EconTalk
Economics Brought to Life, brought to you by the Library of Economics and Liberty.
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Tina Rosenberg on the Kidney Market in Iran
Tina Rosenberg talks with host Russ Roberts about the Iranian ...
Tina Rosenberg talks with host Russ Roberts about the Iranian kidney market--how it works, its strengths and weaknesses, and whether its lessons apply to U.S. or other situations. Iran is only country in the world where a person can sell a kidney to another citizen who buys it.
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Mitch Weiss on the Business of Broadway
Mitch Weiss, co-author of The Business of Broadway, talks with ...
Mitch Weiss, co-author of The Business of Broadway, talks with host Russ Roberts about his book and what it's like to manage the production of a blockbuster musical in New York City. Topics discussed include the eight-performance-per-week grind, the how and why of creating a Broadway set, the challenges of wardrobes (domestic and international) and the pluses and minuses of unions which are a central part of the Broadway workplace.
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William MacAskill on Effective Altruism and Doing Good Better
William MacAskill, author of Doing Good Better, talks with host ...
William MacAskill, author of Doing Good Better, talks with host Russ Roberts about the idea of effective altruism. MacAskill urges donors to spend their money more effectively and argues that the impact on human well-being can be immense. MacAskill wants donors to rely on scientific assessments of effectiveness. Roberts pushes back on the reliability of such assessments. Other topics include sweatshops, choosing a career to have the biggest impact on others, and the interaction between private philanthropy and political action.
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Paul Robinson on Cooperation, Punishment and the Criminal Justice System
Paul Robinson talks with host Russ Roberts the ideas in ...
Paul Robinson talks with host Russ Roberts the ideas in his book, Pirates, Prisoners and Lepers. He argues that without government sanctions or legislation there is an evolutionary drive to cooperate even in life-and-death situations. In such situations private punishment and norms play a crucial role in sustaining cooperative solutions. The last part of the conversation deals with the criminal justice system and how attitudes toward the system affect society-wide cooperation and crime.
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Jesse Ausubel on Agriculture, Technology, and the Return of Nature
Jesse Ausubel talks with host Russ Roberts about the return ...
Jesse Ausubel talks with host Russ Roberts about the return of nature. Ausubel shows how technology has reduced many of the dimensions of the human footprint even as population rises and why this trend is likely to continue into the future. The conversation concludes with Ausubel's cautious optimism about the impact of climate change.
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Rachel Laudan on the History of Food and Cuisine
Rachel Laudan talks with host Russ Roberts about the history ...
Rachel Laudan talks with host Russ Roberts about the history of food. Topics include the importance of grain, the spread of various styles of cooking, why French cooking has elite status, and the reach of McDonald's. The conversation concludes with a discussion of the appeal of local food and other recent food passions.
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Summer Brennan on Wilderness, Politics and the Oyster War
Summer Brennan talks with host Russ Roberts about her book, ...
Summer Brennan talks with host Russ Roberts about her book, The Oyster War, and the fight between the Drakes Bay Oyster Company and the federal government over farming oysters in the Point Reyes National Seashore. Along the way they discuss the economics of oyster farming, the nature of wilderness, and the challenge of land use in national parks and seashores.
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Roger Berkowitz on Fish, Food, and Legal Sea Foods
Seafood is highly perishable and supply is often uncertain. Roger ...
Seafood is highly perishable and supply is often uncertain. Roger Berkowitz, CEO of Legal Sea Foods talks with host Russ Roberts about the challenges of running 34 seafood restaurants up and down the east coast. He discusses how his business works day-to-day and the question of sustainability.
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Eric Hanushek on the Education, Skills, and the Millennium Development Goals
Eric Hanushek talks with host Russ Roberts about the importance ...
Eric Hanushek talks with host Russ Roberts about the importance of basic education in math and literacy and their relationship to economic growth. He argues that excellence in educating people in basic skills leads to economic growth, especially in poorer countries where years of education may be a poor proxy for learning. He argues that the U.N.'s Millennium Development Goals should emphasize outputs rather than inputs--performance on skill-based exams rather than years of education.
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Wences Casares on Bitcoin and Xapo
Wences Casares, bitcoin evangelist and founder and CEO of Xapo, ...
Wences Casares, bitcoin evangelist and founder and CEO of Xapo, talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about how bitcoin works, the genius of bitcoin's creator, and how Xapo is structured to create security for bitcoin banking.
