The Pie: An Economics Podcast

Esteban Rossi-Hansberg, a University of Chicago economist who studies spatial economics and trade, explains why schooling and skills cluster geographically. He describes a 16,000-cell model mapping population, education costs, and trade. Topics include how local universities and agglomeration shape innovation, why lowering schooling costs can have surprising tradeoffs, and using satellite data to map economic activity.

Eugene Fama, Nobel laureate and founder of modern finance, reflects on a career that shaped passive investing. He discusses the Efficient Market Hypothesis, the Fama–French factor model, CRSP data’s role in research, the rise of index funds, questions about bubbles like Bitcoin and AI, and how academic work translated into industry products.

Yueran Ma, Carhartt Family Professor of Finance at Chicago Booth and co-director of the Fama-Miller Center, explores 250 years of capitalism’s shift. She traces rising firm-scale and production concentration, contrasts concentrated production with dispersed ownership, highlights churn among giants, and considers how technology, markets, and policy shape a hybrid system between Smith and Marx.

Shaoda Wang, an assistant professor at University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy who studies Chinese policymaking with large-scale text data. He discusses how local governments once drove most policy innovation, the 2013 shift toward top-down control, how that changed local behavior from experimenting to copying, and the trade-offs between centralization and local fit.

Brent Neiman, a University of Chicago economist and former Treasury official, discusses his research on the 2025 tariffs. He explains why realized tariffs were much lower than announced. He shows that U.S. importers shouldered most costs. He highlights China’s sharp drop as a U.S. supplier and explores potential retaliation and lasting diplomatic fallout.

Paul Poast, a political scientist on foreign policy and security; Ryan Kellogg, an energy economist focused on oil and resources; Christopher Blattman, a development scholar expert on conflict and organized crime. They unpack Maduro's removal, the intelligence and planning behind the operation, oil investment prospects, sanctions and migration trade-offs, regional power shifts, and realistic paths forward for Venezuela.

Douglas Diamond, a Nobel Prize-winning economist and finance professor at the University of Chicago Booth School, delves into the intricacies of banking and financial crises. He reveals how bank runs are often self-fulfilling prophecies, fueled by short-term debt's risks. Diamond shares his first-hand experience advising on the 2008 financial crisis and critiques the regulatory reforms that missed critical warning signs. He even likens the 30-year mortgage to Michael Corleone, cautioning that good ideas can go awry when they're poorly managed.

Steven Durlauf, a distinguished professor at the Harris School of Public Policy, dives into the importance of parental income timing on intergenerational mobility. He reveals that income during adolescence (ages 12-18) is a stronger predictor of adult success than early childhood income. Durlauf explores how family structure, including marital status and single-parenthood, affects income outcomes. He also discusses the significance of socioeconomic environments, proposing policy changes to combat segregation and improve mobility for future generations.

Hyuk-Soo Kwon, an industrial policy expert, shares insights on electric vehicle subsidies and their design challenges. Eduardo Montero analyzes how Seventh-day Adventist churches navigate the tension between faith and local economies in Africa. Virginia Minni reveals how a one-day purpose workshop can significantly enhance workplace productivity. Leo Bursztyn discusses the intriguing stigma created by iMessage's green and blue text bubbles, illustrating how design influences consumer behavior and market power. Tune in for enlightening discussions!

Roger Myerson, a Nobel Prize-winning economist and University of Chicago professor, dives into the fascinating interplay of economics and democracy. He discusses how local governance supports national stability and highlights Ukraine's decentralization as a case study in effective local leadership during conflict. Myerson also shares insights on mechanism design, auction theory, and the influence of ancient political thought on modern economics. With a playful nod to harmonica tuning, he encourages researchers to focus on intuition and real-world problems.