Bright colors, long tails, and dances of seduction: they may hurt a bird's chances of survival in the wild, but they seem to increase the...
As The United States approaches its 250th anniversary in 2026, there is no better time to study the great men and women who built, protected, and improved the nation. Many historians regard Abraham Lincoln as America’s greatest President, for good...
Matt Ridley talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about his latest book, The Evolution of Everything. Ridley applies the lens of emergent order to a wide variety of phenomena including culture, morality, religion, commerce, innovation, and consciousness.
Bright colors, long tails, and dances of seduction: they may hurt a bird's chances of survival in the wild, but they seem to increase the chances of reproduction. Is this all part of natural selection or is sexual selection its own force in the bird world? Is there such a thing as beauty for beauty's sake? What can...
As The United States approaches its 250th anniversary in 2026, there is no better time to study the great men and women who built, protected, and improved the nation. Many historians regard Abraham Lincoln as America’s greatest President, for good reason. Lincoln mended the fractured United States, wrote the Emancipa...
Feedback on exams and papers--grades and comments--should be more than an assessment. It should point the way to improvement. So argues educational consultant Daisy Christodoulou, emphasizing that actionable feedback has to be more than comments scribbled in the margins of a paper or at its end. Listen as she speaks wi...
What can the restaurant business teach us about leadership and management? Listen as Will Guidara, the former owner of Eleven Madison Park, explains to EconTalk's Russ Roberts how his restaurant became good enough to be named the best restaurant in the world. Foodies will enjoy a look behind the scenes of a restaurant ...
Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East but it seems a lot more alien and chaotic than many of the older democracies of the West. Hear Rachel Gur of Reichman University explain to EconTalk's Russ Roberts how the Israeli political system works and sometimes, doesn't work. The conversation brings into relief the ...
For over a decade, Russ Roberts has been covering both sides of the Artificial Intelligence (AI) debate. A recent EconTalk episode is optimistically called “Why AI Is Good for Humans (with Reid Hoffman).” Another booster episode was “Marc Andreessen on Why AI Will Save the World.” In the opposite corner: t...
Until the end of WWI, the Middle East as we know it didn't exist. No Israel, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, or Iraq. Instead, there was the Ottoman Empire, whose dissolution using an arbitrary line on a map set the region on a course of upheaval that's still with us. Listen as historian James Barr speaks with EconTalk's Rus...
For more than a century, some economists have insisted that central planning can outperform markets. Economists like Mises, Hayek, and Friedman disagreed. Who won this debate? Is it over? Does AI change how we should think about the power of planning? Listen as economist Peter Boettke of George Mason University discus...
Under what conditions does technology improve prosperity? Mass unemployment and deepening inequality are not new concerns, but the emergence of artificial intelligence has prompted great thinkers like Daron Acemoglu to suggest norms of engagement to optimize and equalize the benefits from technological change. On the o...
Why do we buy stuff we don't need? Maybe for the same reason that some people can't stand stuff at all. Listen as author Michael Easter speaks with EconTalk's Russ Roberts about how two seemingly opposed approaches to our possessions--minimalism and hoarding--may stem from the same impulse to cope with uncertainty....
Surely perfection is better than imperfection. But applying technology to improve decision-making can backfire. Listen as ed-tech innovator Daisy Christodoulou and EconTalk's Russ Roberts talk about the costs of seeking perfection when technology is used to improve refereeing in sports. They also talk about ways to em...
Glenn Loury is a Professor of Economics and International and Public Affairs at Brown University. Loury is also a Fellow of the Econometric Society, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and is the author of many books including The Anatomy of Racial Inequality, Race, Incarceration, and American Values, and th...
Should we worry about the human future in a world of AI? Reid Hoffman is unafraid and even optimistic. He argues that the brave new world that awaits is going to be great for humanity. Listen as he talks about his book Superagency with EconTalk's Russ Roberts and argues that the future is bright not just for AI, but ...
Tariffs are (still) in the air, and don't show any sign of retreating from our newsfeeds. Will they help or hurt? In this recent episode, Scott Sumner makes the case against tariffs and various other forms of government intervention that go by the name of industrial policy. EconTalk host Russ Roberts notes the difficul...
How can opera, with words we rarely understand, make us cry? Why does opera, filled with melodrama, move us? Listen as poet and librettist Dana Gioia explains to EconTalk's Russ Roberts why words matter more than we think, in both opera and on Broadway.
Can Musk use DOGE to reduce the size and power of the bureaucracy and big government? Michael Munger of Duke University thinks not, but EconTalk's Russ Roberts isn't so sure. Listen as they discuss the risks of empowering bureaucrats to rein in other bureaucrats and whether change can really happen given the power o...