What the Right and Left get wrong about gun violence
Release Date: 05/28/2025
What makes welfare recipients invest in their kids’ human capital?
Chicago Booth Review Podcast
Critics of social welfare programs often talk about how payments can disincentivize work. But is that always the case? Chicago Booth’s Rebecca Dizon Ross talks about her research on how parents of disabled children think about the social safety net and investing in their kids’ human capital. Could giving them better information help shape their thinking and behavior?
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How much does a CEO really matter?
Chicago Booth Review Podcast
It’s a cliché for organizations to say that their people are their most important asset, but how important is the person at the top? Can we measure the impact of a CEO or a manager? Chicago Booth’s Mike Gibbs gives us a survey of economic research on leadership and management. How much of a difference does a good leader make? And why do “manager-types” so often struggle when they get promoted to leadership roles?
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Why economics is not about numbers
Chicago Booth Review Podcast
Economics is all around us. At least, that’s what Chicago Booth’s Ram Shivakumar believes, and he’s on a mission to demonstrate that economics is not about numbers or theoretical models, but is at play in many everyday decisions, like whether to order a pizza, where to buy it from and what toppings to get. If economics isn’t about numbers, what is it about?
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You Might Also Like: Markets for Pollution, from Shocked
Chicago Booth Review Podcast
A warmer world is here. Now what? Listen to Shocked, from the University of Chicago’s Institute for Climate and Sustainable Growth, and hear journalist Amy Harder and economist Michael Greenstone share new ways of thinking about climate change and cutting-edge solutions:
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Does choosing your friends make you happier?
Chicago Booth Review Podcast
In the west, we are more likely to choose our friends and dropping them is relatively easily done. In other cultures, people tend to stick with the same social network for their whole lives. But does the ability to choose and to drop your friends make you happier? Chicago Booth’s Thomas Talhelm tells us about his research on social circles and happiness. Why do friendships endure more in Japan than in the US? Who’s happier? And how important is happiness anyway?
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Does collaboration really produce better ideas?
Chicago Booth Review Podcast
Most companies talks about the importance of innovation and collaboration, but the connection tends to be more of a hunch than a demonstrable fact. So can we measure whether collaboration really produces better ideas? Chicago Booth’s Mike Gibbs talks about his research on social networks and innovation. Does having a bigger network make you more likely to come up with new and better ideas? And how has remote work affected networking and innovation?
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Apart from the paycheck, why do we work?
Chicago Booth Review Podcast
Would you work if you weren’t being paid for it? Social media is full of people criticizing companies for exploiting interns and prospective hires by underpaying or not paying them. Is that a universal feeling, or does it reflect western values and attitudes that aren’t replicated elsewhere in the world? Chicago Booth’s Thomas Talhelm talks about his research on what motivates people around the world to work.
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Why are home prices so high?
Chicago Booth Review Podcast
The median home price in the US in 1970 was approximately $23,400, less than 2.5 times the median family income at the time of about $9,870. By last year, the median home price was more than $400,000, about 5 times the median family income of about $80,000. No surprise that people are warning about a housing affordability crisis. To what extent is that driven by the increasing cost of building homes? Chicago Booth’s Chad Syverson talks about his research on the weak link between building costs and home prices. What’s really behind the price increases in residential real estate?
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Are AI interviews better?
Chicago Booth Review Podcast
Have you had an AI job interview? Would you prefer to be interviewed by AI than by a human? And how would you expect AI interviewers to perform compared to their human counterparts? Chicago Booth’s Brian Jabarian talks about his research on AI interviews. Will they make human-to-human job interviews a thing of the past?
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Should we pay people to walk?
Chicago Booth Review Podcast
One way health policymakers can get people to exercise more is to pay them. But should we pay greater amounts to people who exercise more, and smaller sums to those who do less? Rebecca Dizon Ross tells us about her research on personalizing incentive payments to try to encourage exercise. Does getting people to choose their own exercise targets and financial compensation encourage them to walk more?
info_outlineThe United States has more guns than people, and one of the world’s highest rates of gun homicide. What’s really driving America’s appalling murder rate? Is it bad people, poverty, or something else? Jens Ludwig, a professor at the Harris School of Public Policy, and Director of the University of Chicago’s Crime Lab, talks to us about his new book, Unforgiving Places: The Unexpected Origins of American Gun Violence. Ludwig thinks America’s failure to tackle gun violence stem from a fundamental misunderstanding about what causes it in the first place. This is the first of two episodes with Ludwig about his book.