By Alice Temnick

In this week's episode, EconTalk host Russ Roberts welcomes philosopher Peter Singer to the program to discuss the 10th anniversary of his book, The Life You Can Save. Roberts questions Singer’s plea to all of us with disposable income to overcome our nature of caring most for those close to us and to see foreign ch...

Philosopher and author Peter Singer of Princeton University talks about his book, The Life You Can Save with EconTalk host Russ Roberts. Singer argues that those of us in the developed world with a high standard of living can and should give/forgo some luxuries and donate instead to reduce poverty and suffering in poor...

By Amy Willis

Health care has been a big topic on EconTalk this year, and this week's episode continues our exploration. This week, host Russ Roberts welcomed physician Marty Makary to talk about his new book, The Price We Pay, in which he describes a wretched system of price gouging, shadow pricing, and predatory pricing and colle...

Physician and author Marty Makary of Johns Hopkins University talks about his book The Price We Pay with EconTalk host Russ Roberts. Makary highlights some of the stranger aspects of our current health care system including the encouragement of unnecessary or even harmful procedures and the predatory behavior of some h...

Economist, author, and Nobel Laureate Robert Shiller of Yale University discusses his book Narrative Economics with EconTalk host Russ Roberts. Shiller proposes a novel idea--that the narratives that people believe and use to understand the world affect their economic behavior and in turn affect the macroeconomy. Shill...

By Amy Willis

Is the pursuit of material gain moral? Is it just? Which is more important ethically- how you earn  your money or how you spend your money? These and a plethora of other tricky questions were at the heart of this week's episode. EconTalk host Russ Roberts welcomed back economics Professor Dan Klein to discuss a provo...

Economist and author Daniel Klein of George Mason University talks about the ethics of working and the potential for our working lives to make the world a better place. This is a wide-ranging conversation that includes discussion of Adam Smith, what jobs we should work on, what charities we should donate to, how we can...

By Amy Willis

What have you binged on lately? The new Dracula? The Crown? You probably automatically thought of your TV when I said "binge," but did you know that the novels of Jane Austen were part of the original "binge"- reading, that is. Will novels such as Austen's ever return to such popular heights?   In this week'...

Author and professor Janine Barchas of the University of Texas talks about her book, The Lost Books of Jane Austen, with EconTalk host Russ Roberts. The conversation explores Austen's enduring reputation, how the cheap reprints of her work allowed that reputation to thrive, the links between Shakespeare and Austen, how...

By Amy Willis

Have you "gone Kondo" on your home yet? Have you embraced a minimalist aesthetic? What happens to all the "stuff" that no longer sparks joy in our lives? That's the subject of this week's episode. EconTalk host Russ Roberts welcomes author Adam Minter to talk about his new book, Secondhand: Travels in the New Global ...

Journalist and author Adam Minter talks about his book Secondhand with EconTalk host Russ Roberts. Minter explores the strange and fascinating world of secondhand stuff--the downsizing that the elderly do when they move to smaller quarters, the unseen side of Goodwill Industries, and the global market for rags.

By Amy Willis

Are you ready for the robots?!?!?   This week, EconTalk host Russ Roberts returned to the topic of artificial intelligence (AI), welcoming computer scientist Melanie Mitchell to talk about her new book, Artificial Intelligence:  A Guide for Thinking Humans. So what should  thinking humans such as yourselv...

Computer Scientist and author Melanie Mitchell of Portland State University and the Santa Fe Institute talks about her book Artificial Intelligence with EconTalk host Russ Roberts. Mitchell explains where we are today in the world of artificial intelligence (AI) and where we might be going. Despite the hype and excitem...

By Alice Temnick

In this week's episode, Kimberly Clausing discusses Open: The Progressive Case for Free Trade, Immigration, and Global Capital with EconTalk host Russ Roberts. Clausing identifies geographic regions in the United States where large groups of people struggle from the job displacement consequences of trade for long perio...

Economist and author Kimberly Clausing of Reed College talks about her book Open with EconTalk host Russ Roberts. Clausing, a self-described progressive, argues that the United States should continue to embrace free trade but she argues for other interventions to soften the impact of trade on workers and communities.

Journalist and author Joe Posnanski talks about his book, The Life and Afterlife of Harry Houdini, with EconTalk host Russ Roberts. Posnanski explores the enduring fame of Houdini who remains an iconic cultural figure almost a century after his death. Topics discussed include the nature of celebrity, the nature of ambi...