EconTalk
Russ Roberts
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, the conflicts and history of the Middle East, and more. EconTalk has been taking the Monday out of Mondays since 2006. All 1000+ episodes are available in the archive. Go to EconTalk.org for transcripts, related resources, and comments.
Episodes
Mentioned books
Sep 1, 2014 • 59min
Nathan Blecharczyk on Airbnb and the Sharing Economy
Nathan Blecharczyk, co-founder and chief technology officer of Airbnb, talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about Airbnb, one of the earliest companies to use technology to allow individuals to share underused resources, and in the case of Airbnb, housing. Blecharczyk and Roberts discuss how a design conference and the Democratic National Convention got Airbnb started, how the company aligns incentives to overcome the trust problem of house-sharing, and the rise of technology and online social networks to make a new business model possible. Along the way, Blecharczyk gives his take on the role of luck vs. skill in entrepreneurial success and how Airbnb plans to expand its product offerings in the future.
Aug 25, 2014 • 1h 2min
Daphne Koller on Education, Coursera, and MOOCs
Daphne Koller of Coursera talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about online educational website Coursera and the future of education both online and via bricks-and-mortar. Koller, co-founder of Coursera with Andrew Ng, explains how Coursera partners with universities, how they try to create community and interaction, and the likely impact of widespread digital education on universities and those who want to learn. The conversation includes a discussion of why Koller left a chaired position in computer science at Stanford University to run a for-profit start-up in a crowded field.
Aug 18, 2014 • 1h 4min
Terry Anderson on the Environment and Property Rights
Terry Anderson, Distinguished Fellow at the Property and Environment Research Center (PERC) and Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, talks to EconTalk host Russ Roberts about free-market environmentalism, the dynamics of the Yellowstone ecosystem, and how property rights can protect natural resources.
Aug 11, 2014 • 1h 5min
Barry Weingast on Law
Barry Weingast, professor of political science at Stanford University and senior fellow at Stanford's Hoover Institution, talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the nature of law. Weingast takes issue with some of the standard views of law, and proposes a better way to understand law. The two discuss the fundamental principles of law, how it can emerge in a decentralized way to resolve disputes over property and other commercial and social interactions. Examples include Iceland, Ancient Greece, and California during the gold rush. Also considered are how laws coordinate expectations and the way that social pressure can be used to enforce law in a decentralized fashion.
Aug 4, 2014 • 1h 10min
Reid Hoffman and Ben Casnocha on LinkedIn and The Alliance
Reid Hoffman, co-founder of professional networking site LinkedIn, and Ben Casnocha, former Chief-of-Staff of LinkedIn, talk to EconTalk host Russ Roberts about LinkedIn and their book The Alliance. Hoffman and Casnocha discuss the founding and vision of LinkedIn along with their ideas in The Alliance on how to improve employee/employer relations when turnover is high and loyalty on each side is low.
Jul 28, 2014 • 1h 6min
Sam Altman on Start-ups, Venture Capital, and the Y Combinator
Sam Altman, President of Y Combinator, shares his insights on how the firm discovers and nurtures innovative startups. He discusses the balance founders face between seeking guidance and retaining autonomy, illustrated by Airbnb's journey. Altman also highlights sectors primed for disruption, such as biotechnology, emphasizing personalized healthcare advancements. The conversation touches on the future of wearables, augmented reality, and the potential impacts of cryptocurrency and energy innovations, exploring the evolving relationship between humans and technology.
Jul 21, 2014 • 1h 11min
Chris Blattman on Cash, Poverty, and Development
Chris Blattman of Columbia University talks to EconTalk host Russ Roberts about a radical approach to fighting poverty in desperately poor countries: giving cash to aid recipients and allowing them to spend it as they please. Blattman shares his research and cautious optimism about giving cash and discusses how infusions of cash affect growth, educational outcomes, and political behavior (including violence). The conversation concludes with a discussion of the limits of aid and the some of the moral issues facing aid activists and researchers.
Jul 14, 2014 • 1h 9min
D. G. Myers on Cancer, Dying, and Living
D. G. Myers, a literary critic and author who wrote about living with terminal cancer, reflects on honesty, time, and what matters when life is limited. He discusses reframing priorities, savoring small pleasures, reactions of friends, critiques of the battle metaphor, and how illness reshaped his reading, teaching, and views on literature.
Jul 7, 2014 • 1h 3min
Michael Munger on the Sharing Economy
Mike Munger of Duke University talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the sharing economy--companies like Uber, AirBnB, FlightApp, and DogVacay that let people share their houses, cars, or other assets with strangers in exchange for money. These companies dramatically increase the use of resources that would otherwise be idle and disrupt existing services such as hotels and taxis. Topics discussed include the regulatory response to these companies, the politics of that response, and the significance of these new products. The conversation closes with the potential impact of Uber combining with driverless cars to change the automobile industry and cities.
7 snips
Jun 30, 2014 • 1h
Lars Peter Hansen on Risk, Ambiguity, and Measurement
Lars Peter Hansen, a distinguished economist from the University of Chicago and Nobel Laureate, engages in a deep dive into the nuances of economic modeling and risk assessment. He discusses the limitations and benefits of quantitative methods in understanding financial systems, especially after the 2008 crisis. The conversation highlights the psychological biases affecting risk evaluation, the need for balanced data and theory in economics, and the implications of fiscal policy in crisis management. Hansen advocates for strategic infrastructure investments and critiques simplistic views on government spending.
