I want to thank all of you who voted for your favorite episodes of EconTalk for 2013. Here are the episodes that received the most votes (and yes, there was a tie for first place):
- 1. (tied) David Epstein on the Sports Gene
- 1. (tied) Doug Lemov on Teaching
- 3. Kling on the Three Languages of Politics
- 4. Taleb on Skin in the Game
- 5. Judith Curry on Climate Change
- 6. Munger on Milk
- 7. Wally Thurman on Bees, Beekeeping, and Coase
- 8. Munger on Sports, Norms, Rules, and the Code
- 9. Oster on Pregnancy, Causation, and Expecting Better
- 10. Pallotta on Charity and the Culture of the Non-Profit Sector
We’ll do it again next year.
READER COMMENTS
ericmc
Mar 13 2014 at 8:22pm
[Comment removed pending confirmation of email address and for rudeness. Email the webmaster@econlib.org to request restoring your comment privileges. A valid email address is required to post comments on EconLog and EconTalk.–Econlib Ed.]
Farmer Nic
Mar 14 2014 at 2:41am
That was my top ten too, though there were plenty more that were worthy of a spot on the list.
A vintage year for Econtalk podcasts.
Well done Mr Roberts and thank you.
Jeff Doolittle
Mar 15 2014 at 1:28pm
Kling, Taleb and Munger. Great choices. More from these three, please. 🙂
ZackMorrisPCI
Mar 15 2014 at 7:33pm
This is what happens when you don’t vote.
I completely disagree with this top ten list (except Oster which was one of the best, but I didn’t vote; so, as the bumper stickers indicate, I can’t complain). I think the conversation with Lant Pritchett was best of 2013, plausibly best ET podcast ever. It blew my mind, and hit upon the major themes Russ tries to communicate. It spurred me to not only rethink my views on third world education, but shook my beliefs about all of economics, public policy, and even to an extent human nature.
All that said, I have listened to every podcast (except Glenn Reynolds) and am consistently impressed. Dr. Roberts, the quality of your thinking, the savoir faire with which you handle guests that disagree, and the high quality of each show are awe-inspiring. I look forward to being enlightened and challenged by your work throughout 2014.
And yes, I’ll vote next year.
[comment edited with permission of commenter–Econlib Ed.]
Carl Pearson
Mar 17 2014 at 11:32am
Will you disclose how you translated the votes into rankings?
I am guessing simple frequency count, but am curious if you took in to account any preference ranking people provided (I know I did).
Even better, any chance you could make available the anonymized source data?
Russ Roberts
Mar 17 2014 at 2:48pm
Carl Pearson,
We did not take account of ranking. As I remember, I asked people to give me their five favorites without asking for an ordering. Some people ranked them anyway, but we just used frequency count–one vote for one mention.
We don’t share the source data, but I will tell you that virtually every episode (and maybe literally every single one) did get mentioned.
Russ
Carl Pearson
Mar 17 2014 at 6:33pm
Russ – thanks for the info.
I asked about the source data because, as you often highlight in the show, aggregation doesn’t always tell the story well, and I’ve some particular visualizations in mind. Of course, as you also duly remind us, fishing for pattern isn’t science either.
As an alternative to publishing the results: perhaps you can share the data scheme you’ve reduced the emails to, and I’ll have a go at writing some plots (in R) against said scheme and send the scripts along. If they make informative pictures when combined with the data, you can feel free to share them. Hopefully, others might have a go at it as well.
You have, after all, been looking for ways to encourage your listeners to become more involved with the podcast. Thinking of useful ways to visualize this sort of data — without knowing what they say ahead of time — is a superb scientific exercise.
C
Todd Kreider
Mar 17 2014 at 8:57pm
A write-in vote after the polls closed:
Joel Mokyr on Growth, Innovation and Stagnation
from November 2013
http://www.econtalk.org/archives/2013/11/joel_mokyr_on_g.html
(my guy never wins…)
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