The Pie: An Economics Podcast

Most observers are convinced that America’s healthcare system needs reform. This episode of The Pie features a discussion among MIT health economist Amy Finkelstein, former commissioner of the US Food and Drug Administration and current Duke professor Mark McClellan, and professor at the Harris School Joshua Gottlieb on what these reforms should entail. Michael Greenstone, director of UChicago's C...

What happens to humans when vultures go extinct? Why did the student loan pause increase debt? Plus, do government benefits change how parents invest in their kids? To wrap up 2023, Tess Vigeland reviews some of the economic research we've featured on the show throughout the year. Plus, a word from the UChicago team behind The Pie.

Women who have unplanned births experience earnings losses of up to 25%, while planned births reduce earnings by roughly 15%. Yana Gallen, Assistant Professor at the Harris School of Public Policy, joins The Pie to discuss her research on how pregnancy timing impacts women's careers.

Would you rather keep things as is, or, remove yourself and all your friends from social media? You aren’t alone if you chose the latter. Recent research from UChicago economist Leo Bursztyn ushers new survey evidence to show how fear of missing out keeps some users online. Learn more on The Pie.

Roughly a quarter of all paid workdays are now done from home, up from 7% in 2019. How did this shift unfold across different areas, industries, and worker demographics? Steven Davis, Professor Emeritus at Chicago Booth and work-from-home expert, joins The Pie to share his research.

The United States imprisons its population at a rate that is on par with North Korea. In this episode, Evan Rose of the Kenneth C. Griffin Department of Economics discusses what happens when this massive subset of individuals rejoins the labor force. Hint: It’s not what you might expect.

The rate of school suspensions has more than doubled for Black and Latino children since 1974, inspiring a small but growing movement aimed at finding new disciplinary solutions that deter undesirable behavior without imparting harm. Harris Policy's Anjali Adukia joins The Pie to discuss her partnership with Chicago Public Schools, and what happened when teachers replaced exclusionary disciplinary...

Police use of force has prompted a national debate around misconduct and how to solve what many believe to be a systemic issue. Harris Policy’s Oeindrila Dube and Chicago Booth’s Anuj Shah partnered with the Chicago Police Department for an experiment that found a different kind of behavioral training could effectively reduce adverse outcomes.

As a massive carbon sink, the Brazilian Amazon plays a crucial role in stabilizing the global climate. It’s also valuable farmland. How do economists measure this tradeoff? Lars Peter Hansen, Nobel Laureate and UChicago economist, joins The Pie to discuss his recent research on how policymakers might make the most of this precious and dwindling resource.

The U.S. government swung into action when the ranks of the pandemic unemployed swelled almost beyond recognition. Three years on, economists are continuing to study the effects of the largest increase in unemployment benefits in U.S. history. The Harris School of Public Policy’s Peter Ganong and Chicago Booth’s Joseph Vavra join The Pie to discuss the impacts on spending and job-finding.

How much effect do government policies have on doctors’ wages? And when those wages are high, does it drive inequality in other jobs? And how does Taylor Swift factor in? Or Beyoncé? Joshua D. Gottlieb of the Harris School of Public Policy joins The Pie to discuss his research using detailed data to study earnings and how they’re influenced by forces like public policy and rising inequality.

When the Los Angeles Unified School District combined some neighborhood high schools into Zones of Choice, schools had to compete for students. The result? Achievement gaps narrowed, and more kids reported that they liked school. Chris Campos of Chicago Booth joins The Pie to discuss the results of a new study.

The use of cryptocurrency is on the rise, but who exactly is on the bandwagon? Chicago Booth’s Michael Weber has examined the crypto market – who’s in it, why they believe in it, and what it might mean for the future. He joins The Pie to share the surprising (and also unsurprising) findings.

Many, if not most, citizens of working age have gone back to their jobs in the three-plus years since the start of the pandemic – but not everybody has. Part of the reason is a lingering fear about workplace safety. Chicago Booth’s Steven Davis has new research showing the effect of these fears on the overall economy.

In the stock market, we all want to do well, but for some investors it’s also important to do good. In this episode, Chicago Booth’s Lubos Pastor joins to discuss his research on sustainable investing and what two recent studies tell us about the returns on “green” vs “brown” assets.

Did borrowers and the American economy benefit from the federal government’s 2020 student debt moratorium? The picture is complicated according to new research from UChicago Economics’ Michael Dinerstein and Chicago Booth’s Constantine Yannelis. They join this week to share their surprising findings.

Vote-buying, or influencing voters’ decisions through favors or gifts, is pervasive in areas such as Latin America, Africa, and Southeast Asia. UC Berkeley’s Frederico Finan, the TC Liu Distinguished Visitor at BFI, discusses his work studying how vote-buying unfolds on the ground in Paraguay. Finan describes how norms of reciprocity drive voters to opt for politicians who have treated them favora...

Around the world, people underestimate support for basic women's rights. In new research, UChicago Economics' Leonardo Bursztyn documents these misperceptions and shows how they restrict women's progress. Aligning people's perceived and actual views, he says, can help promote women's full participation in the labor force.

Nobody ever wants to pay more for anything, especially when prices rise drastically – but can inflationary episodes be good for the economy? Harris Policy’s Carolin Pflueger joins The Pie to discuss different types of inflation, how they affect the economy, and what her research tells us about monetary policy in the world of newly rising prices.

When rural patients need care that local medical facilities can’t provide, what’s the best way to ensure they get the care they need? Chicago Booth's Jonathan Dingel and Harris Policy's Joshua Gottlieb explore how larger cities and rural areas trade medical services, and challenge assumptions about the best ways to improve both access and care.

Social media behaviors, moving at an ever faster pace, may not reflect what users really want, according to new research from economists Sendhil Mullainathan (Chicago Booth) and Amanda Agan (Rutgers University). They join The Pie to discuss how algorithms feed off our lizard brains to magnify biases.

At the third anniversary of COVID-19 lockdowns, this episode takes a look at ongoing healthcare market failures and the pandemic’s role in making them plain. Katherine Baicker, healthcare economist and newly appointed Provost of the University of Chicago, joins to take stock of the US healthcare system and discuss the challenges that remain.

What can vultures and economics tell us about the cost of losing a keystone species? New research from environmental economist Eyal Frank of the Harris School of Public Policy explores the social and economic cost in India, where a plummeting population of vultures may serve as a warning for the future.

When policymakers passed a historic welfare reform law in 1996, they likely did not anticipate what would happen when youth with disabilities turned 18 and lost their support. We talk with UChicago economist Manasi Deshpande about her novel research studying what portion of them ended up in the criminal justice system.

How can discrimination by race, gender, or other factors be measured – especially when its causes may be systemic in nature? Chicago Booth’s Alex Imas studies behavioral science and economics, and is conducting research that is expanding the scope and ambition of discrimination research. He joined The Pie to discuss the creative new ways economists are capturing discrimination.