Podcast Episodes
Back to SearchShampoo, Property Rights, and Civilization (with Anthony Gill)
Episode 1023
Why is it okay to take the little shampoo bottles in hotels home with you but not the towels? And what stops people from taking the towels? Listen as political scientist Anthony Gill discusses the en…
Published on 10 hours ago
Primal Intelligence (with Angus Fletcher)
Episode 1022
What do Shakespeare, Hollywood storytelling, and military special operations have in common? They all excel at inventing new plans, or improvising when we're facing radical uncertainty. Listen as pro…
Published on 1 week ago
A Mind-Blowing Way of Looking at Math (with David Bessis)
Episode 1021
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 …
Published on 2 weeks ago
Twenty Years of Freakonomics (with Stephen Dubner)
Episode 1020
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…
Published on 3 weeks ago
The Magic of Tokyo (with Joe McReynolds)
Episode 1019
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 attr…
Published on 4 weeks ago
The Invisible Hierarchies that Rule Our World (with Toby Stuart)
Episode 1018
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 …
Published on 1 month ago
Eating with Intelligence (with Julia Belluz)
Episode 1017
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 ne…
Published on 1 month, 1 week ago
Steven Pinker on Common Knowledge
Episode 1016
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 o…
Published on 1 month, 2 weeks ago
How Did America Build the Arsenal of Democracy? (with Brian Potter)
Episode 1015
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…
Published on 1 month, 3 weeks ago
How Teams Succeed (with Colin Fisher)
Episode 1014
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 organizatio…
Published on 2 months ago