All Else Equal: Making Better Decisions

The speed at which AI is getting smarter is on everybody's mind these days. In this episode of All Else Equal: Making Better Decisions, hosts and finance professors Jonathan Berk and Jules van Binsbergen discuss with Stanford Professor Michal Kosinski what we should expect from the coming wave of AI technology, how it relates to the research on "Theory of Mind" and whether and how it potentially c...

When COVID-19 shut down the world economy in 2020 many wondered where it had begun and why the pandemic had even started in the first place. In this episode of All Else Equal: Making Better Decisions, hosts and finance professors Jonathan Berk and Jules van Binsbergen discuss with Matt Ridley (biologist and author of Viral: The Search for the Origin of COVID-19) about the possible origins of the c...

Financial bubbles are episodes where the value of something (like stocks, tulips or cryptocurrency) shoots up very rapidly, but then peaks and comes crashing down. The problem has never been seeing them in hindsight, but rather identifying one while in the middle of it. In this episode of All Else Equal: Making Better Decisions, hosts and finance professors Jonathan Berk and Jules van Binsbergen d...

It takes a long time to build up credibility, but you can lose it in an instant. What would it take to justify lying to the public for their own good, and are the benefits worth the costs? In this episode of All Else Equal: Making Better Decisions, hosts and finance professors Jonathan Berk and Jules van Binsbergen discuss the costs and benefits of the government lying to its own citizens. They th...

The FDIC and Federal Reserve have recently intervened to stop another banking crisis. In this episode of All Else Equal: Making Better Decisions, hosts and finance professors Jonathan Berk and Jules van Binsbergen dig in to see what failed. What causes bank runs? Are the government subsidies of banks worth it? Is a bank the right way to finance risky investments or are they historical artifacts. T...

Note: if you are hearing the wrong audio try redownloading the episode or listen here . What reach does marketing really have? In the murky waters of cause and effect marketers have to figure out where to put their resources and what impact they can make on consumers. In this episode of All Else Equal: Making Better Decisions, hosts and finance professors Jonathan Berk and Jules van Binsbergen tal...

It can be tempting to think one thing causes another because they happen in succession, but there’s a lot to unwrap in the idea of causality. In this episode of All Else Equal: Making Better Decisions, hosts and finance professors Jonathan Berk and Jules van Binsbergen explain the difference between correlation and causality, and examine cases where it is tempting to assume one thing caused anothe...

Risk is an inherent part of all business decisions and understanding ways this risk can be reduced is essential to succeeding in today’s business environment. In this episode of All Else Equal: Making Better Decisions, hosts and finance professors Jonathan Berk and Jules van Binsbergen explain how to assess risk and discuss smart ways of diversifying it away. But sometimes diversification comes at...

Cryptocurrency is increasing in popularity but still confusing to many consumers and finance professionals alike. On this episode of All Else Equal, finance professors Jules van Binsbergen and Jonathan Berk admit they don’t understand why some central banks are introducing digital currencies and why there would be need in our economic system. To help answer these questions they speak with Kevin Wa...

In science, we often hear about new discoveries or theories that could change our way of thinking. In the business world, a start-up might promise a revolution in a specific industry, if it can get the right investments. So, when is it worth believing or betting on one of these new theories, and when is it a waste of time? In this episode of All Else Equal, Jules and Jonathan discuss how we can al...

There’s a negative connotation associated with short selling – the act of betting against a stock to perform well. But is this trading practice truly a bad thing? In this episode of All Else Equal: Making Better Decisions , hosts and finance professors Jonathan Berk and Jules van Binsbergen build the case for short selling as a dynamic regulating force in the free market. And an incentive for indi...

Freedom of expression is a constitutional right, but it’s also a valuable business strategy. In this episode of All Else Equal: Making Better Decisions , hosts and finance professors Jonathan Berk and Jules van Binsbergen build the case that without freedom of expression within an organization, the competitiveness of the organization will suffer and ultimately be much worse off without a culture t...

Businesses often prioritize shareholder interests to make profit. But this can lead to short-sighted decisions that fail to benefit other stakeholders… right? In this episode of All Else Equal: Making Better Decisions , hosts and finance professors Jonathan Berk and Jules van Binsbergen – and guest Alex Edmans – ask that very question and provide some surprising answers. Whose interests are better...

President Biden has promised sweeping debt relief to millions of student loan borrowers. In this episode of All Else Equal: Making Better Decisions , hosts and finance professors Jonathan Berk and Jules van Binsbergen discuss the implications of this policy decision and the ways it could influence behavior for both students and educational institutions. Later in the episode, Jonathan and Jules cal...

Conventional wisdom tells us that we need regulators to ensure quality work in certain professions. But do consumers really benefit as much as they think from government regulation? In this episode of All Else Equal: Making Better Decisions , hosts and finance professors Jonathan Berk and Jules van Binsbergen investigate the question: Who does regulation help more, consumers or producers? Later in...

Corporations are often characterized as evil entities that exploit workers. But in fact they enable firms to provide job security and thus serve the important role of minimizing risk for individual employees. In this episode of All Else Equal: Making Better Decisions , hosts and finance professors Jonathan Berk and Jules van Binsbergen explore how corporations set employees’ wages based on their j...

Does filing for bankruptcy spell the end for a company? Or is there another way to look at corporate financial distress? In this episode of All Else Equal: Making better decisions , hosts and finance professors Jonathan Berk and Jules van Binsbergen debunk some myths about Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code – and compare the benefits of financing your company with equity or debt. Late...

Are buybacks bad for business? Should firms buy dividends instead, or just not make payouts? In this episode of All Else Equal: Making Better Decisions , hosts and finance professors Jonathan Berk and Jules van Binsbergen debunk myths about buybacks. They explain what a buyback, or share repurchase, is and why companies choose to use them, as well as the implications of the Inflation Reduction Act...

As leaders, how do we know when we've made a mistake? Is it as simple as evaluating whether the outcome was good or bad? In this episode of All Else Equal: Making better decisions, hosts and finance professors Jonathan Berk and Jules van Binsbergen discuss how risk/reward calculations can help define what is a mistake and what isn't. To talk more in depth about this topic, and how owning up to a m...

Competitive markets don’t produce the same level of prosperity for everyone, but economist John Cochrane thinks they give us something more important — incentives. In this episode of All Else Equal: Making Better Decisions , hosts Jules van Binsbergen and Jonathan Berk are joined by John Cochrane, a prominent free-market economist and a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford Universit...

How can investors play a part in accomplishing social change? In this episode of All Else Equal: Making Better Decisions , hosts Jules van Binsbergen and Jonathan Berk explore what strategies are available to the social-minded investor. When it comes to what’s good for business and what’s good for society, van Binsbergen says, “People really would like to have it both ways.” But as he and Berk exp...

In this episode, hosts Jules van Binsbergen and Jonathan Berk discuss the complexities of the corporate income tax with former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, who argues for retaining the tax. Summers explains why taxing corporations is one of the most effective tools the federal government has in making sure the wealthy pay their fair share. Might there be room for improvement? Yes, Summers say...

"The reason people disagree is because they're striving toward a different goal," says mathematician and Nobel Prize winner Robert Aumann. In this episode of All Else Equal, Aumann sits down with finance professors and podcast hosts Jonathan Berk and Jules van Binsbergen. "If there's a disagreement in the room at the end of a discussion, someone in the room is making a mistake," says Berk. Submit...

When it comes to investments, value sometimes resides in unlikely places. Pete Briger, CEO of Fortress Investment Group, specializes in buying bad debt and spinning it into gold. In this episode of All Else Equal , Briger, who dubs himself a “garbage collector,” describes how he makes decisions and why being prepared to act quickly and decisively is crucial for success. In a market bristling with...

Picking stocks is a famously difficult exercise, not for the faint of heart. So how do investment professionals make decisions about which stocks to buy? In this episode of All Else Equal , professors Jonathan Berk and Jules van Binsbergen interview Cliff Asness, cofounder and chief investment officer at AQR Capital Management, about his decision-making strategy. Fundamentally, Asness says, succes...