Explain It to Me

Matt, Sarah and Ezra on a new, blockbuster study on racial mobility — and whether Mark Zuckerberg should shut down Facebook. References: Race and Economic Opportunity in the United States Dylan Matthews' piece Income Mobility Charts for Girls, Asian-Americans and Other Groups. Or, Make Your Own Extensive Data Shows Punishing Reach of Racism for Black Boys Matt's case against Facebook Learn more ab...

Andrew Prokop, senior politics reporter for Vox.com, joins Dara and Matt to break down the scandal that’s rocking the worlds of technology and politics. References: The Jane Mayer piece on the Mercers Dara mentioned A study on Big Five personality attributes and voting behavior SCIENCE! on the Cambridge Analytica model A big five personality test you can do at home  Andrew's Cambridge Analytica ex...

An economics working paper finds that access to Naloxone, a drug to reverse opioid overdoses, may increase opioid abuse. Sarah and Ezra explain the paper that started a social media firestorm — and what it means for combating the opioid epidemic. References: Doleac and Mukherjee working paper A good summary of the debate from The Atlantic Health Affairs blog post  Working paper from Daniel Rees Pe...

Dara and Matt break down the history of Immigration & Customs Enforcement: how it got this way, and why some on the left want it to go away. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Vox senior politics reporter Jane Coaston joins Ezra and Matt to talk about Trump turmoil, political correctness and the latest research on the state of the parties. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Vox Politics & Policy reporter Alexia Fernandez-Campbell joins Dara and Matt to talk about the West Virginia teachers strike. References: Alexia’s article on teachers Vox's Alvin Chang just published this amazing tool to see how teachers are paid in your state An explainer on the Supreme Court’s Janus case How public-sector unions are preparing for a post-Janus future The original “If You’re Gonna...

Sarah, Ezra, and Matt talk about a bipartisan bank deregulation bill, Medicaid work requirements, and constitutional hardball. References: Mark Tushner’s original constitutional hardball article Ron Chernow’s biography of Ulysses Grant Why there are two Dakotas Dylan Scott’s “Trump’s Hidden War on Medicaid” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Vox senior politics reporter Jane Coaston joins Dara and Matt to talk about a week of extremely erratic policymaking from an increasingly chaotic Trump White House. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Dylan Scott joins Sarah and Matt to talk about a new universal health care plan — plus some exciting administrative data from the good-old USA! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

There are also some good ideas discussed. All of them are about guns. German Lopez joins Dara and Matt to talk about gun control in the wake of the Parkland shooting. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Sarah, Ezra, and Matt talk about what’s really wrong with American infrastructure, the massacre in Parkland, FL, and new research on legislators’ irrational decision-making. Whitepaper! Bias in Perceptions of Public Opinion Among American Political Elites by David E. Broockman, Christopher Skovron Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Matt, Dara, and Andrew Prokop talk about the Senate's failed immigration push, and they parse through the many-layered Rob Porter scandal. DACA/Immigration ReferencesThe 8 Republican senators who voted for the bipartisan compromiseMoran, Thune, and Portman’s new DACA proposal statementTara Golshan’s piece about Grassley’s Secure and Succeed Act Rob Porter ReferencesThe ever-shifting White House st...

Matt, Ezra, Sarah, and Dylan Matthews try to explain Trump’s budget and Disability Insurance. For today's white paper: Move over Swedish administrative data, it’s Denmark’s turn. Trump’s budget references:Dylan's explainer on Trump's proposed budgetAirports Council International report on the ownership of European airportsCongressional Research Service report on airport privatizationMatt’s explain...

Matt, Dara, and Tara Golshan, all weary from lack of sleep, try to make sense of the few hours on Thursday night/Friday morning when the government was shut down. Referenced Works Republicans laughing in Tara's face about addressing immigration: Immigration anxiety got Trump elected. Congress isn’t touching it. Further Reading House Democrats’ confusing, high-risk DACA government shutdown gamble,...

Matt, Ezra, and Sarah talk about the Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway, and JP Morgan announcement about their joint healthcare venture, as well as the recent volatility in the stock market. White paper: From the Bargaining Table to the Ballot Box: Political Effects of Right to Work Laws Referenced Works: Ben Thompson's Stratechery piece: Amazon Health Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoic...

Dara, Matt, and Zack Beauchamp talk about the policy failures that created the gang haunting Donald Trump's dreams. Referenced Works Are there more than 2,000 MS-13 gang members in Virginia’s wealthy Fairfax County? The Teens Trapped Between a Gang and the Law The 'one percent' statistic Dara mentioned: Why Trump is Wrong to Blame Migration for MS13 Expansion, Violence Further Reading 3 winners an...

Sarah, Ezra, and Matt parse through Trump's State of the Union address and the response delivered by Rep. Joe Kennedy III. Referenced Works: Matt's piece on the State of the Union: Donald Trump has no solutions for America’s big problems German Lopez's piece that Ezra mentioned: Trump’s pathetic response to the opioid epidemic The Health Care Cost Institute report Sarah referenced: 2016 Health Car...

A DACA ransom note from the White House prompts Matt, Dara and Jane Coaston to muse on whose nation this is, anyway. Referenced Works The American Conservative piece Jane referenced: Of Sh*tholes And Second Thoughts Elizabeth Bruenig's op ed for The Washington Post: The antisocial politics of Trump The Passing of a Great Race Nations and Nationalism Imagined Communities Profile of Stephen Miller i...

Dara, Sarah, and Ezra dig into the details of the new shutdown deal — and what it means for the future of shutdown politics. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A few hours before a looming shutdown, DC is a very postmodern place. Referenced works: Dara on the DACA situation Dylan Matthew on past shutdowns Simulacra and Simulation by Jean Baudrillard On Capitol Hill: The Struggle to Reform Congress and its Consequences by Julian Zelizer How the National Parks Became the Biggest Battleground in the Shutdown from The Atlantic, by Garance Franke-Ruta Learn m...

Matt, Ezra, and Sarah talk about Mark Zuckerberg's recent announcement regarding what Facebook will focus on in 2018, and the state of the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The mask slipped with Trump's "shithole" comments, and Matt and Dara take a hard look at what lies beneath it. Content warning: explicit policy discussions. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

German Lopez joins Matt and Sarah to talk about Attorney General Jeff Sessions' most recent move on marijuana, how Trump spends his time, and child mortality in the US. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Brian Resnick joins Dara and Matt to talk about the 'bomb cyclone' and how it relates to the climate. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It's only the second day of 2018, and Matt, Ezra, and Sarah are already talking about alarming statistics--this time, to do with average American life expectancy. White paper: Bias in Perceptions of Public Opinion Among American Political Elites The GOP is trying to pass a super-unpopular agenda — and that's a bad sign for democracy Impact Policy Submission URL: bit.ly/voximpact Learn more about y...