EconRoots

In this Econ Roots talk, Stefan meets up with Syracuse professor of Finance Roger Koppl. Roger has been a visiting faculty member in many fine institutions including Denmarks own Copenhagen Business School Professor Koppl is a past president of the Society for the Development of Austrian Economics and a former editor of Advances in Austrian Economics. Koppl’s research interests include the economi...

In today’s episode we challenge mainstream economics from some heterodox perspectives, particularly feminist economics. Professor Mieke particularly critiques neoclassical price theory, the interplay between policy-making and the public, and how we should teach these aspects. We go on to talk about the issue of predicting of cost in extreme cases, such as climate change, as well as whether GDP cap...

What happens when two old friends meet at a conference and one of the them is an economic historian and the other is an economist who loves history? Well, they start to talk shop and you are invited to listen along. Today’s conversation with Michael Douma, Associate Research Professor and Director of Georgetown Institute for the Study of Markets and Ethics, touches on a wide range of subjects of i...

Want to reveal partisanship? Try mentioning US Healthcare. Is there a more debated complex subject where actual knowledge is such a scarcity? Helping us make sense of it all, we are joined by Michael F. Cannon, who is the Cato Institute’s director of health policy studies. His scholarship spans public health; regulation of providers and drugs; employer-sponsored and other private health insurance;...

What is peace? Many are so blessed by it, we can take it for granted. However, peace is as, if not more, complex than conflict and war. In this episode, we talk with one of the most prominent peace-economists;GMU’s Christopher Coyne. What does peace do? What does it look like? Is it even a binary construct? After all, is a boxing match not an illustration of peaceful violence? Once you open up the...

Professor Muller is one of the most well-read and insightful thinkers on capitalism. In this episode, we talk about the phenomenon of capitalism, what it is, and why people misunderstand it. From here, our insightful talk moves on to the aspects of self-interest and pro-social behavior. We also talk about the tyranny of matrixes, conservative critiques of capitalism, and finally, Jews and their un...

Today marks a milestone in the history of EconRoots as a podcast. While we have already been blessed with guest appearances from some of the best economists in the  field, today we have our first nobel laureate the esteemed Eric Stark Maskin. While we will deal with Maskin important contributions in a later ordinary episode, we are very thankful to Maskin and Copenhagen Business School f...

Economics model human behavior within the construct of rationality, but what is rational behavior? In this episode we meet Herbert Simon who shows that instrumental rationality is likely not as smart as bounded rationality, at least from a modeling point of view. He also shows that organizations matter for what is to be considered rational behavior. From here we move to Gary Becker the great propo...

Gender issues in society and particularly feminist economics have gotten a lot of attention in recent times, but what exactly is it? Why is it needed and what is the relation to classical economic theory? Today we are joined by Professor Giandomenica Becchio who is the world leading expert in the history of these ideas. We also talk about how and why certain interesting contributors to economic th...

Show notes: Today we tackle a key concept in economics, the idea of market equilibrium, both general and partial. A part of this talk also involves the role of information and that of regulation. We start with polymath Kenneth Joseph Arrow, a key figure in many economic insights. From him we move to a key Chicago school figure and funnyman, George Joseph Stigler. Finally, we star the French econom...

Today’s episode was recorded in October 2022 at the Market and Society conference. Our honoured guest is Dr. Erwin Dekker. Dr. Dekker  is a historian and economist working at the the intersection of culture and economics. He has worked for almost a decade in the department of cultural economics at Erasmus University Rotterdam and Is currently Senior Research Fellow at the Mercatus Center at G...

A large part of the economy is the labor market. Not only is it, along with capital, the standard input in simple production functions, it is also a whole beast of it’s own. Just like capital is not just capital, likewise labor is also heterogenous and have unique and important issues relating to matching jobs with skills and people and time; this is what economist call search frictions. In today’...

Today’s episode was recorded in October 2022 at the Market and Society conference. Our honored guest is a premier Austrian school economist Professor Peter Boettke. He is widely published and has been instrumental in promoting modern Austrian economics across campuses in the US and globally. He is currently a professor of  economics  and  philosophy  at  George Mason Unive...

As economics grew into its own as a scientific discipline, two questions became pressing. 1) How to deal with empirical data, particular separating cause and effect, 2) how to give good and predictive policy advice. A large part of the answer came in the form of econometrics. A distinct form of applied science mixing economic theory with statistics and math. In today’s episode we talk about three...

Why do some countries experience growth, while others don’t? The answer is that countries are not ordered in the same way, or as an economist would say; their institutional arrangements differ, and that leads to different outcomes. This in not just a theoretical point, it is in fact highly empirically observable. In today’s episode we will meet three laurates that made just such observations;&nbsp...

Welcome to EconRoots. A podcast on the history of Economic Thought brought to you by CEPOS and your host Stefan Sløk-Madsen. As a bonus to our regular seasons we aim to bring you exciting interviews with relevant and stimulating economists and scholars within or related to the field of economics. We call these, EconRoots talk.  In today’s talk recorded at the APEE conference 2022 in Las Vegas...

The economist Tyler Cowen has argued that growth should be a stubborn attachment for economists. In today’s episode you will get an idea of why. We start with Solow who’s exogenous growth model is highly famous. From him we learn the power of ideas and how they spread to create growth and property from Romer, and finally the inventor of the carbon tax Nordhaus. This is an exciting episode indeed,...

Welcome to EconRoots. A podcast on the history of Economic Thought brought to you by CEPOS and your host Stefan Sløk-Madsen. As a bonus to our regular seasons we aim to bring you exciting interviews with relevant and stimulating economists and scholars within or related to the field of economics. We call these, Econ Roots talk.  In today’s talk recorded at the APEE conference 2022 in Las Vega...

Trade is like the air, if it wasn’t there, we would die. But most don’t think much about it. Well, thank the good creator we have economists, because some of those do think about it. In this episode we explain trade theory by recapping the old greats Adam Smith and David Ricardo. Before moving into the joint recipient in 1977, Bertil Gotthard Ohlin and James Meade. From here we talk about Pau...

We finish our macro theme for now, with some interesting modern perspectives. Both some important discussion about the need for, and the purpose of, economic modeling; Thomas John Sargant and Christopher A. Sims will take us there. They got the prize jointly in 2011, and disagree on some important points. We start with Robert Mundell – cheeky called the father of the Euro - who got the prize in 19...

This is the second of a two-part episode on modern macro-economics. In today’s episode we talk about Finn Erling Kydland – a Norwegian - and Edward Christian Prescott who got the prize for their joint work on the relation between peoples rational expectations and policy consistency – or rather lack thereof. We continue and end macro (for now) with Edmund Strother Phelps who’s keen eye for entrepre...

This is the first of a two-part episode on modern macro-economics. In today’s episode we talk about a distinguished and well rounded British economist Sir John Hicks who got the prize in 1972. We continue with James Tobin who actually got the prize for finance theory, more specifically portfolio selection theory – but he will be mentioned because his many ideas were highly influential on macro, pa...

Welcome to Econ Root. A podcast on the history of Economic Thought brought to you by CEPOS and your host Stefan Sløk-Madsen. As a bonus to our regular seasons we aim to bring you exciting interviews with relevant and stimulating economists and scholars within or related to the field of economics. We call these, Econ Roots talk.    In today’s talk we are honored to be joined by Professor&...

In season 1 (Danish) we reviewed the history of economic thought before WWII. The coming seasons are dedicated to the Nobel Price in Economics, and I am joined by economist Otto Brøns-Petersen. The Nobel price is a good benchmark for how the field and profession of economics developed after WWII. We will focus both on the scientific contributions and on the people behind them. These are all star e...

In season 1 (Danish) we reviewed the history of economic thought before WWII. The coming seasons are dedicated to the Nobel Prize in Economics, and I am joined by economist Otto Brøns-Petersen. The Nobel Prize is a good benchmark for how the field and profession of economics developed after WWII. We will focus both on the scientific contributions and on...