Chicago Booth Review Podcast

Should billionaires pay higher fines than the rest of us? Does remote work kill productivity? Is insider trading always bad? The Chicago Booth Review Podcast addresses the big questions in business, policy, and markets with insights from the world’s leading academic researchers. It’s groundbreaking research—explained in a clear and straightforward way.

Should AI disagree with you? 02/04/2026

Should AI disagree with you? When you search the internet or use AI, do you want it to agree with you, or are you open to having your mind changed? Chicago Booth’s Oleg Urminsky tells us about his research, which suggests that we often search in a narrow way that ends up giving us results that confirm our views. Should search engines instead aim to open us up to opposing opinions? /episode/index/show/thebigquestion/id/39988995

Are we too obsessed with numerical data? 01/28/2026

Are we too obsessed with numerical data? Is our increasing obsession with numerical data a bad thing? Chicago Booth’s Erika Kirgios and her coauthors came up with the term “quantification fixation” to describe how we tend to overweight numbers compared to qualitative evidence. What are the risks to that tendency? And how can you use quantification fixation to your advantage? /episode/index/show/thebigquestion/id/39905880

Can technology make us smarter? 01/21/2026

Can technology make us smarter? Doom-scrolling, social media cat videos and Youtube rabbit holes – you might well think that technology is more mind-numbing than mind-boosting. But could tech actually make us smarter? Chicago Booth’s Pradeep Chintagunta tells us about his research on the effect of technology on small business owners. Could using apps help us to think in new ways and make better decisions? /episode/index/show/thebigquestion/id/39803220

Could using credit cards more save you money? 01/14/2026

Could using credit cards more save you money? Do you have both a credit-card balance and a savings account? Would you use your savings to pay down your credit-card balance if it would save you money on fees? Chicago Booth’s Abigail Sussman talks about her research that suggests that about one in five people holds a credit-card balance and a savings account, which effectively means they are paying to borrow their own money. What would it take to change their behavior? /episode/index/show/thebigquestion/id/39720745

How to Become a Venture Capitalist 01/07/2026

How to Become a Venture Capitalist Getting into the venture-capital industry is hard. So how can you plan to break in if you don’t have the relevant experience? Chicago Booth’s Scott Meadow shares his advice for becoming a venture capitalist. /episode/index/show/thebigquestion/id/39645475

Do gay men have a tougher time buying used cars? 12/31/2025

Do gay men have a tougher time buying used cars? The stereotypical good negotiator is tough, assertive and dominant. When we think of those traits, we may well think of certain stereotypical kind of people who we think fit with that—and who doesn’t fit. So how do people respond differently depending on who they think they’re negotiating with? Chicago Booth’s Erika Kirgios tells us about her research on stereotypes and negotiation in the used-car market. /episode/index/show/thebigquestion/id/39573140

Will alternative investments underperform? 12/24/2025

Will alternative investments underperform? In recent decades, US pension and endowment funds have increasingly allocated funds to alternative investments such as private equity and venture capital. Will those investments pay off? Chicago Booth’s Joe Pagliari tells us about his research on real-estate private-equity funds, and explains his concerns that they may not generate the returns that they expected to earn. /episode/index/show/thebigquestion/id/39009445

What Trader Joe’s tells us about strategy 12/17/2025

What Trader Joe’s tells us about strategy The US supermarket business is cut-throat, but amid it all Trader Joe’s has been able to carve a distinct role. Chicago Booth’s Ram Shivakumar explains how it has thrived, and what it tells us about business strategy in a highly competitive market. /episode/index/show/thebigquestion/id/39009430

Can you catch AI-written reviews? 12/10/2025

Can you catch AI-written reviews? Schools are trying to restrict or at least identify the use of AI, and colleges are attempting to catch students who cut and paste generated text to use in their assignments. How effective are the tools they’re using? Chicago Booth’s Brian Jabarian about his research on AI detection tools. Jabarian points out that it’s not just education that’s affected, but also the reviews that drive consumer purchases. So can online tools help you detect if that restaurant review was written by ChatGPT? /episode/index/show/thebigquestion/id/39009220

Is Atlanta a better real-estate investment than New York? 12/03/2025

Is Atlanta a better real-estate investment than New York? New York, LA, Chicago, Boston and other big US cities have traditionally been a good bet for real-estate investors. But that view is changing. Chicago Booth’s Joe Pagliari explains why those traditional markets are riskier investments, and why more and more real-estate investors are looking at cities such as Atlanta, Dallas, Denver and Houston. /episode/index/show/thebigquestion/id/39009050

How take-out and delivery boosts productivity 11/26/2025

How take-out and delivery boosts productivity For the 30 years leading up to the COVID pandemic, productivity in US restaurants was essentially flat. Since the pandemic, restaurant productivity has soared—because of the rise of take-out and delivery. Chicago Booth’s Chad Syverson about his research into the restaurant productivity boom. How has take-out and delivery transformed the economics of the food industry? /episode/index/show/thebigquestion/id/39009000

What makes welfare recipients invest in their kids’ human capital? 11/19/2025

What makes welfare recipients invest in their kids’ human capital? 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? /episode/index/show/thebigquestion/id/39008975

How much does a CEO really matter? 11/12/2025

How much does a CEO really matter? 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? /episode/index/show/thebigquestion/id/39001710

Why economics is not about numbers 11/05/2025

Why economics is not about numbers 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? /episode/index/show/thebigquestion/id/38911995

You Might Also Like: Markets for Pollution, from Shocked 11/04/2025

You Might Also Like: Markets for Pollution, from Shocked 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: /episode/index/show/thebigquestion/id/38894830

Does choosing your friends make you happier? 10/29/2025

Does choosing your friends make you happier? 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? /episode/index/show/thebigquestion/id/38819090

Does collaboration really produce better ideas? 10/22/2025

Does collaboration really produce better ideas? 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? /episode/index/show/thebigquestion/id/38740935

Apart from the paycheck, why do we work? 10/15/2025

Apart from the paycheck, why do we work? 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. /episode/index/show/thebigquestion/id/38581780

Why are home prices so high? 10/08/2025

Why are home prices so high? 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? /episode/index/show/thebigquestion/id/38501515

Are AI interviews better? 10/01/2025

Are AI interviews better? 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? /episode/index/show/thebigquestion/id/38394735

Should we pay people to walk? 09/24/2025

Should we pay people to walk? 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? /episode/index/show/thebigquestion/id/38330400

The ‘Professor of Uncertainty’ on AI 09/17/2025

The ‘Professor of Uncertainty’ on AI AI is untrustworthy. It hallucinates, making up information or extrapolating by itself. That might make it frustrating to use, but could it prove more of a feature than a bug? Chicago Booth’s Veronika Ročková uses statistical methods that exploit the randomness in AI responses to improve medical diagnoses, and even to classify galaxies more efficiently. /episode/index/show/thebigquestion/id/38252135

Can virtual reality increase empathy? 09/10/2025

Can virtual reality increase empathy? Technology is typically thought of as driving humans apart. But could it be used to promote a sense of empathy with others? Chicago Booth’s Alex Imas tells us about an experiment he ran using an immersive virtual-reality installation. Virtual reality, Imas reckons, could be used to help us relate to other people in real life. /episode/index/show/thebigquestion/id/38146315

Is self-awareness always a good thing? 09/03/2025

Is self-awareness always a good thing? We typically think of self-awareness as being a good thing. But if someone behaves badly and is aware that they’re behaving badly, is that worse than if they’re blissfully unaware? Chicago Booth’s Shereen Chaudhry has conducted research into the effects of self-awareness. When should we express self-awareness, and when should we convey that we weren’t as self-aware as we should have been? /episode/index/show/thebigquestion/id/37965330

Do all loans have “a pound of flesh” clause? 08/27/2025

Do all loans have “a pound of flesh” clause? Almost all companies borrow money – some of secured by assets they own, other debts unsecured. But is that distinction meaningful in the real world? Chicago Booth’s Raghuram Rajan talks about his research into corporate debt. In the past century, the amount of unsecured debt has soared. What’s the significance of that, and is it really unsecured? /episode/index/show/thebigquestion/id/37965345

What investors look for in a startup pitch 08/20/2025

What investors look for in a startup pitch What do startup founders need to do to get venture capitalists to invest? Do VCs invest in the right team, or the right idea? Do they invest where they can add value, or do they try to pick new businesses that are going to be winners from the start? Chicago Booth’s Steve Kaplan has surveyed venture capitalists to find out what they look for in startups, and he has a framework he uses to advise both founders and funders on how to pick winning companies. /episode/index/show/thebigquestion/id/37882065

Why students lie about using AI 08/13/2025

Why students lie about using AI When students are asked if they use AI to do their work, many say they don’t. But when they’re asked if other students re using AI, many more say that they do. Should we conclude that they’re not being honest about their own AI use? Chicago Booth’s Alex Imas has conducted research on students and AI. Why is using AI such a taboo? And how should schools and colleges respond to its inevitable creep? /episode/index/show/thebigquestion/id/37792465

Why is apologizing so hard? 08/06/2025

Why is apologizing so hard? It’s hard to say sorry, and it can be even harder to say sorry without following it up with whatever the other person did wrong. Why are apologies so hard? Chicago Booth’s Shereen Chaudhry has conducted research into the strategy of apologizing and blaming. Why do we care so much about others accepting their share of the blame? And when we know that we’ve done wrong, what’s holding us back from apologizing? /episode/index/show/thebigquestion/id/37697750

Trumponomics: How robust are America’s institutions? 07/30/2025

Trumponomics: How robust are America’s institutions? The Trump administration has gutted central government, lashed out at the Federal Reserve, and is attempting to dismantle the international trading order. Can America’s institutions survive? We hear from Chicago Booth’s Raghuram Rajan about the role of institutions in political economy. Are we seeing a reversal of fortunes, in which the US is looking more and more like a caricature of a poor country with poorly regarded institutions, growing inequality and a looming sovereign debt crisis? /episode/index/show/thebigquestion/id/37604145

Decoding the signals in private equity reports 07/23/2025

Decoding the signals in private equity reports Private equity investments are typically locked up for many years, which means investors don’t know at any point in time how much their stakes are worth. Should they take at face value the valuations that PE firms provide? Chicago Booth’s Steve Kaplan has detected patterns in private equity valuation reports that reveal whether the company will be sold at a premium, and when that exit might happen. So how can investors get a better sense of when and how big their payoffs will be? /episode/index/show/thebigquestion/id/37515160

Chicago Booth Review Podcast

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