All You Need Is Nudge

Freakonomics Radio | 9 September 2021 | 0h 58m | Listen Later | iTunes | Spotify
Interview with Richard Thaler about his book Nudge: The Final Edition co-authored with Cass Sunstein). Discusses behavioural economics; how nudge theory held up in the face of a global financial meltdown, a pandemic, and other existential crises; and argues that nudging is more relevant today than ever.

A Short History of Humanity with Johannes Krause

The Innovation Show | 22 May 2021 | 1h 28m | Listen Later | iTunes | Spotify
Interview with Johannes Krause about his book A Short History of Humanity. Discusses insights on human evolution from his work with ancient DNA: the successive waves of migration and the inter-relationships between human groups; light skin as an adaptation to a vegetarian farming diet; patriarchy and inequality emerging with the transition to farming; warfare emerging with the metal age; and lactase persistence allowing farmers to have more children.

Leidy Klotz on Why the Best Solutions Involve Less – Not More

People I (Mostly) Admire | 18 September 2021 | 0h 40m | Listen Later | iTunes | Spotify
Interview with Leidy Klotz about his book Subtract: The Untapped Science of Less. Explains our bias to improve things with additions, overlooking solutions that take something away. Discusses experiments that demonstrate this bias and examples where the best solutions are subtractions.

The Great Turnaround

The New Bazaar | 12 August 2021 | 0h 58m | Listen Later | iTunes | Spotify
Interview with Peter Blair Henry about his book Turnaround: Third World Lessons for First World Growth and the paper The Baker Hypothesis co-authored with Anusha Chari and Hector Reyes. Discusses his understanding of how developing countries can become more prosperous, lift more people out of poverty, and give their citizens better choices for how to work and live. Also covers the “degrowth” movement, the tricky balance between market-friendly policies and the role of government, and the evolution of economics. Also shares his personal experience of an economic catastrophe in his native Jamaica, which forced his family to uproot when he was young, which set him on his career path.

This is the first of a new podcast by Cardiff Garcia. If you enjoyed his podcasts with FT Alphachat and Planet Money’s The Indicator then you’ll want to subscribe to this.

Holden Karnofsky on The Most Important Century

80,000 Hours Podcast with Rob Wiblin | 19 August 2021 | 2h 19m | Listen Later | iTunes | Spotify
Interview with Holden Karnofsky about his article series The Most Important Century. Discusses the case that we live in an incredibly important time; how achievable-seeming technology could lead to unprecedented productivity, control of the environment, and more; how economic growth is faster than it can be for all that much longer; forecasting transformative AI; and the implications of living in the most important century.

Escaping the Berlin Wall

Dan Snow’s History Hit | 13 August 2021 | 0h 28m | Listen Later | iTunes | Spotify
Interview with Helena Merriman about her book Tunnel 29: The True Story of an Extraordinary Escape Beneath the Berlin Wall. Tells the story of a group who tunnelled into the eastern part of Berlin to rescue friends and relatives. The endeavour was funded and documented by an NBC film crew.

Gabby Dizon – Mapping the Metaverse Economy

Invest Like the Best | 2 September 2021 | 0h 56m | Listen Later | iTunes | Spotify
Interview with Gabby Dizon, co-founder of Yield Guild Games (YGG). YGG invests in players in the “play-to-earn” economy within blockchain-based games. Players earn tokens within the game which can be exchanged into local currencies or be used to purchase more digital assets. Explains YGG’s decentralized structure, the unit economics of their business model, how he deals with the volatility of crypto assets when trying to build a durable, long-term business. Also discusses the broader metaverse landscape, how it might evolve, what might derail it, and the technicalities of building a token-based, as opposed to equity-based, business.

Dennis Duncan – Index, a history of the

How To Academy | 7 September 2021 | 0h 41m | Listen Later | iTunes | Spotify
Interview with Dennis Duncan about his book Index, A History of the: A Bookish Adventure from Medieval Manuscripts to the Digital Age. Discusses the history of the book index, revealing how it transformed the way we read and process knowledge.