Political Economy with Jim Pethokoukis

The word "order" evokes images of top-down structure and planning. Yet, in the absence of central control, economies almost seem to operate like machines — a concept economists call "emergent order." How do systems of order emerge? And how can we benefit from the unplanned organization they create? Today, Neil Chilson joins "Political Economy" to explain the...

Futurists of the past dreamed of tapping into the heat of the Earth's mantle to supply our energy needs, but today's geothermal provides only a tiny fraction of the power we use. In today's episode, we'll be discussing what's next for geothermal, its possible advantages over solar and wind power, and the obstacles it faces. I'm joined by Jamie Beard to answer those questions and more. Ja...

"Fusion power is the energy source of the future . . . and always will be," skeptics joke. But a series of exciting breakthroughs have some experts convinced that we're nearing a fusion revolution that could deliver abundant, clean energy for the future. My guest today is Arthur Turrell, and we'll be discussing whether fusion power reactors are on the horizon, the advantages fu...

Americans love rags-to-riches stories, believing hard work and talent — not connections — should be rewarded. But meritocracy has come under scrutiny, with some questioning how well America lives up to its ideals, while others ask if they're even worth striving for. In this episode, we'll discuss whether meritocracy succeeds in pulling talent up from the bottom, or if the system has become ri...

In 2017, the US announced its intent to return to the Moon for the first time in a half-century. NASA and its international partners in the Artemis program hope to land a crewed lunar mission in 2024, but some experts have cast their doubts. So how did America achieve such a feat in the '60s? And why haven't we been back since the Nixon era? My guest today, Charles Fishman, answers these ques...

In the past, great inventions like the internal combustion engine and electrification had huge economic and societal impacts. Today, computing power continues to advance at an exponential rate and artificial intelligence promises to revolutionize the future. But will these innovations transform American society? Or will pessimism and fear slow the pace of technological progress? My guest today is...

What will the American city look like one generation from now? While cities have always been hubs of opportunity, urban landscapes have faced an onslaught of difficulties in recent years. Soaring costs of living, the economic downturn of a global pandemic, and a recent uptick in violent crime are straining America’s urban engines of productivity. And trends toward remote work have some wondering w...

Today local governments compete to host growing companies in the hope that the opportunities they create will revitalize their home cities. But how much do these urban areas benefit from local innovations? And what changes should we expect given recent increases in working from home? Nicholas Bloom joins the podcast to discuss these questions and more. Nick is the William Eberle Professor of Econo...

July was an exciting month for space enthusiasts of all sorts. From Richard Branson's suborbital flight to Jeff Bezos' launch, the era of private space travel has truly arrived. SpaceX and Blue Origin may be making the headlines, but they are far from the only companies involved in the emerging space economy. And at the same time, NASA intends to continue manned missions to the Moon with its Artem...

To some, Amazon is a great business that brings opportunity to over a million employees and generates value for hundreds of millions of customers. To others, it’s a company that exploits its workers and destroys small businesses. Similarly, some see Jeff Bezos as a successful visionary, and they look forward to seeing him apply his talents to exploring outer space. Others consider Bezos to be a po...

Health safety measures related to the COVID-19 pandemic have shaken the American economy. Long term staples like indoor dining have taken a hit, while new opportunities have emerged in contactless services, telecommunications, and ecommerce. Just how have America's entrepreneurs responded to these challenges and opportunities? Today, I've brought in John Haltiwanger to discuss. John is the Di...

Rivaling even the death toll of COVID-19, opioid abuse has wreaked havoc in countless American communities. Some have suggested that these deaths are the result of an economy that left Americans behind and feeling trapped. In their desperation, they reached to oxycontin and fentanyl to cope with the insecurity of a global economy. But is this the full story? My guest today is Ed Glaeser, whose ana...

The COVID-19 pandemic unleashed an economic downturn on the United States, forcing workers and businesses to adapt. Now that Americans are getting vaccinated and the country is opening up, what is the state of the US economy? How has the pandemic — and our public policy responses to it — affected the labor market? Has the pandemic brought about new opportunities and entrepreneurship that will boos...

Is economic growth compatible with environmentalism? One key to answering this question is clean, renewable energy. The cheaper it becomes, the easier it is to reduce our impact on the planet while still raising living standards for people around the world. So what does the future of the energy industry look like? How affordable have solar and wind energy become? And how should that influence our...

America's biggest tech companies have revolutionized work, entertainment, and just about every aspect of life. But some in Washington are raising concerns about Big Tech, hoping to make the tech sector more competitive using antitrust action. Companies like Google, Amazon, and Facebook are seen as too powerful, anticompetitive, or politically biased. Today, I'm joined by Mark Jamison to discuss th...

Milton Friedman famously argued that the social responsibility of a company is to maximize its profits. Today, Friedman’s argument is coming under fire from both sides of the aisle. Shareholder capitalism is viewed with suspicion, and many Americans think workers and consumers are getting a raw deal. Greedy business practices are enriching the few but leaving the rest of us behind, the narrative g...

Should humanity become a space-faring species? Should we colonize the moon, Mars, and beyond? The vast benefits to society that could come from embracing this final frontier are not fully known, which is very exciting. At the same time, however, we do not fully understand the risks involved with this endeavor either. How certain can we really be that exploring space is the best path forward? Today...

To solve climate change, we need to do more than cut emissions. Almost all optimistic climate forecasts rely either on negative emissions or finding a way to mask the effects of emissions. In other words, carbon capture or some form of geoengineering. But of course, these are controversial, risky solutions. And the same can be said for other modern conservation projects, such as electrifying a riv...

We have a lot to learn from the COVID pandemic. From our success in rapidly generating vaccines, to our failure to implement a widespread test-and-trace system, to Americans’ responses to lockdown orders and other public health measures, the policy debates over the past year and a half have involved trade-offs, thinking on the margin, and accounting for many measures of public well-being. In other...

As the Biden administration continues to work with Congress on a massive overhaul of US infrastructure, several questions come to mind: How much should infrastructure policy focus on building new projects as opposed to maintaining and repairing our current assets? How can policymakers ensure that infrastructure is regularly maintained without difficulty? And how should promising new technologies —...

As a share of GDP, federal support for science research in America has fallen from about 2 percent of GDP during the 1960s to about 0.6 percent today. Policymakers should reverse this trend in order to boost productivity growth, raise living standards, compete with Chinese innovation efforts, and manage future problems like climate change. Fortunately, Congress appears to be moving in this directi...

While economists form a relatively strong consensus on some policy questions, they certainly don’t agree on everything. One of the more prominent examples of this is the minimum wage. Some studies find large negative employment effects from raising the minimum wage, while others find negligible or even positive effects on employment. And all economists recognize that there are trade-offs at play,...

China is often regarded as a success story of market economics, since it began lifting hundreds of millions of people out of poverty once the Communist Party began easing economic restrictions and opening its economy to the world. But to this day, even though it has achieved impressive economic growth for decades, China remains a totalitarian country. So here are the key questions going forward: F...

In the United States, restrictive land-use regulations prevent developers from building housing in cities throughout the country. This has led to a shortage in housing supply and exorbitantly high housing costs — particularly in high-productivity cities. So on today’s episode, Emily Hamilton explains how zoning reforms can make it easier to build housing, increase opportunity for individuals, and...

Forecasting the future is difficult. It requires awareness of several technological, demographic, and geopolitical trends, as well as the ability to imagine how those trends can intersect with each other in unexpected ways. So today’s episode covers a lot of ground, including the rise of remote work, an aging population, the development of China and Africa, climate change, and the blockchain. As w...