July 2006

Russ Roberts talks with Stanford University's John Cogan about what's wrong with America's health care system and how to make it right.

Along the way they discuss economics of health care, the tax treatment of employer-provided insurance, the role of state-mandated insurance requirements and the political economy of health care reform.

Russ Roberts and Rick Hanushek, of Stanford University, talk about why the standard reforms such as more spending or better educated teachers have failed and what needs to be done in the future.

Russ Roberts interviews Robert Barro, Harvard University Professor and Hoover Institution Senior Fellow, on the economics of growth, what the developed world can do to help poor people around the world, and the role of US assets and the dollar in world finance.

Russ Roberts interviews Gary Becker on the challenges of being an intellectual maverick, the economic approach to human behavior, the influences of Adam Smith and Alfred Marshall on Becker's work and Becker's optimism for the future of economics.