EconTalk

What if math isn't about grinding through equations, but about training your intuition and changing how your brain works? Mathematician and author David Bessis tells EconTalk's Russ Roberts that the secret of mathematics isn't logic--it's the way we learn to see. He explains why math books aren't meant to be read like novels, how great mathematicians toggle between images and formal proofs, and wh...

Quantitative, contrarian, and nuanced: these are the hallmarks of the Freakonomics approach. Hear journalist and podcaster Stephen Dubner speak with EconTalk's Russ Roberts about the 20th anniversary of the popular-economics book Dubner co-authored with Steven Levitt. They discuss how the book came to be, how the journey changed Dubner's life, and how it changed his thinking about various economic...

What drives the seeming relentless dynamism of Tokyo? Is there something special about Japanese culture? Joe McReynolds, co-author of Emergent Tokyo, argues that the secret to Tokyo's energy and attractiveness as a place to live and visit comes from policies that allow Tokyo to emerge from the bottom up. Post-war black markets evolved into today's yokocho --dense clusters of micro-venues that turn...

Status isn't fixed; it's transferred and "bestowed," shaping who gets resources, attention, and opportunity. So argues author Toby Stuart of UC Berkeley in his book, Anointed . He and EconTalk's Russ Roberts explore why hierarchies persist--reducing conflict, allocating scarce resources, and curating our overwhelming choices--and how endorsements, blurbs, and brands quietly steer our judgments, fr...

Losing weight should be simple: eat less, exercise more. But according to author and health journalist Julia Belluz, it's complicated. Listen as Belluz talks with EconTalk's Russ Roberts about her new book, Food Intelligence . Belluz argues that a calorie is pretty much a calorie whether it's carbs or fat. Keeping calories under control is often harder than it sounds. The message isn't blame; it's...

Why are Super Bowl ads so good for launching certain kinds of new products? Why do we all drive on the same side of the road? And why, despite laughing and crying together, do we often misread what others think? According to bestselling author and Harvard psychologist Steven Pinker, it all comes down to common knowledge, or the phenomenon that happens when everyone knows that everyone else knows s...

American manufacturing of aircraft during WWII dwarfed that of its enemies. By the end of the war, an American assembly line was producing a B-24 bomber in less than an hour. But that success was far from inevitable. Structural engineer and writer Brian Potter speaks with EconTalk's Russ Roberts about the logistical challenges of ramping up production from virtually nothing, and the incredible bal...

What makes some groups thrive while others crash and burn? According to organizational-behavior scholar Colin Fisher, the real villains are rarely individuals, but dysfunctional teams and organizations. Listen as he and EconTalk's Russ Roberts discuss the reasons for the free-rider problem and the importance of meaningful, well-defined tasks to incentivize synergy. They speak about why most team-b...

Are humans the most intelligent species, or just the most arrogant? NYU primatologist Christine Webb, author of  The Arrogant Ape , believes that human exceptionalism is a myth that does more harm than good. Listen as she speaks with EconTalk's Russ Roberts about how research has skewed our understanding of animals' capabilities, the surprising inner lives of animals, and how a shift from dominanc...

What can Ernest Hemingway teach us today about the morality of war, the eternal and transient nature of love, and how to write a masterpiece? Listen as author and teacher David Wyatt talks with EconTalk's Russ Roberts about Hemingway's epic  For Whom the Bell Tolls.  Topics include Hemingway's role in the wars of the 20th century, the book's context and themes, and its lasting influence on America...

Cold plunges. Exogenous ketones. Pu-erh tea--but hold the breakfast: it's all par for the morning routine, at least if you're entrepreneur, self-experimenter, and king of the lifehacks, Tim Ferriss. From how he manages the challenges of his celebrity to how he manages to stay in great shape; how he does--and when he doesn't--harness the power of AI; and how he preps for a podcast designed to help...

Former submarine commander David Marquet joins EconTalk's Russ Roberts to explore how distancing--thinking like someone else, somewhere else, or sometime else--can unlock better choices in business and life. They talk about leadership without giving orders, how to empower teams, and what it means to see yourself as a coach rather than a boss. Along the way, they discuss Jeff Bezos's leap to start...

What do we lose when every moment is recorded, every action scrutinized, and every past mistake preserved? Philosopher and author Lowry Pressly joins EconTalk's Russ Roberts to discuss why privacy isn't just about secrets or information control, the necessity of spontaneity, the importance of moral growth, and what we need to become fully human. From photography to forgetting, surveillance to self...

Many students graduate high school today without having read a book cover to cover. Many students struggle to learn to read at all. How did this happen? Listen as educator and author Doug Lemov talks with EconTalk's Russ Roberts about the failed fads in reading education, the mistaken emphasis on vocabulary as a skill, and the importance of background knowledge for thinking and reading comprehensi...

Is long form reading a dying pastime? Journalist and cultural critic James Marriott joins EconTalk's Russ Roberts to defend the increasingly quaint act of reading a book in our scrolling-obsessed, AI-summarized age. He urges juggling a paper book and a Kindle, recounts ditching his smartphone to rescue his attention, and shares tactics for finding the "right" beach novel and biography. He and Russ...

Skip the Mona Lisa when you visit Paris. Don't tour the Coliseum in Rome. Walk, don’t hurry. Chris Arnade speaks with EconTalk's Russ Roberts about a different way to travel. Listen as Arnade shares what he learned from Istanbul's small community mosques and how Avignon's Congolese-neighborhood cathedrals provided moving moments of spirituality. He also explains why Japan and Vietnam's emphasis on...

What is capitalism, really? Drawing on Adam Smith, Douglass North, and his own experience as a teacher and economist, economist Michael Munger of Duke University discusses three stages of economic development with EconTalk's Russ Roberts: voluntary exchange, markets, and capitalism. Along the way, the conversation explores the moral and institutional foundations that make impersonal exchange possi...

How can the state of Colorado have nearly 700 sides? Why is a country's coastline as long as you want it to be? And how is it that your UPS driver has more routes to choose from than there are stars in the universe? Listen as mathematician Paulina Rowinska talks with EconTalk's Russ Roberts about the mathematical tricks hiding in plain sight with every map we use. From the Mercator projection that...

What if we could delay--or even prevent--Alzheimer's, cancer, and heart disease? What if much of what you know about aging is wrong? Listen as cardiologist and author Eric Topol of the Scripps Research Institute talks about his new book Super Agers with EconTalk's Russ Roberts. They discuss why your genes matter less than you think, how your immune system can help prevent cancer and Alzheimer's, a...

Does technology liberate us or enslave us? How do our social interactions affect our sense of self and our emotional health? Listen as author and master teacher Leon Kass and EconTalk's Russ Roberts do a close reading of a few paragraphs of Jean-Jacques Rousseau and explore some of the deepest aspects of our relationships with each other and with our technology.

Economist Noah Smith was so focused on libertarianism's theoretical flaws, he overlooked its political importance. Trump's tariff policy opened his eyes and made him re-assess the virtues of both libertarianism and Econ 101. Listen as he and EconTalk's Russ Roberts explore the way political competition has shaped economic policy in surprising ways in recent years.

In honor of EconTalk's 1,000th episode, host Russ Roberts reflects on his long, strange journey from pioneer of the podcast format to weekly interviewer of leading economists, authors, and thinkers. Hear him answer your--and Chat GPT's--questions about why he got started, how he preps, and how he picks guests. He also explains why debate gave way to conversation--even about arguments with which he...

How much of our success or failure is written in our genes? How much is under our control? Is it nature or nurture or is that dichotomy too simplistic? Hear EconTalk's Russ Roberts and psychologist Paul Bloom discuss why the nature vs. nurture question is actually worth taking seriously and how by understanding it we can help ourselves and others.

Patrick McKenzie explains to EconTalk's Russ Roberts how credit cards work, who makes money from them and how, and gives his take on whether cash customers and debit card users subsidize the users of credit cards with reward programs.

A paradox of our time is our willingness to bare all to strangers while worrying about who exactly is watching us online and anywhere else. Listen as author Tiffany Jenkins discusses her book, Strangers and Intimates , with EconTalk's Russ Roberts. In this wide-ranging conversation, they explore the role of Martin Luther, J.S. Mill, reality TV, and social media, among other factors, in creating th...