Podcast
Oxford College Principles of Microeconomics Course
Hosted by Professor Daniel Ludwinski · EN
This is a collection of curated podcast episodes around the topic of economics, to expose the students of Oxford College of Emory's Principles of Economics course to podcasts that touch on economics and economic adjacent topics.
10episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
Hidden Brain: Theory Vs. Reality: Why Our Economic Behavior Isn't Always Rational
Dec 1000:50:24Tap to summarizeFrom Hidden Brain:We don't always behave the way economic models say we will. We don't save enough for retirement. We order dessert when we're supposed to be dieting. We give donations when we could keep our money for ourselves. Again and again, we fail to act rationally and selfishly — the way traditional economics expects us to. We've seen this during the coronavirus crisis: People selflessly mobilizing to help each other, like the retired Kansas farmer who sent an N95 mask to New York to help a nurse or a doctor. At the same time, though, we've also seen some people do exactly what economic theory assumes they will: Place their own self-interest above everything else. There are those who have even tried to profit from the pandemic, like the man in New York accused of stockpiling N95 masks to sell at an inflated price. Think about this man who hoarded masks and the man who donated a mask. In almost every sphere, our public and economic policies are designed around the assumption that most of us are going to behave like the first man. Legislators pass laws that take aim at transgressors. Regulators and police departments come up with rules that punish lawbreakers. Parents and teachers discipline truants.
Transcribe →Econtalk: Robert Frank on Inequality
Dec 301:01:37Tap to summarizeFrom Econtalk:Robert Frank of Cornell University talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about inequality. Is there a role for public policy in mitigating income inequality? Is such intervention justified or effective? The conversation delves into both the philosophical and empirical evidence behind differing answers to these questions. Ultimately, Frank argues for a steeply rising tax rate on consumption that would reduce disparities in consumption. This is a lively back-and-forth about a very timely topic.
Transcribe →Throughline: Lives Of The Great Depression
Nov 2600:47:37Tap to summarizeFrom Throughline:The Great Depression was a revolutionary spark for all kinds of things — health insurance, social safety nets, big government — all of which were in response to a national crisis. Through the personal accounts of four people who lived during the Great Depression, we look back at what life was like back then and what those stories can teach us about the last time the U.S. went through a national economic cataclysm.
Transcribe →Vox Talks: Climate shock: the economic consequences of a hotter planet
Nov 1900:09:19Tap to summarizeFrom Vox Talks:At the heart of policy debates about our collective responses to climate change is the issue of risk and uncertainty - ‘unknown unknowns’ about the impact of global warming. In this Vox Talk, Gernot Wagner - co-author with Harvard’s Martin L. Weitzman of 'Climate Shock: The Economic Consequences of a Hotter Planet’ - argues for Pigovian taxes and carbon pricing, against geoengineering solutions, and why 'we need to stick it to CO2, not to capitalism’.
Transcribe →Planet Money: Quit Threat
Nov 1200:22:37Tap to summarizeFrom Planet Money:On today's show, we ask: What does full employment really look like? NPR sent reporters across the country, including to Ames, Iowa, the city with the lowest unemployment rate, to find out. The unemployment rate is just 3.6% in the U.S., a 50-year low. People think we are at, or near, full employment. That's the lowest the unemployment rate can go without triggering inflation. And when the labor market is that tight, power shifts from employers to workers. When unemployment is low, workers can threaten to quit and their bosses have to take that threat seriously. That's what leads to raises.
Transcribe →Econtalk: Noah Smith on Worker Compensation, Co-determination, and Market Power
Nov 501:15:17Tap to summarizeFrom Econtalk:Bloomberg Opinion columnist and economist Noah Smith talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about corporate control, wages, and monopoly power. Smith discusses the costs and benefits of co-determination--the idea of putting workers on corporate boards. The conversation then moves to a lively discussion of wages and monopoly power and how the American worker has been doing in recent years.
Transcribe →Freakonomics radio: The Most Interesting Fruit in the World (Ep. 375)
Oct 2200:41:22Tap to summarizeFrom Freakonomics radio:The banana used to be a luxury good. Now it’s the most popular fruit in the U.S. and elsewhere. But the production efficiencies that made it so cheap have also made it vulnerable to a deadly fungus that may wipe out the one variety most of us eat. Scientists do have a way to save it — but will Big Banana let them?
Transcribe →Freakonomics radio: Why Rent Control Doesn’t Work (Ep. 373)
Oct 800:51:55Tap to summarizeFrom Freakonomics radio:As cities become ever-more expensive, politicians and housing advocates keep calling for rent control. Economists think that’s a terrible idea. They say it helps a small (albeit noisy) group of renters, but keeps overall rents artificially high by disincentivizing new construction. So what happens next?
Transcribe →Planet Money: A Bet On The Future Of Humanity (Ep508)
Oct 100:20:31Tap to summarizeFrom Planet Money:A famous biologist, Paul Ehrlich, predicts that overpopulation will lead to global catastrophe. He writes a bestselling book — The Population Bomb — and goes on the Tonight Show to make his case.An economist, Julian Simon, disagrees. He thinks Ehrlich isn't accounting for how clever people can be, and how shortages can lead to new, more efficient ways of doing things. So Simon challenges Ehrlich to a very public, very acrimonious, decade-long bet. On today's show: The story of that bet, and what it tells us about the future of humanity.
Transcribe →WSJ - The Journal: The World Has Too Much Oil
Sep 2400:15:06Tap to summarizeFrom WSJ - The Journal:Demand for oil has plummeted as the coronavirus has shut down much of the world, but most producers are still pumping. WSJ's Russell Gold explains the global game of chicken inside the oil industry.
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