EconTalk

Arnold Kling talks about the revised edition of his book The Three Languages of Politics. He talks about the changed political landscape in the United States and around the world and how his ideas have changed since the book was first published in 2013. The talk was given in front of a live audience at the Cato Institute, recorded Sep. 2019.

Jenny Schuetz of the Brookings Institution talks with host Russ Roberts about zoning, boarding houses, real estate development, and the housing market.

Azra Raza talks about her book The First Cell with host Russ Roberts. She argues that we have made little progress in fighting cancer over the last 50 years. She suggests an alternative approach that might better take account human complexity and the way that cancer morphs and spreads differently across people and even within individuals.

Economist and infovore Tyler Cowen of George Mason University talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the political, social, and economic aspects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Isabella Tree talks about her book Wilding with host Russ Roberts. Tree and her husband decided to turn their 3.5 acre farm, the Knepp Castle Estate, into something wilder, a place for wild ponies, wild pigs, wild oxen, and an ever-wider variety of birds and bugs. The conversation covers the re-wilding phenomenon, the complexity of natural systems, and the nature of emergent order.

Richard Davies talks with host Russ Roberts about his book, Extreme Economies, exploring economic life in extreme situations. The Angola State Penitentiary in Louisiana, Syrian refugee camps in Jordan, the Panama rain forest, and Kinshasa, the largest city in the Democratic Republic of Congo are discussed. This is an economic and journalistic tour de force as Davies shares insights from his encounters with people around the world struggling to trade and prosper in extreme environments.

Yuval Levin talks about his book A Time to Build with host Russ Roberts. He argues that U.S. institutions are less trustworthy than they have been in the past. People no longer see institutions as something that molds them and has norms to which they conform. Instead, they view the institution as a platform to gain attention and notoriety. This in turn means that institutions are increasingly unable to perform their primary function as they once did...

Richard Robb talks about his book Willful with host Russ Roberts. He is interested in what motivates and explains the choices we make. He explores alternatives to the optimizing model of economics including what he calls "for-itself" behavior--behavior that isn't purposive...

Peter Singer talks about his book, The Life You Can Save, with host Russ Roberts. He argues that those of us in the developed world with a high standard of living can and should forgo some luxuries and donate instead to reduce poverty and suffering in poor countries. This is a wide-ranging conversation on the potential we have to make the world a better place and the practical challenges of having an impact.

Marty Makary talks about his book The Price We Pay with host Russ Roberts. He highlights some of the stranger aspects of our current healthcare system such as encouraging unnecessary or even harmful procedures and predatory hospitals who sue patients to recover fees that are secret until after the procedure is completed. Makary favors requiring hospitals to make their prices transparent...