The Becker Friedman Institute for Economics at the University of Chicago (BFI) serves as a hub for cutting-edge analysis and research across the entire UChicago economics community to uncover new ways of thinking about the field. Featuring conversations and lectures from premier BFI events, this podcast explores the latest economic insights and trends from leading voices in policy, business, the media, and academia, revealing how rigorous thinking shapes our understanding of the world.
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Lessons from Pandemic Unemployment Benefits: When Government Generosity Becomes Necessity
27:29
27:29
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The U.S. government swung into action when the ranks of the pandemic unemployed swelled almost beyond recognition. Three years on, economists are continuing to study the effects of the largest increase in unemployment benefits in U.S. history. The Harris School of Public Policy’s Peter Ganong and Chicago Booth’s Joseph Vavra join The Pie to discuss…
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The Hidden Economic Forces That Determine How Much You Earn
20:49
20:49
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20:49
How much effect do government policies have on doctors’ wages? And when those wages are high, does it drive inequality in other jobs? And how does Taylor Swift factor in? Or Beyoncé? Joshua D. Gottlieb of the Harris School of Public Policy joins The Pie to discuss his research using detailed data to study earnings and how they’re influenced by forc…
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A Case for Public School Choice? Lessons from Los Angeles
23:09
23:09
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23:09
When the Los Angeles Unified School District combined some neighborhood high schools into Zones of Choice, schools had to compete for students. The result? Achievement gaps narrowed, and more kids reported that they liked school. Chris Campos of Chicago Booth joins The Pie to discuss the results of a new study.…
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The use of cryptocurrency is on the rise, but who exactly is on the bandwagon? Chicago Booth’s Michael Weber has examined the crypto market – who’s in it, why they believe in it, and what it might mean for the future. He joins The Pie to share the surprising (and also unsurprising) findings.By Becker Friedman Institute at UChicago
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Social Distancing in 2023: The Economic Costs of Lingering COVID Fears
19:52
19:52
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19:52
Many, if not most, citizens of working age have gone back to their jobs in the three-plus years since the start of the pandemic – but not everybody has. Part of the reason is a lingering fear about workplace safety. Chicago Booth’s Steven Davis has new research showing the effect of these fears on the overall economy.…
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Harvesting Green Investments: The Promise and Perils of ESG
24:31
24:31
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24:31
In the stock market, we all want to do well, but for some investors it’s also important to do good. In this episode, Chicago Booth’s Lubos Pastor joins to discuss his research on sustainable investing and what two recent studies tell us about the returns on “green” vs “brown” assets.By Becker Friedman Institute at UChicago
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How Debt Relief Raised Debts: The Untold Story of the Student Loan Moratorium
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23:50
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Did borrowers and the American economy benefit from the federal government’s 2020 student debt moratorium? The picture is complicated according to new research from UChicago Economics’ Michael Dinerstein and Chicago Booth’s Constantine Yannelis. They join this week to share their surprising findings.…
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Quid Pro Vote: The Politics and Economics of Vote-Buying
18:56
18:56
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Vote-buying, or influencing voters’ decisions through favors or gifts, is pervasive in areas such as Latin America, Africa, and Southeast Asia. UC Berkeley’s Frederico Finan, the TC Liu Distinguished Visitor at BFI, discusses his work studying how vote-buying unfolds on the ground in Paraguay. Finan describes how norms of reciprocity drive voters t…
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Can ChatGPT Describe Company Performance Better than… the Company?
25:36
25:36
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The number of ways we can use AI is exploding, and it’s expected to change how entire industries function. Chicago Booth economist Maximilian Muhn and PhD student Alex Kim studied whether ChatGPT can simplify information and improve outcomes for investors. They share how AI summarizes inputs like annual reports and conference calls in ways that bet…
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Misperceived Truths: Global Support for Women in the Workplace is More Than You Might Think
23:48
23:48
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Around the world, people underestimate support for basic women's rights. In new research, UChicago Economics' Leonardo Bursztyn documents these misperceptions and shows how they restrict women's progress. Aligning people's perceived and actual views, he says, can help promote women's full participation in the labor force.…
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Inflation: The Good, The Bad, and the Baffling
19:31
19:31
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Nobody ever wants to pay more for anything, especially when prices rise drastically – but can inflationary episodes be good for the economy? Harris Policy’s Carolin Pflueger joins The Pie to discuss different types of inflation, how they affect the economy, and what her research tells us about monetary policy in the world of newly rising prices.…
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Sometimes Bigger IS Better: The Case for Bringing Rural Healthcare to Urban Hospitals
27:14
27:14
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When rural patients need care that local medical facilities can’t provide, what’s the best way to ensure they get the care they need? Economists Jonathan Dingel and Joshua Gottlieb, Co-Director of BFI’s Health Economics Initiative, explore how larger cities and rural areas trade medical services, and challenge assumptions about the best ways to imp…
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Social Media Algorithms: How You’re Curating a Biased News Feed
28:56
28:56
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Social media behaviors, moving at an ever faster pace, may not reflect what users really want, according to new research from economists Sendhil Mullainathan (Chicago Booth) and Amanda Agan (Rutgers University). They join The Pie to discuss how algorithms feed off our lizard brains to magnify biases.…
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Evaluating US Healthcare 3 Years after Lockdown
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25:06
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At the third anniversary of COVID-19 lockdowns, this episode takes a look at ongoing healthcare market failures and the pandemic’s role in making them plain. Katherine Baicker, healthcare economist and newly appointed Provost of the University of Chicago, joins to take stock of the US healthcare system and discuss the challenges that remain.…
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Scavenging for Answers: The Human Toll of Vulture Population Collapse
27:58
27:58
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What can vultures and economics tell us about the cost of losing a keystone species? New research from environmental economist Eyal Frank of the Harris School of Public Policy explores the social and economic cost in India, where a plummeting population of vultures may serve as a warning for the future.…
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Law of Unintended Consequences: Welfare Reform and Crime
24:30
24:30
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Does welfare prevent crime — and offset its cost to taxpayers? UChicago economist Manasi Deshpande joins to discuss her novel research studying the criminal justice outcomes of youth removed from supplemental security income.By Becker Friedman Institute at UChicago
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Economics of Discrimination: How to Measure Systemic Injustices
21:41
21:41
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How can discrimination by race, gender, or other factors be measured – especially when its causes may be systemic in nature? Chicago Booth’s Alex Imas studies behavioral science and economics, and is conducting research that is expanding the scope and ambition of discrimination research. He joined The Pie to discuss the creative new ways economists…
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What Drives Racial Differences in Speeding Tickets and Fines?
25:14
25:14
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New research finds minorities are 24-33% more likely to be stopped for speeding and will pay 23-34% more in fines, relative to a white driver traveling the exact same speed. UChicago economists John List and Justin Holz join The Pie to discuss how they designed research drawing on high-frequency Lyft data, and its broader implications for future re…
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Can ‘nudges’ improve your New Year’s resolutions? Today we’re looking back at one of our most popular episodes. Host Tess Vigeland sat down with Nobel laureate Richard Thaler in 2021 to discuss new material from his book, Nudge: The Final Edition – including home mortgages, retirement savings, credit card debt, climate change, organ donation, COVID…
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China Faltering? Why the End of Zero Covid Won’t Fix Its Economic Problems
22:35
22:35
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Podcast note: Please enjoy this episode from season two of The Pie, an economics podcast from the Becker Friedman Institute for Economics. Subscribe where you get your podcasts, or at thepie.uchicago.edu. How will China’s economy respond after the lifting of ‘Zero Covid’ policy? UChicago economist Chang-Tai Hsieh joins The Pie to discuss the surpri…
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Economic Warfare: Are Russian Sanctions Working?
25:07
25:07
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Podcast note: Please enjoy this episode from season two of The Pie, an economics podcast from the Becker Friedman Institute for Economics. Subscribe where you get your podcasts, or at thepie.uchicago.edu. Ten months into a devastating war, the Russian and Ukrainian economies are struggling yet resilient. Russian-born economist Konstantin Sonin join…
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Fighting Inflation: Is the Fed’s Work Just Beginning?
22:30
22:30
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Podcast note: Please enjoy this episode from season two of The Pie, an economics podcast from the Becker Friedman Institute for Economics. Subscribe where you get your podcasts, or at thepie.uchicago.edu. The Federal Reserve’s latest 75 basis point rate hike brought interest rates up again on everything from mortgages to car loans and credit cards.…
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Tax vs Ban: The Unexpected Results on Gun Sales
17:15
17:15
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Podcast note: Please enjoy this episode from season two of The Pie, an economics podcast from the Becker Friedman Institute for Economics. Subscribe where you get your podcasts, or at thepie.uchicago.edu. In this episode, we’re talking about guns. Chicago Booth economist Brad Shapiro has quantified—for the first time—American consumer demand for gu…
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Podcast Note: Please enjoy this episode from season two of The Pie, an economics podcast from the Becker Friedman Institute for Economics. Subscribe where you get your podcasts, or at thepie.uchicago.edu. Did closing schools during the COVID-19 pandemic serve students and society at-large? As part of a World Bank Advisory Panel, University of Chica…
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Podcast Note: Please enjoy episode one from season two of The Pie, an economics podcast from the Becker Friedman Institute for Economics. Subscribe where you get your podcasts, or at thepie.uchicago.edu. In this episode, we talk about the remote work revolution. It is now more than two years old, and it’s a worldwide phenomenon, at least in wealthi…
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Can Economics Save the World? A Panel Discussion with 2019 Nobel Laureate Abhijit Banerjee
1:07:43
1:07:43
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The United States is facing a range of challenging policy issues, from trade to inequality to climate change. The good news is that academic economists are doing cutting-edge work to help solve the challenges of the day, at the University of Chicago and institutions around the world. Over the past 20 years, there has been increasing momentum toward…
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Crony Capitalism with Chinese Characteristics, Featuring Chang-Tai Hsieh
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52:15
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The Becker Friedman Institute for Economics (BFI), the Chicago Economics Society (CES), and the Booth Alumni Club of Washington, DC, welcomed Chang-Tai Hsieh, Phyllis and Irwin Winkelried Professor Of Economics, Chicago Booth School of Business, for cocktails and a conversation on Crony Capitalism with Chinese Characteristics. David Rank, former De…
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Friedman Forum: How Do Individuals Repay Their Debt, Featuring Neale Mahoney
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50:24
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When faced with debt across multiple credit cards, do people pay down their balances in a way that makes financial sense? On February 1, BFI hosted Chicago Booth Professor Neale Mahoney for a Friedman Forum luncheon lecture on his recent working paper, “How Do Individuals Repay Their Debt? The Balance-Matching Heuristic.”In the paper, Professor Mah…
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A Conversation with Cass Sunstein and Richard Thaler
1:04:15
1:04:15
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Traditional economics assumes rational actors. In daily decision-making, however, we all make decisions influenced by our biases and beliefs, whether which car to buy or who to vote for at the polls. As a result, outcomes often deviate from the standards of rationality assumed by economics.Combining discoveries in human psychology with a practical …
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Becker Brown Bag: Learning From Data, Featuring Steve Levitt
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57:01
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Chicago Booth Professor Steve Levitt, co-author of Freakonomics, discussed modern data science techniques at BFI's latest Becker Brown Bag talk.By Becker Friedman Institute at UChicago
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Discussion Section Uncut: Nancy Stokey
1:11:47
1:11:47
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In this episode, Murphy talks with Nancy Stokey, The Frederick Henry Prince Distinguished Service Professor of Economics, about the transformative effects that technology has on economies.By Becker Friedman Institute at UChicago
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Economics Amplified: Rick Evans on How Computer Science is Transforming Economics
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Richard Evans is a Senior Fellow in Computational Social Science at the University of Chicago, and Fellow here at the institute. Evans sees immense potential in the methods, practices, and even workflows that computer engineers have implemented in their own discipline, and is working to bring those skills into Chicago economics through his role bot…
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Discussion Section Uncut: Edward Lazear
1:01:07
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Edward P. Lazear is a labor economist and a founder of the field known as personnel economics. His research centers on employee incentives, promotions, compensation and productivity in firms. In this episode, Lazear and Kevin Murphy talk about the legacy of human capital and labor economics at the University of Chicago, as well Lazear’s experience …
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Economics Amplified: Building Policy Beyond Best Intentions
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13:45
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Amanda Agan is interested in the ways that laws and regulations play out in the real world, often yielding unintended consequences. She visited the institute this spring and spoke about her recent work to evaluate policies that eliminate questions about previous criminal convictions from job applications Advocates of these “Ban the Box” policies ha…
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Discussion Section Uncut with Kevin Murphy and Casey Mulligan
1:19:48
1:19:48
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In this episode, Kevin Murphy talks with Casey Mulligan, professor in economics at the University of Chicago. Mulligan examines microeconomic trends, including labor, through a macroeconomic lens, with a particular interest in how policy can inadvertently shape the labor market in unexpected ways.By Becker Friedman Institute at UChicago
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Discussion Section Uncut with Manasi Deshpande and Kevin Murphy
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53:00
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53:00
Manasi Deshpande is an emerging expert in how social insurance programs shape the outcomes of their recipients. In this episode, she and Kevin Murphy discuss the importance of empirical measurement of such programs over a lifetime and how those effects shape the recipients' labor response. The pair talk about the ways that economists bring a unique…
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Discussion Section with Kevin Murphy and Chad Syverson
1:25:57
1:25:57
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In this episode, Murphy gets concrete with Chad Syverson, the J. Baum Harris Professor of Economics at Chicago Booth, about how his engineering background influences his approach to economics, understanding the drivers of productivity, how it is measured, and what can be gleaned from past growth trends in predicting what may come.…
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Discussion Section with Kevin Murphy and Mohammad Akbarpour
1:20:58
1:20:58
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In this episode, Murphy and Muhammad Akbarpour, a Becker Friedman Institute Research Fellow, examine the opportunities that surround the development of an international kidney exchange market, the obstacles that inhibit that market from being implemented, and the experience of being an early career scholar at the University of Chicago.…
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Discussion Section with Kevin Murphy and Steve Davis
1:10:43
1:10:43
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In this episode, Murphy talks with Steven Davis, William H. Abbott Professor of International Business and Economics at Chicago Booth, explore labor market trends from the employer side and talk about how uncertainty over impending government policy and regulatory shifts can influence labor market trends and job creation.…
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Discussion Section with Kevin Murphy and James Heckman
1:23:21
1:23:21
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In this episode, Murphy and James Heckman, Henry Schultz Distinguished Service Professor of Economics at the University of Chicago, delve into the topic of human capital, focusing on how both education and early home life play a defining role in the development of a child, and talk about how the economics toolkit is influencing the work of social s…
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Discussion Section with Kevin Murphy and Erik Hurst
1:18:25
1:18:25
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1:18:25
In this episode, Murphy talks with Erik Hurst, V. Duane Rath Professor of Economics and the John E. Jeuck Faculty Fellow at Chicago Booth, to explore Hurst's perspective on the possible common ground between macro- and micro- economic perspectives and to evaluate labor market trends from the early 2000s leading up to today on the employee side of t…
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Discussion Section with Kevin Murphy and José Scheinkman
1:00:54
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In this episode, Murphy and José Scheinkman, a former UChicago faculty member and department chair now at Columbia University and Princeton University, elaborate on the experience of being an economist at the University of Chicago, evaluate recent trends in the global economy, and highlight ways in which economic thinking can more broadly be applie…
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Discussion Section with Kevin Murphy and Benjamin Brooks
1:03:07
1:03:07
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1:03:07
In this episode, Murphy talks with Benjamin Brooks, a Becker Friedman Institute Research Fellow, about what drew Brooks to economics as his field of research, the nuances of understanding game theory, and the role of the Becker Friedman Institute in enriching the study of economics at the University of Chicago.…
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Economics Amplified: Measuring Long Term Outcomes of Social Insurance Programs
12:02
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In this episode, we speak with Manasi Deshpande, who currently works at the Institute as a postdoctoral research fellow leading up to joining the UChicago Economics Department as an assistant professor in the fall of 2016. Deshpande’s research interests include the effects of social insurance and public assistance programs on consumption, health, a…
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Economics Amplified: When Game Theory Gets Complicated
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In today’s episode we talk with Ben Brooks, a research fellow at the Becker Friedman Institute interested in how incomplete information complicates classical game theory. This summer, Brooks organized a conference, bringing together experts in mathematical modeling, incomplete information and game theory. Researchers highlighted important developme…
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Economics Amplified: Crafting Policy to Face an Uncertain World
12:06
12:06
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In this episode, we speak with David Weisbach and Jennifer Nou of the University of Chicago Law School, as well as Alan Sanstad of the Computation Institute and The University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy. The trio of researchers organized a conference in April 2015 centered on a persistent issues for federal institutions: when making …
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Economics Amplified: Reflecting on Writing a Handbook of Macroeconomics
24:53
24:53
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John Taylor and Harald Uhlig recount a recent series of conference aimed at codifying the most important principles guiding modern macroeconomic analysis. Music is by Boris Mann 2, whom you can listen to on Soundcloud. Licensed under Creative Commons.By Becker Friedman Institute at UChicago
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