The Pie: An Economics Podcast
Episodes
How Does Access to Safe Water Affect Child Mortality?
30 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
A new meta-analysis by Michael Kremer and co-authors suggests water treatment could reduce child mortality by about 30% in low- and middle-income co...
Global Warming, Local Impact: The Economic Landscape of Climate Change
02 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Which economies will suffer most from global warming, and by just how much? Will others see benefits? The differences are key to understanding how the...
Can Monetary Policy Solve Inflation and Unemployment?
21 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Inflation has spiked, even while the economy still recovers. What can the Fed do? It’s one of the biggest and most rapidly evolving questions facin...
Nudge: The Final Edition Book Talk with Richard Thaler
05 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
How can a small nudge make a big impact? Since publishing the first edition of Nudge more than 10 years ago, Cass Sunstein and Richard Thaler have cha...
Economics of Courage
01 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Economists and policymakers alike rely on the “value of a statistical life” to make important trade-offs. What are the merits of such a calculatio...
Vaccine Lotteries: Worth a Shot?
17 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
More than a dozen states have announced large lotteries to incentivize vaccinations. On this episode, Steve Levitt and Jeff Severts examine the econom...
Pay Now or Pay Later
03 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
With the rise in federal spending over the last several years, there are questions on how the US will pay those bills. Chicago Booth economists Austan...
College Sports: Show Me The Money
20 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Division I schools make billions off athletic programs, with close to two-thirds coming from men’s basketball and football alone. Economist Matt Mat...
Discrimination is Expensive
06 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Preventing people from entering careers where they could maximize their potential places massive costs on society, and economists can measure the real...
Are Carbon Offsets Bogus?
22 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Some of the world’s largest companies (and biggest emitters of CO2) boast big investments in carbon offset programs to reduce their reported carbon ...
WFH… Forever?
08 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The pandemic forced many Americans into a mass social experiment: working from home (WFH). Now, economists like Steve Davis are measuring the immediat...
Incentives and the Race to Vaccinate
25 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
With COVID-19 variants proliferating, administering vaccines as quickly as possible is a key policy priority. How can we ensure every level of the hea...
Is the Future Cashless?
12 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
When COVID lockdowns started a year ago, the use of cash plummeted. But the pandemic only accelerated a trend already underway. As we begin to emerge ...
The Surprising Results of Pandemic Unemployment Benefits
25 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In March 2020, the CARES Act expanded who was eligible for unemployment benefits, how much they could collect and for how long. Economists are now fin...
When Good Debt Goes Bad
11 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Nationally, student loan debt is at crisis level. The share of students behind on loan payments equals the share of homeowners in default at the peak ...
Shots on Goal: How to Jumpstart the Economy
28 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Which economic policies must be prioritized now to get the best returns in the future? This week, The Pie is breaking out the crystal ball. Austan Goo...
The Big Tech Threat?
14 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The expanding market influence of tech companies has sparked new fear of an old economic problem – monopoly power. In this episode, Eric Posner and ...
The Pandemic Recession’s Gender Gap
30 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Women suffered significantly in the early months of the current recession, raising important questions about the gender effects of this pandemic-fuele...
A Vaccine for Billions
17 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The economic benefits of ending the COVID-19 pandemic even one day earlier are enormous. Michael Kremer and Canice Prendergast describe the urgency of...
Pre-existing Confusion: The US Health Insurance System
03 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The American health insurance system is complex, politically divisive, in need of reform, and facing a historic pandemic crisis. Economists Katherine ...
The Pie
24 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Economists are always talking about The Pie - how it grows and shrinks, how it’s sliced, and who gets the biggest shares. Join hosts Eduardo Porter ...