Paul Krugman Podcast

With everything else going on, the ongoing demolition of financial regulation and supervision, which is raising the risks of financial crisis, isn’t getting much attention. So I spoke with Dennis Kelliher, president of Better Markets , an independent think tank that is trying to sound the alarm. Full disclosure: my nephew works at Better Markets. But I would have wanted to talk to Kelleher regardl...

For all my interviews and more, subscribe on YouTube . Transcript Today i want to give you some encouraging news about the state of the heartland. Well, actually New Jersey, but you got a problem with that? But I did something kind of different yesterday — which has prevented me from producing a usual analytical Substack post — and it was actually a very uplifting experience. So hi, I’m Paul Krugm...

For all my interviews and more, subscribe on YouTube . Transcript Yesterday, Donald Trump ordered Scott Bessent, the Secretary of theTreasury, to cut off all trade with Spain. Bessent said “Yes, sir.” Trump also said that this is because the Spaniards had stolen his strawberries. Okay, I made up that second part, but he did in fact order Bessent to cut off all trade. This is not going to happen. P...

For all my interviews and more, subscribe on YouTube . Transcript Donald Trump has distinguished himself in many ways. One of them is that he is our first pump and dump president. Hi, Paul Krugman here. A podcast today rather than a full-on piece: I’m a little exhausted from number-crunching over the weekend. So I thought I’d talk briefly about the really extraordinary financial picture that we’re...

For all my interviews and more, subscribe on YouTube . Lisa Graves is the author of Without Precedent , a history and analysis of the Roberts Court and the expert on how the Federalist Society has been working to undermine democracy. Yesterday this happened: So I managed to arrange a conversation with Lisa about what is happening: . . . TRANSCRIPT: Paul Krugman in Conversation with Lisa Graves (re...

For all my interviews and more, subscribe on YouTube . Note: It’s Lisa Cook, not Lisa Graves. Talking to Lisa Graves shortly. Earlier today, the Supreme Court declared war on U.S. democracy. It also declared war, basically, on modern society, on everything it takes to function in the 21st century. And I’m not sure that people understand that yet. Hi, Paul Krugman with a quick video update. I’ll ha...

For all my interviews and more, subscribe on YouTube . Transcript It’s kind of hard to believe, but the original Borat movie was 20 years ago. It’s time for a second sequel. And I already have the title. It would be Corruption for Make Benefit Glorious Family of Trump. I hope that some of my listeners are young enough to not remember the original Borat movie. But it was a mockumentary, a satire, i...

For all my interviews and more, subscribe on YouTube . Transcript For most of last year, Elon Musk was the second most powerful man in America. He was running a large part of the government’s budget. And during that time, he established a track record of evil incompetence. I mean, really evil and really incompetent on enormous scales. And why aren’t people talking about it more? Hi, I’m Paul Krugm...

For all my interviews and more, subscribe on YouTube . Ro Khanna represents a large part of Silicon Valley, and not surprisingly is a very smart guy. Perhaps more surprisingly, he’s also a very interesting progressive, who has drawn considerable ire from the tech lords, with Elon Musk most recently calling for his imprisonment. I caught up with him Friday: TRANSCRIPT: Paul Krugman in Conversation...

For all my interviews and more, subscribe on YouTube . A short talk in lieu of a post. Back on full duty tomorrow. Transcript : Hi, Paul Krugman here. I’m recording this on Tuesday afternoon. I just won’t have time to write a normal post for tomorrow when you’ll see this. And I would take the day off, except it seemed to me as if people might want some reaction to the carnage that’s been going on,...

I often think of labor economics as a role model for the field: a subfield in which theory is disciplined by evidence and (most) researchers are willing to listen to that evidence even when it challenges their preconceptions. And hardly anyone does modern labor economics as well as UMass Amherst’s Arindrajit Dube, who has an excellent new book out. I talked with him about that book and the state o...

Transcript Hi everyone. Instead of a regular post today, I’m going to put up a video. There are a number of reasons why I feel like doing that instead of the usual. One of them is that this is a dry run for a talk that I will be giving virtually later today. There’s a conference on the economics of digital transformation taking place in Croatia, although I’ll be doing it remotely. And they have as...

Thank you Michael Scarmack , Scotland Explained , Oakbridges.ca , Kim G , Cathy Stein , and many others for tuning into my live video with Heather Cox Richardson ! Join me for my next live video in the app. Get full access to Paul Krugman at paulkrugman.substack.com/subscribe

I last spoke with Azeem, the proprietor of Exponential View, 18 months ago — ancient history on this subject. So we revisited the state of AI. . TRANSCRIPT: Paul Krugman in Conversation with Azeem Azhar (recorded 6/12/26) Paul Krugman: Hi everyone. Paul Krugman back on my usual schedule of recording interviews. And today I’m talking with Azeem Azhar , who I spoke to in January 2025, basically cent...

A quick video, thankfully not from Midtown Manhattan Hi there. Paul Krugman with a very quick update. I haven’t done a regular post today because I’m jet-lagged out of my mind, but I just wanted to weigh in on something that will be happening a few minutes after I record this. Which is that a significant piece of Midtown Manhattan — the area surrounding Madison Square Garden — is about to be close...

Hi everybody. I’ve been having an extremely busy week, so no two talking heads conversation this week. Just my head talking alone for a relatively short time. Hi, I’m Paul Krugman. I’m winding down some travel, and I’ve been meeting all sorts of people face to face, so virtual interactions are down. So just to give you some kind of Saturday video, I thought I would talk a little bit about latest e...

Transcript The President of the United States is mentally ill, but everybody knows that. So while we should continue to focus on this degeneration taking place in front of our eyes, we should also, beyond that, ask what we can do about the powers, the interests, the system that put this horrifying person in a position of power. Hi I’m Paul Krugman. First video update in a while. It’s May 31st. If...

Chad Bown and Soumaya Keynes have a terrific new book with that title — a breezy survey of our chaotic new world of international economics, couched as advice for nations trying to get the upper hand. The book is here . I spoke with them last week about their book and the world in general. Fun stuff in a slightly grim way, and I hope we kept the acronym level tolerable. Transcript provided by the...

I’m posting our Wednesday conversation as this week’s video. Transcript below. . . . TRANSCRIPT: Paul Krugman in Conversation with Heather Cox Richardson (recorded 5/20/26) Heather Cox Richardson: How are you doing, Professor Krugman? I know you’re on vacation. Paul Krugman: Yeah. As I wrote the other day, I’m in Europe, which means I don’t have to think about Trump 100% of the time, only about 90...

For more videos, visit my YouTube channel . Transcript Hi, Paul Krugman here. Different city, different country, still not home. Unfortunately, couldn’t manage to do this one in a cafe, but we have been sitting in cafes a fair bit. I just want to weigh in on a really kind of alarming report on consumer confidence that came out today. This is the long-running University of Michigan survey of consum...

For more videos, visit my YouTube channel . I’m away but alas staying in touch with political news at home, and thought I would check in with one of the best public opinion quants about where we stand right now … TRANSCRIPT: Paul Krugman in Conversation with G. Elliott Morris (recorded 5/13/26) Paul Krugman : Hi everyone. Returning today to G. Elliott Morris , my favorite polling and public opinio...

Transcript My president went to China, and all I got was even higher gas prices. Hi, Paul Krugman here. Recording a video today rather than one of my usual posts,.I just feel like I’ve been too immersed in charts and wanted to do something shorter, simpler, whatever. It’s Friday. The summit between Trump and Xi Jinping has wrapped up. Hard to say what exactly was accomplished, but at least Trump i...

Transcript What’s good for Elon Musk is not necessarily good for America. In fact, it may go the other way around. So why did Donald Trump take Musk and a bunch of other top executives to China with him? Hi, Paul Krugman, again from a cafe, a little noisy behind me, but I hope it’ll be tolerable. So Donald Trump has gone to Beijing. I wrote something about it earlier today, about the economics and...

Remember tariffs? They have not gone away. Hi, Paul Krugman with another video update from another cafe. You may remember that back in April 2025, which was seven years ago — well, actually just about one year ago, but it feels like longer — Donald Trump shocked us all with massive tariffs on basically everybody. It was an extraordinary policy move. It was also clearly illegal. It was also clearly...

Transcript The super rich are different from you and me. They are pettier and more self-centered than most of us can easily imagine. Hi, Paul Krugman here. This video is partly me trying to show that yes indeed I am on vacation, sort of, although on my laptop too much of the time. But anyway, I’m at least working on the laptop sitting in cafes. But I also wanted to do a follow-up on a post earlier...