Author and journalist Michael Brendan Dougherty talks about his book My Father Left Me Ireland with EconTalk host Russ Roberts. Dougherty talks about the role of cultural and national roots in our lives and the challenges of cultural freedom in America. What makes us feel part of something? Do you feel American or just...

Economist and author Arthur Brooks talks about his book Love Your Enemies with EconTalk host Russ Roberts. Brooks argues that contempt is destroying our political conversations and it's not good for us at the personal level either. Brooks makes the case for humility and tolerance. Along the way he discusses parenting, ...

Physician and author Adam Cifu of the University of Chicago talks about being a medical conservative with EconTalk host Russ Roberts. Cifu encourages doctors to appreciate the complexity of medical care and the reality that many medical techniques advocated by experts are not always beneficial or cost-effective. The co...

Cardiologist and author Eric Topol talks about his book Deep Medicine with EconTalk host Russ Roberts. Topol argues that doctors spend too little face-to-face time with patients, and the use of artificial intelligence and machine learning is a chance to emphasize the human side of medicine and to expand the power of hu...

Anja Shortland of King's College London talks about her book Kidnap with EconTalk host Russ Roberts. Kidnapping is relatively common in parts of the world where government authority is weak. Shortland explores this strange, frightening, but surprisingly orderly world. She shows how the interaction between kidnappers, v...

Bjorn Lomborg, President of the Copenhagen Consensus Center, talks about the costs and benefits of attacking climate change with EconTalk host Russ Roberts. Lomborg argues that we should always be aware of tradeoffs and effectiveness when assessing policies to reduce global warming. He advocates for realistic solutions...

By Amy Willis

Alain Bertaud has a great new book on urban planning out; but urban planners aren't reading it. Economists- incuding our own Russ Roberts- are, and it's the subject of this week's episode. Bertaud, an architect, is critical of planning, yet he's not anti-regulation, either. He's lived and worked in many different pl...

Urbanist and author Alain Bertaud of NYU talks about his book Order without Design with EconTalk host Russ Roberts. Bertaud explores the role of zoning and planning alongside the emergent factors that affect the growth of cities. He emphasizes the importance of cities as places for people to work and looks at how prefe...

By Amy Willis

If you want to be really, really good at something, you should practice a lot. A whole lot. Right? Not so fast, says David Epstein, author of Range and the guest on this week's episode. Epstein leads off with the intriguing story of what he's called the Roger versus Tiger problem, contrasting the childhoods of each...

Journalist and author David Epstein talks about his book Range with EconTalk host Russ Roberts. Epstein explores the costs of specialization and the value of breadth in helping to create mastery in our careers and in life. What are the best backgrounds for solving problems? Can mastery be achieved without specializatio...

Author, economist, and theologian Mary Hirschfeld of Villanova University talks about her book, Aquinas and the Market, with EconTalk host Russ Roberts. Hirschfeld looks at the nature of our economic activity as buyers and sellers and whether our pursuit of economic growth and material well-being comes at a cost. She e...

By Amy Willis

How do we know what we know? While this question may initially seem trite, this week's episode will surely convince you otherwise. EconTalk host Russ Roberts sat down with neurologist and author Robert Burton to discuss his book, On Being Certain: Believing You Are Right Even When You're Not. In it, Burton explores our...

Neurologist and author Robert Burton talks about his book, On Being Certain, with EconTalk host Russ Roberts. Burton explores our need for certainty and the challenge of being skeptical about what our brain tells us must be true. Where does what Burton calls "the feeling of knowing" come from? Why can memory lead us as...

By Amy Willis

What's wrong with what we believe about poverty? What are some of the mistakes we make when we think about it? Social entrepreneur and guest on this week's EconTalk episode Mauricio Miller has a time-tested answer to these questions. Miller, the founder of the Family Independence Initiative, argues that everything we t...

Poverty activist, social entrepreneur and author, Mauricio Miller, talks about his book The Alternative with EconTalk host Russ Roberts. Miller, a MacArthur genius grant recipient, argues that we have made poverty tolerable when we should be trying to make it more escapable. This is possible, he argues, if we invest in...

By Amy Willis

It seems parenting has become an ever-greater challenge in our age of anxiety. We have more information than ever, but this seems to render decision-making harder than ever. In this week's episode, EconTalk host Russ Roberts welcomes back Emily Oster to talk about her new book, Cribsheet. Oster hopes her deep dive into...