EconTalk http://www.econtalk.org/ en Copyright 2010 Mon, 15 Mar 2010 06:30:00 -0500 http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/ http://www.rssboard.org/rss-specification Don Boudreaux on Public Choice Don Boudreaux of George Mason University talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about public choice: the application of economics to the political process. Boudreaux argues that political competition is a blunt instrument that works less effectively than economic competition. One reason for this bluntness is the voting process itself--where intensity does not matter, only whether a voter prefers one candidate to the other. A second reason is that political outcomes tend to be one-size-fits-all, which often leads to dissatisfaction. Boudreaux defends the morality of not voting, while Roberts, who does vote from time to time, concedes that one's vote is almost always irrelevant in determining the outcome.

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]]> http://www.econtalk.org/archives/2010/03/don_boudreaux_o_3.html http://www.econtalk.org/archives/2010/03/don_boudreaux_o_3.html Don Boudreaux Political Science Public Choice Mon, 15 Mar 2010 06:30:00 -0500 Newman on Low-wage Workers Katherine Newman, Professor of Sociology at Princeton University, talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about Newman's case studies of fast-food workers in Harlem. Newman discusses the evolution of their careers and fortunes over time along with their dreams and successes and failures. The conversation concludes with lessons for public policy in aiding low-wage workers.

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]]> http://www.econtalk.org/archives/2010/03/newman_on_low-w.html http://www.econtalk.org/archives/2010/03/newman_on_low-w.html Books Katherine Newman Labor Poverty and Development Mon, 08 Mar 2010 06:30:00 -0500 Ritholtz on Bailouts, the Fed, and the Crisis Barry Ritholtz, author of Bailout Nation: How Greed and Easy Money Corrupted Wall Street and Shook the World Economy, talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the history of bailouts in recent times, beginning with Lockheed and Chrysler in the 1970s and continuing through the current financial crisis. In addition to the government role in aiding ailing companies, Ritholtz also looks at the role of the Fed in discouraging prudence through its efforts to keep asset prices and the stock market at high levels. The conversation closes with a discussion of what Ritholtz has learned from the crisis.

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]]> http://www.econtalk.org/archives/2010/03/ritholtz_on_bai.html http://www.econtalk.org/archives/2010/03/ritholtz_on_bai.html Barry Ritholtz Books Financial Crisis of 2008 History Money Mon, 01 Mar 2010 06:30:00 -0500 Garett Jones on Macro and Twitter Garett Jones of George Mason University talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the art of communicating economics via puzzles and short provocative insights. They discuss Jones's Twitter strategy of posting quotes and short puzzles to provoke thinking. Jones, drawing on his experience as a Senate staffer, discusses the interaction between politics and economics in the area of tax cuts and earmarks. For example, are earmarks good or bad? Jones gives an unconventional analysis. He also discusses the economics of the new workplace and why that might mean a different path for productivity over the business cycle than in the past.

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]]> http://www.econtalk.org/archives/2010/02/garett_jones_on.html http://www.econtalk.org/archives/2010/02/garett_jones_on.html Business Cycles, Recessions, and the Great Depression Education Garett Jones Government Budgets and Taxation Information and Technology Mon, 22 Feb 2010 06:30:00 -0500 Phelps on Unemployment and the State of Macroeconomics Nobel Laureate Edmund Phelps of Columbia University talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the market for labor, unemployment, and the evolution of macroeconomics over the past century. The conversation begins with a discussion of Phelps's early contributions to the understanding of unemployment and the importance of imperfect information. Phelps put his contribution into the context of the evolution of macroeconomics showing how his models were related to those of Keynes, the Austrian School, and rational expectations. The  conversation then turns to the issue of whether macroeconomics is making progress, particularly in understanding business cycles. The discussion concludes with the satisfactions of work and the role of creativity and dynamism.

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]]> http://www.econtalk.org/archives/2010/02/phelps_on_unemp.html http://www.econtalk.org/archives/2010/02/phelps_on_unemp.html Business Cycles, Recessions, and the Great Depression Edmund Phelps Labor Nobel Prize Winners Mon, 15 Feb 2010 06:30:00 -0500 Roberts on Smith, Ricardo, and Trade Russ Roberts, host of EconTalk, does a monologue this week on the economics of trade and specialization. Economists have focused on David Ricardo's idea of comparative advantage as the source of specialization and wealth creation from trade. Drawing on Adam Smith and the work of James Buchanan, Yong Yoon, and Paul Romer, Roberts argues that we've neglected the role of the size of the market in creating incentives for specialization and wealth creation via trade. Simply put, the more people we trade with, the greater the opportunity to specialize and innovate, even when people are identical. The Ricardian insight masks the power of market size in driving innovation and the transformation of our standard of living over the last few centuries in the developed world.

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]]> http://www.econtalk.org/archives/2010/02/roberts_on_smit.html http://www.econtalk.org/archives/2010/02/roberts_on_smit.html Entrepreneurship Growth Poverty and Development Russ Roberts Trade and Exchange Mon, 08 Feb 2010 06:30:00 -0500 Larry White on Hayek and Money Larry White of George Mason University talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about Hayek's ideas on the business cycle and money. White lays out Hayek's view of business cycles and the role of monetary policy in creating a boom and bust cycle. The conversation also explores the historical context of Hayek's work on business cycle theory--the onset of the Great Depression and the intellectual battle with Keynes and his work. In the second half of the podcast, White turns to alternative ways to provide money, in particular, the possibility of private currency and free banking explored by Hayek late in his career. White then describes his own research on free banking and in particular, the more than a century-long experience Scotland had with free banking. The podcast concludes with the economics rap "Fear the Boom and Bust," recently created by John Papola and Russ Roberts. The song itself can be downloaded at EconStories.tv where viewers can also watch the video, read the lyrics, and find related resources on the web for Keynes and Hayek.

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]]> http://www.econtalk.org/archives/2010/02/larry_white_on.html http://www.econtalk.org/archives/2010/02/larry_white_on.html Business Cycles, Recessions, and the Great Depression History Lawrence White Money Mon, 01 Feb 2010 06:30:00 -0500 Spence on Growth Nobel Laureate Michael Spence of Stanford University's Hoover Institution and the Commission on Growth and Development talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the determinants of economic growth. Spence discusses the findings of the Commission's recent report and how it compares to earlier attempts to uncover the sources of growth and the lack of growth such as the Washington Consensus. Spence makes the case for government provision of infrastructure including education and the problems of corruption and governance. The conversation closes with a look at Spence's career and the lessons of that experience.

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]]> http://www.econtalk.org/archives/2010/01/spence_on_growt.html http://www.econtalk.org/archives/2010/01/spence_on_growt.html Education Growth Michael Spence Nobel Prize Winners Political Science Mon, 25 Jan 2010 06:30:00 -0500 Munger on Many Things Mike Munger of Duke University talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about many things. Listeners sent in questions for Mike and Russ to talk about and they chose ten of the most interesting questions with the idea of talking about each for six minutes. The topics are the scarcity of clean water, asset bubbles, the role of Fannie and Freddie in the financial crisis, can a business pass a tax on to its customers (or maybe even its workers), compassionate food, the study of economics, how to choose a college, the nature of cooperation in a modern economy, the humanity of non-profits, and the American Dream.

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]]> http://www.econtalk.org/archives/2010/01/munger_on_many.html http://www.econtalk.org/archives/2010/01/munger_on_many.html Education Financial Crisis of 2008 Labor Mike Munger Regulation Mon, 18 Jan 2010 06:30:00 -0500 Belongia on the Fed Michael Belongia of the University of Mississippi and former economist at the St. Louis Federal Reserve talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the inner workings, politics, and economics of the Federal Reserve. Belongia talks about the role that power and politics play in Federal Reserve decision-making and how various Fed chairs used their power to suppress dissent within the Fed that was critical of Fed policy. He argues that the Fed faces an unresolvable dilemma when asked to achieve the multiple goals of full employment and price stability using only the federal funds rate as a policy lever. The discussion concludes with Belongia's indictment of the monetary data that the Fed produces.

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]]> http://www.econtalk.org/archives/2010/01/belongia_on_the.html http://www.econtalk.org/archives/2010/01/belongia_on_the.html Law and Institutions Michael Belongia Money Political Science Mon, 11 Jan 2010 06:30:00 -0500 Rustici on Smoot-Hawley and the Great Depression Thomas Rustici of George Mason University and author of Lessons from the Great Depression talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the impact of the Smoot-Hawley Act on the economy. The standard view is that the decrease in trade that followed Smoot-Hawley was not big enough to be a significant contributor to the Great Depression. Rustici argues that this Keynesian approach that looks at aggregate spending misses a crucial mechanism for understanding the impact of Smoot-Hawley. Rustici focuses on the impact of Smoot Hawley on bank closings and the money supply. Smoot-Hawley launched an international trade war that reduced world trade dramatically. This had large concentrated regional effects in the United States and around the world in areas that depended on trade. Those were the areas where the first banks collapsed, contracting the money supply via the fractional reserve banking system. Rustici argues that the Keynesian indictment of the price system ignores the policy failures that destroyed the institutions that make the price system work.

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]]> http://www.econtalk.org/archives/2010/01/rustici_on_smoo.html http://www.econtalk.org/archives/2010/01/rustici_on_smoo.html Books Business Cycles, Recessions, and the Great Depression Money Thomas Rustici Trade and Exchange Mon, 04 Jan 2010 06:30:00 -0500 Winston on Market Failure and Government Failure Clifford Winston of the Brookings Institution talks about the ideas in his book, Market Failure vs. Government Failure, with EconTalk host Russ Roberts. Winston summarizes a large literature on antitrust, safety regulation and environmental regulation. He finds that government regulation often fails to meet its objectives. While markets are imperfect, so is government. Winston argues that idealized theories of government intervention based on textbook theories of market failure are not the way regulation turns out in practice. He argues that special interest politics explains much of the disappointing outcomes of government regulation.

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]]> http://www.econtalk.org/archives/2009/12/winston_on_mark.html http://www.econtalk.org/archives/2009/12/winston_on_mark.html Books Clifford Winston Regulation Theory of Markets Mon, 28 Dec 2009 06:30:00 -0500 Hamilton on Debt, Default, and Oil James Hamilton of the University of California, San Diego, and blogger at EconBrowser talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the rising levels of the national debt and the growing Federal budget deficit. What is the possibility of an actual default, or an implicit default where the government prints money to meet its obligations and causes inflation? What might signal an impending default? And what is the long-range forecast for the U.S. government's obligations? Later in the conversation, the subject turns to oil prices, an area of Hamilton's research. Hamilton explores the causes of the increasing price of oil over the last decade and the implications for the economy.

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]]> http://www.econtalk.org/archives/2009/12/hamilton_on_deb.html http://www.econtalk.org/archives/2009/12/hamilton_on_deb.html Business Cycles, Recessions, and the Great Depression Financial Crisis of 2008 Government Budgets and Taxation James Hamilton Mon, 21 Dec 2009 06:30:00 -0500 Kling on Prosperity, Poverty, and Economics 2.0 Arnold Kling of EconLog and the author (with Nick Schulz) of From Poverty to Prosperity: Intangible Assets, Hidden Liabilities and the Lasting Triumph over Scarcity talks about the book with EconTalk host Russ Roberts. Kling discusses how modern economists think about growth in both developed and undeveloped countries and contrasts those ideas with earlier views in economics. The focus of the modern understanding is on ideas and the ability of ideas to improve technology, leading to prosperity. Unlike physical capital, ideas can be enjoyed by many people at once, explaining why past models that ignored ideas and focused on physical capital failed to account for the observed magnitude of economic development. Kling also discusses the success of China and India.

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]]> http://www.econtalk.org/archives/2009/12/kling_on_prospe.html http://www.econtalk.org/archives/2009/12/kling_on_prospe.html Arnold Kling Books Growth Information and Technology Poverty and Development Mon, 14 Dec 2009 06:30:00 -0500 McArdle on Debt and Self-Restraint Megan McArdle, who writes the blog Asymmetrical Information at The Atlantic, talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about debt and the challenge of self-restraint. She discusses her recent Atlantic article on her experience at a Dave Ramsey personal finance seminar, how it affected her life, and the psychology of self-restraint. The conversation concludes with a discussion of debt and savings during the Great Depression and the current national debt of the United States.

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]]> http://www.econtalk.org/archives/2009/12/mcardle_on_debt.html http://www.econtalk.org/archives/2009/12/mcardle_on_debt.html Business Cycles, Recessions, and the Great Depression Finance Happiness and Behavioral Economics Megan McArdle Mon, 07 Dec 2009 06:30:00 -0500