EconTalk

Russ Roberts

EconTalk: Conversations for the Curious is an award-winning weekly podcast hosted by Russ Roberts of Shalem College in Jerusalem and Stanford's Hoover Institution. The eclectic guest list includes authors, doctors, psychologists, historians, philosophers, economists, and more. Learn how the health care system really works, the serenity that comes from humility, the challenge of interpreting data, how potato chips are made, what it's like to run an upscale Manhattan restaurant, what caused the 2008 financial crisis, the nature of consciousness, the conflicts and history of the Middle East, and more. EconTalk has been taking the Monday out of Mondays since 2006. All 1000+ episodes are available in the archive. Go to EconTalk.org for transcripts, related resources, and comments.

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20 episodes
Updated Monday

Episodes20

Newest first

Savage Landscapes (with Cal Flyn)
What is wilderness when seven billion people share the planet and nowhere remains truly untouched? Author and journalist Cal Flyn discusses her book The Savage Landscape with EconTalk host Russ Roberts, weaving together journeys to some of Earth's most remote places, including a live volcanic eruption in Iceland she hiked toward despite the danger. Flyn rejects the myth of pristine, unpeopled wilderness, revealing that the wildest-looking landscapes have been shaped by humans for centuries. She
Monday · 1 hr 2 min
Dwayne Betts on the Iliad
What happens when a poet who survived prison sits down with the world's oldest war story--and reads it in three sleepless, wandering days? In this second episode of the EconTalk Book Club on the Iliad, Dwayne Betts and EconTalk host Russ Roberts trade their impressions of the Iliad, discovering it's less about war than about fathers, friendship, and the stubborn dignity people find inside fates they can't escape. Betts connects Achilles's rage and grief to his own experience of incarceration and
July 20 · 1 hr 28 min
From Sawdust to Paw Patrol: The Spin Master Story (with Ronnen Harary)
A nylon stocking filled with sawdust that grows grass for hair launched one of the most successful toy companies in the world. Ronnen Harary, co-founder of Spin Master and co-creator of Paw Patrol, talks about his book No Experience Necessary with EconTalk's Russ Roberts. Harary traces his journey from selling grass-growing novelty heads at 23, through Devil Sticks and Air Hogs, to building Bakugan and Paw Patrol into global franchises touching the lives of millions of children. Along the way, h
July 13 · 1 hr 9 min
EconTalk Book Club on the Iliad (with Ido Hevroni)
Ego, pride, wrath, fear, gods, superheroes, mortals, and lots of killing. Welcome to Homer's Iliad, which reads at times like a script for a Tarantino film or the latest installment of the Avengers franchise. In the first episode of the EconTalk Book Club on the Iliad, Ido Hevroni of Shalem College speaks with EconTalk's Russ Roberts about the surprising relevance of a 2800-year-old epic poem. Hevroni also provides useful background for first-time readers and what it's like to read the Iliad wit
July 6 · 1 hr 10 min
Do Less, Heal More: The Case for Medical Conservatism (with John Mandrola)
What if the surgery that fixed your knee did no better than fake surgery? EconTalk host Russ Roberts speaks with Dr. John Mandrola about a striking clinical trial in which patients who received sham knee surgery (a real incision, but no actual repair) did as well or better than those who had the actual procedure--one performed 700,000 times annually in the U.S. The conversation ranges from the power of placebo and nocebo effects (how expectation of harm can cause real suffering) to the broader p
June 29 · 59 min
Can a Phone Be a Cow? (with Philip Auerswald)
Can a phone be a cow? It could in 1990s Bangladesh. This was the insight of a small number of mobile phone market pioneers who helped catalyze the spread of the greatest technological revolution in human history. Listen as George Mason University economist Philip Auerswald speaks to EconTalk's Russ Roberts about how the extension of connectivity to traditionally excluded populations led to wide-scale transformations in productivity. They discuss the role of little-known entrepreneurs such as Iqb
June 22 · 1 hr 19 min
The Case for Sunshine (with Rowan Jacobsen)
Skin cancer comes from the sun. But so do many good things, according to author Rowan Jacobsen. Jacobsen talks with EconTalk's Russ Roberts about the health benefits of sunshine and makes the case for prudent sun exposure. Topics discussed include the "heliotherapy" movement that peaked in the early 1900s in response to rickets and tuberculosis, why diagnosing skin cancer is on the rise, and why yesterday's sunscreens may have done more harm than good.
June 15 · 1 hr 5 min
The Self, the Crowd, and Social Contagion (with Luke Burgis)
Finding community can be difficult. But author Luke Burgis thinks the real challenge begins once we've found it and we're subject to social pressures to conform. Listen as Burgis and EconTalk's Russ Roberts trace the tension between individuals and their tribes through the foundational frameworks, such as family and school, that help forge our identities. Burgis argues that the disappearance of traditional rites of passage bodes ill for major life commitments such as marriage, and recounts his p
June 8 · 1 hr 11 min
Making Your 80,000 Hours Count (with Benjamin Todd)
If you want to change the world, how you spend your 80,000 working hours may be the most important decision you can make. Benjamin Todd, founder of 80,000 Hours, joins EconTalk's Russ Roberts to dismantle the career advice you've been fed since childhood. "Follow your passion" turns out to be a trap. Chasing a big paycheck barely moves the happiness needle. And being a doctor has a smaller impact than you might think, says Todd. Todd and Roberts wrestle with the real ingredients of a fulfilling
June 1 · 1 hr 7 min
Facing Death (with Sebastian Junger)
What does a lifelong atheist do when his dead father appears above him in the emergency room? Author and war reporter Sebastian Junger nearly bled to death in 2020 from a ruptured aneurysm, and what he saw in those moments sent him on a journey into physics, near-death experiences, and the nature of consciousness itself. In his third appearance on EconTalk, Junger discusses his remarkable book In My Time of Dying with host Russ Roberts. He reflects on covering wars from Sarajevo to Afghanistan,
May 25 · 1 hr 6 min
Tom Cruise's Body of Work (with Aled Maclean-Jones)
What can Tom Cruise's last impossible mission teach us about usefulness in the digital age? Aled Maclean-Jones argues that dangling from cargo planes, soldering hard drives, and skydiving nineteen consecutive times is really an extended tribute to embodied knowledge. Listen as MacLean-Jones and EconTalk's Russ Roberts analyze the unique concept of competence presented in Cruise's films. Along the way, they cover London cabbies who refuse to use Waze, a fatal dive at the sound barrier, solo saili
May 18 · 1 hr 8 min
Thinking Inside the Box (with David Epstein)
What do the inventor of the periodic table, the novelist Isabel Allende, and the almost-creators of the iPhone have in common? Join author David Epstein and EconTalk's Russ Roberts to explore a counterintuitive idea: that boundaries, and not unlimited freedom, often make us more creative, productive, and fulfilled.
May 11 · 1 hr 10 min
Golfing Alone (with Gary Belsky)
No rush, no noise, no one else on the golf course: solo golf is an entirely different game, offering physical, mental, and spiritual benefits that playing with others can't. Listen as author and former editor of ESPN The Magazine Gary Belsky and EconTalk's Russ Roberts discuss how golfing alone can create flow, develop physical mastery, and enhance self-awareness. Along the way, they explore what makes golf different from other sports, what it reveals about our character, and why even non-golfer
May 4 · 59 min
Claude, War, and the State of the Republic (with Dean Ball)
The Department of War wanted to deploy Anthropic's Claude for "all lawful use." What begins as a policy dispute between a tech company and the Department of War quietly unfolds into something far more unsettling. Listen as Dean Ball and EconTalk's Russ Roberts trace the collision between Anthropic and the federal government over Claude's use in classified military operations, exploring thorny questions about autonomous weapons, domestic mass surveillance, and whether a private company can demand
April 27 · 1 hr 17 min
Adam Smith's Warning About Wealth, Fame, and Status (with Ross Levine)
What can Adam Smith teach us today? In this conversation between Ross Levine of Stanford's Hoover Institution and EconTalk's Russ Roberts, Smith emerges as a penetrating psychologist who understood that our deepest hunger isn't for wealth but for respect--and that this hunger, left unexamined, leads individuals and societies alike into serious trouble. The discussion moves from the personal (why do highly successful people keep grinding long after they've "won"?) to the political: Smith's soberi
April 20 · 1 hr 3 min
The Man Who Built NVIDIA (with Stephen Witt)
He arrived in America as a child with no English. He was mistakenly sent to a school for juvenile delinquents. He faced rampant prejudice--yet Jensen Huang, the under-the-radar CEO of NVIDIA, became a catalyzing figure behind the AI revolution and built the most valuable company in the world. Listen as journalist Stephen Witt speaks with EconTalk's Russ Roberts about how Jensen pivoted from manufacturing processing units for video games to leveraging their capacity into astonishing computing pow
April 13 · 1 hr 4 min
The Unseen Work: Stewart Brand on Maintenance and Civilization
What does a lone sailor circling the globe have to do with the fall of empires, the Model T, and the rise of AI? Everything--because maintenance, the quiet act of keeping things going, turns out to be the hidden force behind success and failure in nearly every domain of human endeavor. EconTalk's Russ Roberts speaks with Stewart Brand --creator of the Whole Earth Catalog, founder of the Long Now Foundation, and one of the great connective thinkers of the last half-century--to explore why some pe
April 6 · 1 hr 27 min
AI, Employment, and Education (with Tyler Cowen)
Tyler Cowen is bullish on the integration of AI into higher education. He's also not worried about its effects on the future workplace. Listen as Cowen speaks with EconTalk's Russ Roberts about the reasons for his optimism, and argues that college classes should devote significant time to learning how to use AI. They discuss the future of writing (and thinking) in an academic context, and Cowen's solution to dealing with worries about cheating. Cowen also shares how he personally has adapted to
March 30 · 1 hr 2 min
The Match That Lit the Flame: Hannah Senesh and the Creation of Modern Israel (with Matti Friedman)
Why would a group of young Jews who escaped the Holocaust choose to parachute back into Nazi-occupied Europe? How did they become heroes despite the failure of that mission? Author Matti Friedman joins EconTalk's Russ Roberts to unravel these mysteries through his book Out of the Sky, revealing why a failed mission became one of Israel's most powerful founding myths. At the heart of the story is Hannah Senesh, a 23-year-old Hungarian poet who traded her Budapest life for a kibbutz, then traded t
March 23 · 1 hr 10 min
The Economics of Scarcity and the UNC-Duke Basketball Game (with Michael Munger)
Duke University leaves millions of dollars on the table every year by giving away free tickets to the most sought-after game in college basketball. The bizarre ticket allocation system includes weeks of camping in tents, a 58-question trivia exam, border guards with air horns at 3 AM, and a 50-page student-written constitution with its own appeals court. In this special 20th-anniversary episode, EconTalk's Russ Roberts and returning favorite Michael Munger (appearance #51!) use the legendary Duk
March 16 · 1 hr 6 min

EconTalk

Savage Landscapes (with Cal Flyn)

Dwayne Betts on the Iliad

From Sawdust to Paw Patrol: The Spin Master Story (with Ronnen Harary)

EconTalk Book Club on the Iliad (with Ido Hevroni)

Do Less, Heal More: The Case for Medical Conservatism (with John Mandrola)

Can a Phone Be a Cow? (with Philip Auerswald)

The Case for Sunshine (with Rowan Jacobsen)

The Self, the Crowd, and Social Contagion (with Luke Burgis)

Making Your 80,000 Hours Count (with Benjamin Todd)

Facing Death (with Sebastian Junger)

Tom Cruise's Body of Work (with Aled Maclean-Jones)

Thinking Inside the Box (with David Epstein)

Golfing Alone (with Gary Belsky)

Claude, War, and the State of the Republic (with Dean Ball)

Adam Smith's Warning About Wealth, Fame, and Status (with Ross Levine)

The Man Who Built NVIDIA (with Stephen Witt)

The Unseen Work: Stewart Brand on Maintenance and Civilization

AI, Employment, and Education (with Tyler Cowen)

The Match That Lit the Flame: Hannah Senesh and the Creation of Modern Israel (with Matti Friedman)

The Economics of Scarcity and the UNC-Duke Basketball Game (with Michael Munger)