EconTalk Podcast Episodes | 2006 - 2023

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My weekly podcast where I interview authors, economists, innovators, and people from all walks of life. Past guests include Jill Lepore, Eric Topol, Martha Nussbaum, Milton Friedman, Thomas Piketty, Angela Duckworth, Sebastian Junger, Christopher Hitchens, Bill James, Emily Oster, Nassim Nicholas Taleb, Stephen Kotkin, A.J. Jacobs, Mariana Mazzucato, Alan Lightman, and Michael Lewis.

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March 27, 2023

Kevin Kelly on Advice, AI, and Technology

Photographer, author, and visionary Kevin Kelly talks about his book Excellent Advice for Living with EconTalk’s Russ Roberts. His advice includes how…

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March 20, 2023

Megan McArdle on the Oedipus Trap

When physician Walter Freeman died in 1972, he still believed that lobotomies were the best treatment for mental illness. A…

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March 13, 2023

Zach Weinersmith on Beowulf and Bea Wolf

Tolkien read it as a tale about mortality. The poet David Whyte said it was a metaphor for the psychological…

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March 6, 2023

Omer Moav on the Emergence of the State

Since at least Adam Smith, the common wisdom has been that the transition from hunter-gathering to farming allowed the creation…

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February 27, 2023

Paul Bloom on Psych, Psychology, and the Human Mind

Do psychologists know anything? Psychologist Paul Bloom says yes–but not the things that you might think. Bloom discusses his book…

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February 20, 2023

Marco Ramos on Misunderstanding Mental Illness

When psychiatrist Marco Ramos of Yale University prescribes antidepressants to patients in distress and they ask him how they work,…

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February 13, 2023

Adam Mastroianni on Peer Review and the Academic Kitchen

Psychologist Adam Mastroianni says peer review has failed. Papers with major errors make it through the process. The ones without…

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February 6, 2023

Sam Harris on Meditation, Mindfulness, and Morality

According to neuroscientist and philosopher Sam Harris, rationality is the key to safeguarding everything we cherish, and its only true…

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January 30, 2023

Vinay Prasad on Pharmaceuticals, the FDA, and the Death of Duty

Vote for your 2022 favorites! Oncologist and epidemiologist Vinay Prasad argues that too many very expensive drugs get approved by…

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January 23, 2023

Dwayne Betts on Beauty, Prison, and Redaction

[ANNUAL LISTENER SURVEY: Delayed till later this week. Watch here for the url as soon as it’s available!] Dwayne Betts…

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