 2007

Contributed by Lukas

Paul Romer, Stanford University professor and Hoover Institution Senior Fellow talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about growth, China, innovation, ...

Deborah Gordon on Ants, Humans, the Division of Labor and Emergent Order

20 Aug 2007

Contributed by Lukas

Deborah M. Gordon, Professor of Biological Sciences at Stanford University, is an authority on ants and order that emerges without control or centrali...

Barry Weingast on Violence, Power and a Theory of Nearly Everything

13 Aug 2007

Contributed by Lukas

Barry Weingast, Senior Fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution and the Ward C. Krebs Family Professor in the Department of Political Scienc...

Eric Hanushek on Educational Quality and Economic Growth

06 Aug 2007

Contributed by Lukas

Eric Hanushek, Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, talks about his research on the impact of educational quality on economic growth. Past efforts...

David Henderson on Disagreeable Economists

30 Jul 2007

Contributed by Lukas

David Henderson, editor of the Concise Encyclopedia of Economics and a research fellow at Stanford's Hoover Institution, talks with EconTalk host Russ...

Bruce Bueno de Mesquita on Reagan, Yeltsin, and the Strategy of Political Campaigning

23 Jul 2007

Contributed by Lukas

Bruce Bueno de Mesquita, NYU and the Hoover Institute, talks about the political economy of political campaigns and his forthcoming book, The Strategy...

Russ Roberts on Ticket Prices and Scalping

16 Jul 2007

Contributed by Lukas

EconTalk host Russ Roberts talks about scalping and visits AT&T Park hours before Major League Baseball's All-Star Game to talk with a scalper, a ...

Ed Leamer on Outsourcing and Globalization

09 Jul 2007

Contributed by Lukas

Is outsourcing good for America? How does foreign competition affect wages in the United States? Ed Leamer, professor of economics at UCLA, talks abou...

Michael Munger on Recycling

02 Jul 2007

Contributed by Lukas

Mike Munger, professor of economics and political science at Duke University and frequent guest of EconTalk, talks with host Russ Roberts about the ec...

Bryan Caplan on the Myth of the Rational Voter

25 Jun 2007

Contributed by Lukas

Bryan Caplan, of George Mason University and blogger at EconLog, talks about his book, The Myth of the Rational Voter: Why Democracies Choose Bad Poli...

David Weinberger on Everything is Miscellaneous and the Wonderful World of Digital Information

18 Jun 2007

Contributed by Lukas

Author David Weinberger, a fellow at Harvard's Berkman Institute for Internet and Society, talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the ideas in hi...

Dan Pink on How Half Your Brain Can Save Your Job

11 Jun 2007

Contributed by Lukas

Author Dan Pink, talks about the ideas in his book, A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future. He argues that the skills of the right ...

Amity Shlaes on the Great Depression

04 Jun 2007

Contributed by Lukas

Amity Shlaes, Bloomberg columnist and visiting senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, talks about her new book, The Forgotten Man: A New H...

Robin Hanson on Health

28 May 2007

Contributed by Lukas

Robin Hanson, of George Mason University, argues that health care is different, but not in the usual ways people claim. He describes a set of paradoxi...

Vernon Smith on Markets and Experimental Economics

21 May 2007

Contributed by Lukas

Vernon Smith, Professor of Economics at George Mason University and the 2002 Nobel Laureate in Economics, talks about experimental economics, markets,...

Cass Sunstein on Infotopia, Information and Decision-Making

14 May 2007

Contributed by Lukas

Cass Sunstein of the University of Chicago talks about the ideas in his latest book, Infotopia: How Many Minds Produce Knowledge. What are the best wa...

John Allison on Strategy, Profits, and Self-Interest

07 May 2007

Contributed by Lukas

John Allison, CEO of BB and T Bank, lays out his business philosophy arguing for the virtues of profits, self-interest and production. His definition ...

Nassim Nicholas Taleb on Black Swans

30 Apr 2007

Contributed by Lukas

Nassim Taleb talks about the challenges of coping with uncertainty, predicting events, and understanding history. This wide-ranging conversation looks...

Alvin Rabushka on the Flat Tax

23 Apr 2007

Contributed by Lukas

Alvin Rabushka of Stanford University's Hoover Institution lays out the case for the flat tax, a reform of the current system that would replace the 6...

Don Boudreaux on the Economics of "Buy Local"

16 Apr 2007

Contributed by Lukas

Proponents of buying local argue that it is better to buy from the local hardware store owner and nearby farmer than from the Big Box chain store or t...

John Bogle on Investing

09 Apr 2007

Contributed by Lukas

The legendary John Bogle, founder of the Vanguard Group and creator of the index mutual fund, talks about the Great Depression, the riskiness of bond ...

Mike Munger on the Division of Labor

02 Apr 2007

Contributed by Lukas

Mike Munger of Duke University and EconTalk host Russ Roberts talk about specialization, the role of technology in aiding specialization and how the d...

Kevin Kelly on the Future of the Web and Everything Else

26 Mar 2007

Contributed by Lukas

Author Kevin Kelly talks about the role of technology in our lives, the future of the web, how to time travel, the wisdom of the hive, the economics o...

David Leonhardt on the Media

19 Mar 2007

Contributed by Lukas

David Leonhardt of the New York Times talks with Russ Roberts about media bias, competition between old and new media, global warming, and the role of...

Tyler Cowen on Liberty, Art, Food and Everything Else in Between

12 Mar 2007

Contributed by Lukas

Tyler Cowen, co-blogger (with Alex Tabarrok) at MarginalRevolution.com, talks about liberty, global warming, using the courts vs. regulation to protec...

Gregg Easterbrook on the American Standard of Living

05 Mar 2007

Contributed by Lukas

Author Gregg Easterbrook talks about the ideas in his latest book, The Progress Paradox: How Life Gets Better While People Feel Worse. How has life ch...

Viviana Zelizer on Money and Intimacy

26 Feb 2007

Contributed by Lukas

Viviana Zelizer, Princeton University sociologist, talks about the ideas in her new book, The Purchase of Intimacy. Does money ruin intimacy? Does int...

Richard Epstein on Property Rights and Drug Patents

19 Feb 2007

Contributed by Lukas

Richard Epstein of the University of Chicago and Stanford University's Hoover Institution talks about property rights, drug patents, the FDA, and the ...

Bruce Bueno de Mesquita on Democracies and Dictatorships

12 Feb 2007

Contributed by Lukas

Bruce Bueno de Mesquita of NYU and Stanford University's Hoover Institution talks about the incentives facing dictators and democratic leaders. Both h...

Bob Lucas on Growth, Poverty and Business Cycles

05 Feb 2007

Contributed by Lukas

Bob Lucas, Nobel Laureate and professor of economics at the University of Chicago talks about wealth and poverty, what affects living standards around...

Michael Lewis on the Hidden Economics of Baseball and Football

29 Jan 2007

Contributed by Lukas

Michael Lewis talks about the economics of sports--the financial and decision-making side of baseball and football--using the insights from his bestse...

Greg Mankiw on Gasoline Taxes, Keynes and Macroeconomics

22 Jan 2007

Contributed by Lukas

Greg Mankiw of Harvard University and Greg Mankiw's Blog talks about the state of modern macroeconomics and Keynes vs. the Chicago School. He defends ...

Bruce Yandle on Bootleggers and Baptists

15 Jan 2007

Contributed by Lukas

Bruce Yandle of Clemson University explains why politics makes such strange bedfellows and the often peculiar alliance of self-interested special inte...

Michael Munger on Price Gouging

08 Jan 2007

Contributed by Lukas

Mike Munger of Duke University recounts the harrowing (and fascinating) experience of being in the path of a hurricane and the economic forces that we...

Peter Boettke on Katrina and the Economics of Disaster

18 Dec 2006

Contributed by Lukas

Pete Boettke of George Mason University talks about the role of government and voluntary efforts in relieving suffering during and after a crisis such...

Don Boudreaux on Law and Legislation

11 Dec 2006

Contributed by Lukas

Don Boudreaux of George Mason University talks about the fundamental principles of economics and civilization: spontaneous order and law. Drawing on v...