EconTalk

Lee Ohanian on the Great Recession and the Labor Market

20 Aug 2012

Contributed by Lukas

Lee Ohanian of UCLA talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the recession, the recovery, and the state of labor market. Ohanian describes the unus...

Tammy Frisby on Tax Reform

13 Aug 2012

Contributed by Lukas

Tammy Frisby of Stanford University's Hoover Institution talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the likelihood of U.S. tax reform in the near fut...

Josiah Ober on the Ancient Greek Economy

06 Aug 2012

Contributed by Lukas

Josiah Ober of Stanford University talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the economy of ancient Greece, particularly Athens. Ober notes that the...

Scott Atlas on American Health Care

30 Jul 2012

Contributed by Lukas

Scott Atlas, Senior Fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution and author of In Excellent Health, talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about ...

David Brady on the 2012 US Election

23 Jul 2012

Contributed by Lukas

David Brady, Professor of Political Science and the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University and a senior fellow at Stanford's Hoover Instit...

Gary Taubes on Why We Get Fat

16 Jul 2012

Contributed by Lukas

Gary Taubes, author of Why We Get Fat, talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about why we get fat and the nature of evidence in a complex system. The ...

Joseph Stiglitz on Inequality

09 Jul 2012

Contributed by Lukas

Nobel Laureate Joseph Stiglitz of Columbia University talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the ideas in his recent book, The Price of Inequalit...

Luigi Zingales on Capitalism and Crony Capitalism

02 Jul 2012

Contributed by Lukas

Luigi Zingales of the University of Chicago and author of A Capitalism for the People talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the ideas in his boo...

Enrico Moretti on Jobs, Cities, and Innovation

25 Jun 2012

Contributed by Lukas

Enrico Moretti of the University of California, Berkeley and the author of the New Geography of Jobs talks to EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the ide...

Jim Manzi on Knowledge, Policy, and Uncontrolled

18 Jun 2012

Contributed by Lukas

Jim Manzi, author of Uncontrolled, talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the reliability of science and the ideas in his book. Manzi argues that...

Jonah Lehrer on Creativity and Imagine

11 Jun 2012

Contributed by Lukas

Jonah Lehrer, staff writer for The New Yorker and author of Imagine: How Creativity Works, talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the science of ...

Ed Yong on Science, Replication, and Journalism

04 Jun 2012

Contributed by Lukas

Ed Yong, science writer and blogger at "Not Exactly Rocket Science" at Discover Magazine, talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the ch...

Larry White on the Clash of Economic Ideas

28 May 2012

Contributed by Lukas

Lawrence H. White of George Mason University and author of The Clash of Economic Ideas talks to EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the economists and th...

Ronald Coase on Externalities, the Firm, and the State of Economics

21 May 2012

Contributed by Lukas

Nobel Laureate Ronald Coase of the University of Chicago talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about his career, the current state of economics, and t...

David Owen on Parenting, Money, and the First National Bank of Dad

14 May 2012

Contributed by Lukas

David Owen, author of The First National Bank of Dad, talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about how to educate our children about money and finance....

David Schmidtz on Rawls, Nozick, and Justice

07 May 2012

Contributed by Lukas

David Schmidtz of the University of Arizona talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the work of John Rawls and Robert Nozick. The conversation cov...

John Taylor on Rules, Discretion, and First Principles

30 Apr 2012

Contributed by Lukas

John Taylor of Stanford University's Hoover Institution talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about his new book, First Principles: Five Keys to Resto...

Tyler Cowen on Food

23 Apr 2012

Contributed by Lukas

Tyler Cowen of George Mason U. and author of An Economist Gets Lunch, talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about food, the economics of food, and his...

David Autor on Disability

16 Apr 2012

Contributed by Lukas

David Autor of MIT talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) program. SSDI has grown dramatically in...

Richard Burkhauser on the Middle Class

09 Apr 2012

Contributed by Lukas

Richard Burkhauser of Cornell University talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the state of the middle class. Drawing on recently published pape...

Eugene White on Bank Regulation

02 Apr 2012

Contributed by Lukas

Eugene White of Rutgers University talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the regulation of banks and financial crises. White argues that most re...

Don Boudreaux on Public Debt

26 Mar 2012

Contributed by Lukas

Don Boudreaux of George Mason University talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the nature of public debt. One view is that there is no burden of...

Daron Acemoglu on Why Nations Fail

19 Mar 2012

Contributed by Lukas

Daron Acemoglu of MIT and author (with James Robinson) of Why Nations Fail talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the ideas in his book: why some...

Emanuel Derman on Theories, Models, and Science

12 Mar 2012

Contributed by Lukas

Emanuel Derman of Columbia University and author of Models. Behaving. Badly talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about theories and models, and the e...

Charles Calomiris on Capital Requirements, Leverage, and Financial Regulation

05 Mar 2012

Contributed by Lukas

Charles Calomiris of Columbia University talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about corporate debt, capital requirements, and financial regulation. T...

David Weinberger on Too Big to Know

27 Feb 2012

Contributed by Lukas

David Weinberger of Harvard University's Berkman Center for Internet & Society and author of Too Big to Know, talks with EconTalk host Russ Robert...

Adam Davidson on Manufacturing

20 Feb 2012

Contributed by Lukas

Adam Davidson of NPR's Planet Money talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about manufacturing. Based on an article Davidson wrote for The Atlantic, th...

David Owen on the Environment, Unintended Consequences, and The Conundrum

13 Feb 2012

Contributed by Lukas

David Owen of the New Yorker and author of The Conundrum talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the ideas in his book. Owen argues that innovatio...

William Black on Financial Fraud

06 Feb 2012

Contributed by Lukas

William Black of University of Missouri-Kansas City and author of The Best Way to Rob a Bank Is to Own One, talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts abou...

Eugene Fama on Finance

30 Jan 2012

Contributed by Lukas

Eugene Fama of the University of Chicago talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the evolution of finance, the efficient market hypothesis, the cu...

David Rose on the Moral Foundations of Economic Behavior

23 Jan 2012

Contributed by Lukas

David Rose of the University of Missouri, St. Louis and the author of The Moral Foundation of Economic Behavior talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts ...

Nassim Nicholas Taleb on Antifragility

16 Jan 2012

Contributed by Lukas

Nassim Taleb, author of Fooled By Randomness and The Black Swan, talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about antifragility, the concept behind Taleb's...

Dean Baker on the Crisis

09 Jan 2012

Contributed by Lukas

Dean Baker of the Center for Economic Policy and Research talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the financial crisis. Baker sees the crisis as p...

Scott Sumner on Money and the Fed

02 Jan 2012

Contributed by Lukas

Scott Sumner of Bentley University and the blog The Money Illusion talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the state of monetary policy, the actio...

Alex Tabarrok on Innovation

26 Dec 2011

Contributed by Lukas

Alex Tabarrok of George Mason University talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about his new book, Launching the Innovation Renaissance. Tabarrok argu...

Dan Klein on Knowledge and Coordination

19 Dec 2011

Contributed by Lukas

Dan Klein of George Mason University talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the ideas in Klein's new book, Knowledge and Coordination. Klein argu...

Michael Munger on Profits, Entrepreneurship, and Storytelling

12 Dec 2011

Contributed by Lukas

Mike Munger of Duke University talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about profit. What is profit's role in allocating resources? How should we feel a...

Tyler Cowen on the European Crisis

05 Dec 2011

Contributed by Lukas

Tyler Cowen of George Mason University talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the European crisis. Cowen argues that Greece is likely to default ...

Simon Johnson on the Financial Crisis

28 Nov 2011

Contributed by Lukas

Simon Johnson of MIT and the author (with James Kwak) of 13 Bankers talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the origins of the financial crisis an...

Gary Taubes on Fat, Sugar and Scientific Discovery

21 Nov 2011

Contributed by Lukas

Gary Taubes, author of Good Calories, Bad Calories, talks to EconTalk host Russ Roberts about what we know about the relationship between diet and dis...

Roy Baumeister on Gender Differences and Culture

14 Nov 2011

Contributed by Lukas

Roy Baumeister of Florida State University and the author of Is There Anything Good About Men talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the differen...

Steven Kaplan on the Inequality and the Top 1%

07 Nov 2011

Contributed by Lukas

Steven Kaplan of the University of Chicago talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the richest Americans and income inequality. Drawing on work wi...

Ryan Avent on Cities, Urban Regulations, and Growth

31 Oct 2011

Contributed by Lukas

Ryan Avent of the Economist and author of The Gated City talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about The Gated City and how cities have restricted acc...

Valerie Ramey on Stimulus and Multipliers

24 Oct 2011

Contributed by Lukas

Valerie Ramey of the University of California, San Diego talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the effect of government spending on output and e...

Nicholas Wapshott on Keynes and Hayek

17 Oct 2011

Contributed by Lukas

Nicholas Wapshott, author of Keynes Hayek: The Clash That Defined Modern Economics, talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about John Maynard Keynes an...

Frank Rose on Storytelling and the Art of Immersion

10 Oct 2011

Contributed by Lukas

Frank Rose, author of The Art of Immersion and correspondent for Wired Magazine, talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about how the web has changed t...

Bruce Meyer on the Middle Class, Poverty, and Inequality

03 Oct 2011

Contributed by Lukas

Bruce Meyer of the University of Chicago talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the middle class, poverty, and inequality. Many economists and pu...

Alex Rosenberg on the Nature of Economics

26 Sep 2011

Contributed by Lukas

Alex Rosenberg of Duke University talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the scientific nature of economics. Rosenberg, a philosopher of science ...

Garett Jones on Stimulus

19 Sep 2011

Contributed by Lukas

Garett Jones of George Mason University talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the workers who were hired with money from the 2009 American Recov...

Robert Frank on Competition, Government, and Darwin

12 Sep 2011

Contributed by Lukas

Robert Frank of Cornell University and author of The Darwin Economy talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about competition, government and the releva...

Clifford Winston on Lawyers

05 Sep 2011

Contributed by Lukas

Clifford Winston of the Brookings Institution talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the market for lawyers and the role of lawyers in the politi...

Eric Hanushek on Teachers

29 Aug 2011

Contributed by Lukas

Eric Hanushek of Stanford University's Hoover Institution talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the importance of teacher quality in education. ...

Brendan O'Donohoe on Potato Chips and Salty Snacks

22 Aug 2011

Contributed by Lukas

Brendan O'Donohoe of Frito-Lay talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about how potato chips and other salty snacks get made, distributed, and marketed...

David Brady on the Electorate and the Elections of 2010 and 2012

15 Aug 2011

Contributed by Lukas

David Brady of Stanford University talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the lessons of the election of 2010 and what we might expect from the e...

Debra Satz on Markets

08 Aug 2011

Contributed by Lukas

Debra Satz, Professor of Philosophy at Stanford University, talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about her book, Why Some Things Should Not Be For Sa...

Anat Admati on Financial Regulation

01 Aug 2011

Contributed by Lukas

Anat Admati of Stanford University talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about ways to make the financial system more stable. In particular, Admati ex...

Keith Hennessey on the Debt Ceiling and the Budget Process

25 Jul 2011

Contributed by Lukas

Keith Hennessey of Stanford University's Hoover Institution talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the debt ceiling and the budget process. Henne...

John Taylor on Fiscal and Monetary Policy

18 Jul 2011

Contributed by Lukas

John Taylor of Stanford University talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the state of the economy and the prospects for recovery. Taylor argues ...

Abhijit Banerjee on Poverty and Poor Economics

11 Jul 2011

Contributed by Lukas

Abhijit Banerjee of MIT talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about Banerjee's book (co-authored with Esther Duflo), Poor Economics. The conversation ...

David Skeel on Bankruptcy and the Auto Industry Bailout

04 Jul 2011

Contributed by Lukas

David Skeel of the University of Pennsylvania Law School talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about bankruptcy and the government bailout of the auto...

James Otteson on Adam Smith

27 Jun 2011

Contributed by Lukas

James Otteson of Yeshiva University talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about Adam Smith. The conversation begins with a brief sketch of David Hume ...

Michael Munger on Exchange, Exploitation and Euvoluntary Transactions

20 Jun 2011

Contributed by Lukas

Mike Munger of Duke University talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the psychology, sociology, and economics of buying and selling. Why are dif...

Todd Buchholz on Competition, Stress, and the Rat Race

13 Jun 2011

Contributed by Lukas

Todd Buchholz, author of Rush: Why You Need and Love the Rat Race, talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the ideas in the book. Buchholz argues ...

Barry Eichengreen on the Dollar and International Finance

06 Jun 2011

Contributed by Lukas

Barry Eichengreen of University of California, Berkeley and author of Exorbitant Privilege talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the history and...

William Easterly on Benevolent Autocrats and Growth

30 May 2011

Contributed by Lukas

William Easterly of New York University talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the oft-heard claim that poor countries led by autocrats grow fast...

Tim Harford on Adapt and the Virtues of Failure

23 May 2011

Contributed by Lukas

Tim Harford, author and journalist, talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about Adapt, Harford's book on the virtues of failure and the trial and erro...

William Byers on the Blind Spot, Science, and Uncertainty

16 May 2011

Contributed by Lukas

William Byers of Canada's Concordia University and author of The Blind Spot talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the nature of knowledge, scien...

Bryan Caplan on Parenting

09 May 2011

Contributed by Lukas

Bryan Caplan of George Mason University and EconLog talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the ideas in Caplan's new book, Selfish Reasons to Hav...

John Papola on the Keynes Hayek Rap Videos

02 May 2011

Contributed by Lukas

John Papola of Emergent Order talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about their collaboration creating rap videos based on the ideas of John Maynard K...

Ariel Rubinstein on Game Theory and Behavioral Economics

25 Apr 2011

Contributed by Lukas

Ariel Rubinstein of Tel Aviv University and New York University talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the state of game theory and behavioral ec...

Michael Munger on Microfinance, Savings, and Poverty

18 Apr 2011

Contributed by Lukas

Mike Munger of Duke University talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about microfinance. Munger argues that cultural forces make it difficult for some...

Dani Rodrik on Globalization, Development, and Employment

11 Apr 2011

Contributed by Lukas

Dani Rodrik of Harvard University talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about trade, the labor market, and trade policy. Drawing on a recent paper wit...

Gavin Andresen on BitCoin and Virtual Currency

04 Apr 2011

Contributed by Lukas

Gavin Andresen, Principal of the BitCoin Virtual Currency Project, talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about BitCoin, an innovative attempt to creat...

Vincent Reinhart on Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers, and the Financial Crisis

28 Mar 2011

Contributed by Lukas

Vincent Reinhart of the American Enterprise Institute talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the government interventions and non-interventions i...

Diane Coyle on the Economics of Enough

21 Mar 2011

Contributed by Lukas

Diane Coyle, author of The Economics of Enough, talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the future and the ideas in her book. Coyle argues that th...

Robert Townsend on Development, Poverty, and Financial Institutions

14 Mar 2011

Contributed by Lukas

Robert Townsend of MIT and the Consortium on Financial Systems and Poverty talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about development and the role of fin...

Freeman Dyson on Heresy, Climate Change, and Science

07 Mar 2011

Contributed by Lukas

Freeman Dyson of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about science, his career, and the future. Dyson ...

George Will on America, Politics, and Baseball

28 Feb 2011

Contributed by Lukas

Author and syndicated columnist George Will talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the state of the country, the nature of politics, and at the e...

Daron Acemoglu on Inequality and the Financial Crisis

21 Feb 2011

Contributed by Lukas

Daron Acemoglu of MIT talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the role income inequality may have played in creating the financial crisis. Raghura...

Tyler Cowen on the Great Stagnation

14 Feb 2011

Contributed by Lukas

Tyler Cowen of George Mason University and author of the e-book The Great Stagnation talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the ideas in the book...

Arnold Kling on Patterns of Sustainable Specialization and Trade

07 Feb 2011

Contributed by Lukas

Arnold Kling of EconLog talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about a new paradigm for thinking about macroeconomics and the labor market. Kling calls...

Brian Deer on Autism, Vaccination, and Scientific Fraud

31 Jan 2011

Contributed by Lukas

Investigative journalist Brian Deer talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about Deer's seven years of reporting and legal issuessurrounding the 1998 a...

Steve Fazzari on Stimulus and Keynes

24 Jan 2011

Contributed by Lukas

Steve Fazzari of Washington University in St. Louis talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the economics of Keynesian stimulus. They discuss the ...

Don Boudreaux on Monetary Misunderstandings

17 Jan 2011

Contributed by Lukas

Don Boudreaux of George Mason University talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts on some of the common misunderstandings people have about prices, money...

Bruce Caldwell on Hayek

10 Jan 2011

Contributed by Lukas

Bruce Caldwell of Duke University and the General Editor of the Collected Works of F. A. Hayek, talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about Hayek, his...

Robin Hanson on the Technological Singularity

03 Jan 2011

Contributed by Lukas

Robin Hanson of GMU talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the idea of a technological singularity--a sudden, large increase in the rate of growt...

Peter Boettke on Mises

27 Dec 2010

Contributed by Lukas

Pete Boettke of George Mason University talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the life, work, and legacy of Ludwig von Mises. Boettke outlines M...

Joe Nocera on the Crisis and All the Devils Are Here

20 Dec 2010

Contributed by Lukas

Joe Nocera, New York Times columnist and co-author with Bethany McLean of All the Devils Are Here, talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the ori...

Wafaya Abdallah on Hair and Running a Small Business

13 Dec 2010

Contributed by Lukas

Wafaya Abdallah of Oasis Hair Salon in Rockville, Maryland talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the challenges and rewards of running a small b...

George Selgin on the Fed

06 Dec 2010

Contributed by Lukas

George Selgin, of the University of Georgia, talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about whether the creation of the Federal Reserve in 1913 has been ...

Kevin Kelly on Technology and What Technology Wants

29 Nov 2010

Contributed by Lukas

Kevin Kelly, author of What Technology Wants, talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about technology and the ideas in the book. Kelly argues that tech...

Nicholas Phillipson on Adam Smith

22 Nov 2010

Contributed by Lukas

Nicholas Phillipson, author of Adam Smith: An Enlightened Life, talks to EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the life of Adam Smith. Drawing on his recen...

Robert Frank on Inequality

15 Nov 2010

Contributed by Lukas

Robert Frank of Cornell University talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about inequality. Is there a role for public policy in mitigating income ineq...

Don Boudreaux on China, Currency Manipulation, and Trade Deficits

08 Nov 2010

Contributed by Lukas

Don Boudreaux of George Mason University talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about Chinese exchange rate policy and the claim that China keeps the v...

John Quiggin on Zombie Economics

01 Nov 2010

Contributed by Lukas

John Quiggin of Crooked Timber and the author of Zombie Economics talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about ideas in economics that should stay dead...

Thomas Hazlett on Apple vs. Google

25 Oct 2010

Contributed by Lukas

Thomas Hazlett of George Mason University talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the growing rivalry between Apple and Google. It is commonly arg...

Matt Ridley on Trade, Growth, and the Rational Optimist

18 Oct 2010

Contributed by Lukas

Matt Ridley, author of The Rational Optimist, talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about why he is optimistic about the future and how trade and spec...

Douglas Irwin on the Great Depression and the Gold Standard

11 Oct 2010

Contributed by Lukas

Douglas Irwin of Dartmouth College talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the role the gold standard played in the Great Depression. Irwin argues...

Bryan Caplan on Immigration

04 Oct 2010

Contributed by Lukas

Bryan Caplan of George Mason University and EconLog blogger talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about immigration. Caplan takes on the common argume...

Gary Greenberg on Depression, Addiction, and the Brain

27 Sep 2010

Contributed by Lukas

Gary Greenberg, psychologist and author of The Noble Lie and Manufacturing Depression, talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the nature of addic...