Explain It to Me

Ezra, Matt and Sarah use the Panama Papers to discuss how tax havens and shell corporations became such a big deal, and why America has done so little to stop them. Matt and Ezra argue a bit about the effectiveness of global governance. Economist Gabriel Zucman gets name-checked quite a bit. Sarah runs through some really surprising new Obamacare data (Medicaid fans — you know who you are — won't...

It would be really weird to walk into a bank and have the teller take down your information on pen and paper. But it happens all the time in medicine — and we try to explain why. Also in this episode: a new tax calculator reveals how the candidates want to change your taxes, and a political science paper from 2014 helps predict the rise of Trumpism. This episode is brought to you by Club W, offeri...

Special guest star Libby Nelson joins Sarah and Matt to explain the Every Student Succeeds Act, examine the strange history and economics behind the NCAA's non-payment of athletes, and break down some new research on why Uber works. Today’s episode is brought to you by The Great Courses Plus. Visit TheGreatCoursesPlus.com/Weeds to stream Inexplicable Universe: Unsolved Mysteries and hundreds of ot...

Sarah, Ezra, and Matt discuss the results of the March 15 primaries and the state of the 2016 presidential election. Today’s episode is brought to you by The Great Courses Plus. Visit TheGreatCoursesPlus.com/Weeds to stream Inexplicable Universe: Unsolved Mysteries and hundreds of other courses for free! This episode is also brought to you by Club W, offering The Weeds listeners fifty percent off...

Sarah, Ezra, and Matt talk about why Silicon Valley's technical marvels aren't visible in economic statistics, dive into the details of Donald Trump's surprisingly banal health plan, and tackle some new research on improving teaching by improving textbooks. This episode is brought to you by Squarespace. Start building your website today atSquarespace.com. Enter offer code WEEDS at checkout to get...

In this episode of the Weeds, Ezra, Matt and Sarah discuss the results of Super Tuesday. Everyone is tired, so it gets a bit weird. Topics include whether Donald Trump is actually a moderate, how the election shows American politics is either polarizing or de-polarizing, and whether Bernie Sanders or Hillary Clinton would be a stronger general-election candidate. Oh, and Bernie Sanders has finally...

By popular demand, Sarah, Matt, and Ezra finally address the Trans Pacific Partnership before contemplating the GOP's ongoing self-immolation, and the real consequences of the war on Planned Parenthood. Today’s episode is brought to you by Harry’s razors. Visit Harrys.com and enter WEEDS at checkout to receive $5 off your first order. Today’s episode is also brought to you by The Great Courses Plu...

Sarah, Ezra, and Matt consider the case for reforming America's current practice of granting life tenure to Supreme Court Justices, discuss the political fight over replacing the late Justice Scalia, and ponder a 25 year-old work of political science that implies the United States is heading for a coup. Today’s episode is brought to you by The Great Courses Plus. Go to TheGreatCoursesPlus.com/Weed...

Sarah, Ezra, and Matt use the New Hampshire primary results as a lens through which to discuss Jonathan Rauch's case for "political realism" as a governing philosophy. This episode of The Weeds is brought to you by Squarespace. Start Building your website today at Squarespace.com. Enter offer code WEEDS at checkout to get 10% off. This episode is also brought to you by Harry’s razors. Go to Harrys...

Who wins the 2016 election will hugely influence what type of policies Washington passes — and that's why Ezra, Sarah, and Matt devote this entire episode of The Weeds to dissecting the results of the Iowa caucus. We look at Bernie's surprising success, the declining strength of political parties, and how a Cruz administration would govern. For a limited time, The Great Courses Plus is offering Th...

It’s one of the most fundamental disputes in Washington: what effect do taxes have on the economy? On this week's episode of the Weeds, Ezra, Matt, and Sarah work through some of the top papers to explain. Also on this episode: why a third party won't save American politics, and a new working paper that shows a surprising way to encourage students to attend high school. This episode is brought to...

In this preview of Ezra's coming interview podcast, he interviews New York Times op-ed columnist Ross Douthat. Douthat is the author of Privilege: Harvard and the Education of the Ruling Class, Grand New Party: How Republicans Can Win the Working Class and Save Themselves, and Bad Religion: How We Became a Nation of Heretics. He's also a fascinating political thinker with a skill that's rare in th...

On this episode of the Weeds, Ezra, Matt, and Sarah dive into one of Bernie Sanders' favorite campaign trail arguments: that money causes more Congressional dysfunction than partisanship. Also on this episode: why the lead poisoning crisis in Flint matters, and a discussion of a (not so great) paper of the week on global inequality. This episode is sponsored by The Great Courses Plus. Just for a l...

Matt, Sarah, and Ezra reflect on Obama's successes and failures, take a look at Hillary Clinton's new attack on Bernie Sanders, and consider some research on the new health law's surprising lack of impact on the labor market. This episode is brought to you by Squarespace. Start building your website today atSquarespace.com. Enter offer code WEEDS at checkout to get 10% off. Squarespace—Build it Be...

America's immigration debate is peppered with terms like "path to citizenship" and "amnesty." Those catch phrases can mean vastly different things to different people — and on this week's episode of the Weeds, Vox's Dara Lind joins Sarah and Matt to explain. Also on this episode: understanding the family behind the armed stand-off in Oregon, and a new white paper that argues against increasing the...

In a very merry Christmas day episode of the Weeds, Ezra and Matt talk to Sarah about how why teen birth rate fell in half since the mid-2000s — and whether MTV's 16 and Pregnant might have anything to do with it. Also in this episode: an economic critique of Christmas presents and a deep dive into Hillary Clinton's pledge not to tax the middle class. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcas...

Matt, Sarah, and Ezra lay out what is and isn't troubling about gentrification, break down congress' latest fiscal deal, and discuss a paper that explores why swing voting has become rare. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this special episode of The Weeds, Ezra interviews former Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke about what it's like to manage the most powerful economic policymaking institution in the world during a financial crisis. They also talk about Bernanke's views on the Republican party, what he learned from George W. Bush and Barack Obama, and what happened when he went to Texas. Learn more about you...

Ezra, Sarah, and Matt are reunited at last for a deep dive into why patients in and out of Obamacare are paying more for health insurance, the rising tide of Islamophobia in the presidential campaign, and a look at fascinating new research on the psychological depths of contemporary partisanship. Have you heard The Message? It’s an original science fiction podcast from Panoply and GE Podcast Theat...

Matt is joined by special guest stars Julia Belluz and Brad Plumer to discuss the science of eating fat, the Paris climate conference, and the public health implications of climate change. The Weeds is brought to you by Squarespace. Start building your website today at Squarespace.com. Enter offer code WEEDS at checkout to get 10% off. Squarespace—Build it Beautiful. Have you heard The Message? It...

This week, Ezra, Sarah, and Matt discuss the flaws in the DC elite's favorite idea: raising the retirement age, consider how to respond to terrorist attacks (with a bonus digression about 19th century anarchist assassins), and debate a striking new data set that shows the baffling variation in how frequently different hospitals perform c-sections rather than traditional childbirths. This episode i...

On this week's episode of the Weeds, fellow Vox editor Dylan Matthews joins Sarah and Matt for what is certainly the most in-depth discussion of basic income ever broadcast. Would it really just work to give every American a base salary, regardless of whether they worked or not? Also on this episode: a recap of the best policy tussles in the Republican debate, and a fascinating white paper on why...

Facts rarely seem to win any political debate — and on this episode of the Weeds, Matt, Ezra, and Sarah use political science research to explain why. Also: the case for softball debate questions and a troubling new study on rising death rates among white, middle-aged men. This episode is brought to you by Squarespace. Start building your website today at Squarespace.com. Enter offer code WEEDS at...

This week, Ezra, Sarah, and Matt finally deliver the equivocal takes on gerrymandering that America has been waiting for, dive into the weeds of the big budget compromise, and tackle what may be the dorkiest policy issue of all time — the use of survey vs administrative data to measure household level poverty. Today’s episode of The Weeds is sponsored by the American Heart Association, which is ur...

In this week's episode of the Weeds, Ezra, Matt, and Sarah dive head first into a new Brookings white paper about income inequality (and how to not to fix it). We also imagine what a Joe Biden administration could have been, with a commander-in-chief who considers Republicans friends rather than enemies. This episode of The Weeds is brought to you by Squarespace. Start building your website today...