unSILOed with Greg LaBlanc

Delve into the intersection of economics, preferences, and morality with Samuel Bowles. Explore the pitfalls of relying solely on incentives, debunk beliefs in equilibrium, and align economic education with climate change challenges. Unpack the delicate balance between intrinsic motivation and external rewards, and the importance of good citizens over good incentives in shaping societal norms. Revolutionize economic education for a sustainable future and discuss the challenges of achieving efficiency and preference neutrality in social design.

Discover how studying firefighters unlocked the key to understanding expertise in decision-making with Gary Klein. They discuss the complexities of decision-making, importance of experience, positive cognitive psychology, role of mental models, and the innovative ShadowBox method for training decision-makers. Explore insights, challenges in fostering a culture of insights, optimal error path, and balancing error reduction with seeking insights.

David Spiegelhalter, a statistics professor, emphasizes the importance of understanding risk magnitude. Topics include micro-mort, 'microlife', and faulty statistical interpretation during crises like COVID-19. The podcast discusses statistical literacy in daily life, valuing statistical life in public policies, understanding health outcomes, analyzing COVID-19 impact, healthcare decision-making, and confidence ratings in data analysis.

Alex Edmans and Greg LaBlanc discuss the alignment of shareholder and stakeholder interests, the benefits of long-term activism, the flaws in ESG metrics, the importance of crafting impactful mission statements for companies and individuals, and debunking stereotypes of activist investing. They explore the balance between social responsibility and profitability, advocating for activities that align with a company's expertise for long-term success.

Exploring the philosophy of negative emotions with Krista K. Thomason. Challenge our views on emotions. Discuss the importance of not suppressing negative emotions. Delve into societal norms surrounding shame and pride. Analyze the complexities of envy and spite in social interactions. Compare historical philosophical perspectives on emotions. Advocate for understanding and accepting the full spectrum of emotions.

Alexandra Hudson, author of 'The Soul of Civility', discusses the importance of civility in a divided world. She explores the difference between politeness and civility, shares wisdom from historical figures like Augustine and Pascal, and explains why cultivating virtues is vital for societal harmony. The episode offers actionable insights for integrating timeless principles of civility into everyday life.

Camilla Nord, Neuroscience researcher at the University of Cambridge and author of 'The Balanced Brain: The Science of Mental Health', discusses the intertwined relationship between psychology and physiology in mental health. Topics covered include the influence of phobias on immune responses, the role of dopamine in motivation, the dynamics of mental health treatments, and the shifting landscape of mental health research.

The family household is a fundamental unit of economics, and by extension – a fundamental unit of society. But the amount of research and study on the family within the profession of economics is still developing. Melissa Kearney is a professor of economics at the University of Maryland, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institute, and the director of the Aspen Economic Strategy Group. Her book, The Two-Parent Privilege: How Americans Stopped Getting Married and Started Falling Behind, examines how the makeup of families can determine a child’s economic success. She and Greg discuss the success gap between children from two-parent homes vs. one-parent homes, the role families play in the overall economic state of our country, and what needs to be done to bridge that inequality and address poverty.  *unSILOed Podcast is produced by University FM.*Episode Quotes:Why does family structure matter in economic success and social mobility?03:43: When you look at all of the research that economists have done on poverty, inequality, and social mobility, family structure is important and determinant of all of that. And so what I'm doing is not uncovering something that isn't there in all of the academic evidence. I just think it doesn't get the attention it deserves when we then say, so what should we do about inequality, threats to social mobility, or poverty? We take family structure as a given in all of our research, and so it matters because it is so determinant. Even if we wish it were otherwise, it is so determinant. We just see that over and over and over again that kids from one-parent homes are less likely to graduate high school, graduate college, go on to achieve high earnings. It's really determinant of all of these markers of what we might think of as economic success.The real constraints of higher educated parents vs. economically constrained parents36:58: Higher-educated folks, married parents; they have more resources that allow them to be the kind of parents that they want to be. And more economically constrained parents have less; they have fewer resources, allowing them to be that.The impact of diverging structures on social disparities08:02: We don't just want to think about single moms and their kids being more likely to live in poverty, but I think the right way to think about it now is that the divergence in family structure between the college-educated class and everybody else is perpetuating inequality. It's exacerbating inequality precisely because these gaps are really large.Shared income and time are key for positive child development14:46: As an economist, my earnest wish is that this shouldn't be such a third-rail topic to talk about because nobody is blaming single parents for not doing an awesome job and putting in the hard work. But when there's a second parent in the house, there's more income coming in; there's more time coming in; there's more supervision; and there's more bandwidth. And we see that all of that collective input yields better outcomes for kids.Show Links:Recommended Resources:Gary BeckerRaj ChettyClaudia GoldinNicholas EberstadtLouisiana Fathers Form 'Dads on Duty' Group to Help Stop Violence at Their Children's High School (People Magazine)Guest Profile:Faculty Profile at University of MarylandDirector, Aspen Economic Strategy GroupNonresident Senior Fellow, Brookings InstituteHer Work:The Two-Parent Privilege: How Americans Stopped Getting Married and Started Falling BehindParental Education and Parental Time with Children Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

David Sloan Wilson, professor emeritus of biology and anthropology, discusses the interdisciplinary nature of evolution and its application in various fields. He explores major transitions in evolution, the persuasive power of simulations, and the combination of diversity and cooperation. Wilson also emphasizes the need for an overarching theory to dissolve boundaries and the possibility of organizing humanity as a cooperative super organism.

What happened when El Salvador made Bitcoin an official currency? Who uses cryptocurrency the most? How does the blockchain both help and hinder would-be scam artists and criminals?Zeke Faux is a reporter for Bloomberg Businessweek and Bloomberg News, a National Fellow at New America, and the author of Number Go Up: Inside Crypto's Wild Rise and Staggering Fall.Zeke and Greg discuss crypto bubbles, the crypto space, and the memorable characters Zeke encountered, such as Sam Bankman Fried. Zeke explains his investigations into Tether, the mass scamming compounds in Southeast Asia, and his personal experiences within this fluctuating industry when he bought his own Mutant Ape NFT.*unSILOed Podcast is produced by University FM.*Episode Quotes:Why crypto investors overcome risks18:25: If you are making a crypto investment and your money is on some DeFi exchange or some centralized exchange, that seems pretty good. What kind of yield would you want just to let them hold your money? It'd have to be a pretty high-yield investment just to get over the risk that something unforeseen will happen, right? There's some chance that even if it seems great, that's something you didn't think is wrong with this because it keeps happening again and again in crypto. And I think what makes these people overcome is that they're not dumb. They know that these risks are there, the crypto investors. But they think, okay, maybe there's a 10% chance that something goes wrong here…[19:22] That's what makes people overcome everything: this desire to get rich quick, in this sense that it's possible because they've seen a lot of other people do it and get rich.The difference between internet and crypto bubble07:29: In crypto, the crypto guys do use crypto, but only to buy it. It's not serving any purpose other than just buying it, trading it, and doing things within this crypto world. Whereas with the internet, it was clearly a lot of fun, and it was affecting a lot of parts of real life. The internet bubble got way ahead of what could be justified by how much money these companies were making. But to me, there was never any doubt that the internet was a powerful innovation that was going to change our lives.Exploring 'Number Go Up' psychology in blockchain03:29: The key to it is psychology, and the title "Number Go Up" comes from this saying that I heard at my first crypto conference in 2021. I flew down to Miami. I thought I would hear more about technology. I thought I'd see bankers or fintech entrepreneurs who had ideas about how they're going to disrupt the financial system with this new technology, replace intermediaries, and make global transfers faster and cheaper. And instead, I heard this guy on stage saying, "Our technology is called number go up, and number go up technology means the price goes up, and that makes people excited, and they buy more, and the price goes up more, and then more people get excited, and pretty soon, Bitcoin is going to be at a million." And I just couldn't believe it. I was like, "Is that what it's really all about?"The treatment of crypto wallet transactions vs. traditional banking in stablecoins37:25: I can open a PayPal account, and I send money to PayPal. And now I have PayPal dollars that I can zap to your account. And that's not so different from a stablecoin. However, PayPal wants to know who I am. They follow all the banking rules and regulations about knowing your customer. They want to know who you are. You can't hold PayPal dollars without disclosing your identity. However, if I have a crypto wallet on my phone, like Metamask or any of the tons of other options, I can hold tethers on my phone and send them to your phone without disclosing any identifying information. And it seems like it's a very similar transaction that's treated very differently by regulators right now. And I just wonder if that will continue, especially if stablecoins keep growing.Show Links:Recommended Resources:BlockchainBitcoinDogecoinDecentralized financeSam Bankman-FriedTetherBitfinexCantor FitzgeraldGuest Profile:ZekeFaux.comProfile at NewAmerica.orgLinkedIn ProfileSocial Profile on XWikipedia ProfileHis Work:Number Go Up: Inside Crypto's Wild Rise and Staggering FallBloomberg Articles Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.