Belgian economist
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John Green returns to the show to talk about tuberculosis — a disease that kills more than a million people a year. Steve has an idea for a new way to get treatment to those in need. SOURCES: John Green, best-selling author and YouTube creator. RESOURCES: Everything Is Tuberculosis: The History and Persistence of Our Deadliest Infection, by John Green (2025)."The Deadliest Infectious Disease Isn't a Science Problem. It's a Money Problem," by John Green (The Washington Post, 2024)."The Deadliest Infectious Disease of All Time," by John Green (Crash Course, 2024)."Barely Contained Rage: An Open Letter to Johnson & Johnson," by John Green (Vlogbrothers, 2023)."Designing Advance Market Commitments for New Vaccines," by Michael Kremer, Jonathan D. Levin, and Christopher M. Snyder (NBER, 2020)."Are CEOs Rewarded for Luck? The Ones Without Principals Are," by Marianne Bertrand and Sendhil Mullainathan (The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 2001)."A Further Communication on a Remedy for Tuberculosis," by Robert Koch (The Indian Medical Gazette, 1891). EXTRAS: "His Brilliant Videos Get Millions of Views. Why Don't They Make Money?" by People I (Mostly) Admire (2025)."Sendhil Mullainathan Thinks Messing Around Is the Best Use of Your Time (Update)," by People I (Mostly) Admire (2024)."John Green's Reluctant Rocket Ship Ride (Update)" by People I (Mostly) Admire (2024)."Rajiv Shah Never Wastes a Crisis," by People I (Mostly) Admire (2024)."'There's So Many Problems — Which Ones Can I Make a Difference On?'" by People I (Mostly) Admire (2022).The Anthropocene Reviewed: Essays on a Human-Centered Planet, by John Green (2021).The Anthropocene Reviewed (podcast).Nerdfighteria.TBFighters.
Marcella Alsan talks about how Secure Communities affected take-up of safety net programs. “Fear and the Safety Net: Evidence from Secure Communities” by Marcella Alsan and Crystal S. Yang. *** Probable Causation is part of Doleac Initiatives, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. If you enjoy the show, please consider making a tax-deductible contribution. Thank you for supporting our work! *** OTHER RESEARCH WE DISCUSS IN THIS EPISODE: “Immigration Enforcement and Economic Resources of Children with Likely Unauthorized Parents” by Catalina Amuedo-Dorantes, Esther Arenas-Arroyo, and Almudena Sevilla. “Distributing the Green (Cards): Permanent Residency and Personal Income Taxes After the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986” by Elizabeth Cascio and Ethan Lewis. “Inside the Refrigerator: Immigration Enforcement and Chilling in Immigrant Medicaid Participation” by Tara Watson. “Immigration and the Welfare State: Immigrant Participation in Means-Tested Entitlement Programs” by George Borjas and Lynette Hilton. “Network Effects and Welfare Cultures” by Marianne Bertrand, Erzo Luttmer, and Sendhil Mullainathan. “Understanding the Quality of Alternative Citizenship Data Sources for the 2020 Census” by J. David Brown, Misty Heggeness, Suzanne Dorinski, and Lawrence Warren. “Does Welfare Prevent Crime? The Criminal Justice Outcomes of Youth Removed from SSI” by Manasi Deshpande and Michael Mueller-Smith. “Does Immigration Enforcement Reduce Crime? Evidence from Secure Communities” by Thomas J. Miles and Adam B. Cox. “Unintended Consequences of Immigration Enforcement: Household Services and High-Educated Mothers' Work” by Chloe East and Andrea Velasquez. “The Labor Market Effects of Immigration Enforcement” by Chloe East, Philip Luck, Hani Mansour, and Andrea Velasquez. “Immigration Enforcement and Public Safety” by Felipe Gonçalves, Elisa Jácome, and Emily Weisburst. [Draft available from the authors]. “Immigration Enforcement and the Institutionalization of Elderly Americans” by Abdulmohsen Almuhaisen, Catalina Amuedo-Dorantes, and Delia Furtado. [Draft available from the authors] “Take-up and Targeting: Experimental Evidence from SNAP” by Amy Finkelstein and Matthew J. Notowidigdo. “Reducing Ordeals through Automatic Enrollment: Evidence from a Subsidized Health Insurance Exchange” by Mark Shepard and Myles Wagner.
Jesse Bruhn talks about the effects of gangs in Chicago. “Competition in the Black Market: Estimating the Causal Effect of Gangs in Chicago” by Jesse Bruhn. *** Probable Causation is part of Doleac Initiatives, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. If you enjoy the show, please consider making a tax-deductible contribution. Thank you for supporting our work! *** OTHER RESEARCH WE DISCUSS IN THIS EPISODE: “Predicting and Preventing Gun Violence: An Experimental Evaluation of READI Chicago” by Monica Bhatt, Sara Heller, Max Kapustin, Marianne Bertrand, and Christopher Blattman. Probable Causation Episode 88: Sara Heller and Max Kapustin. “Gangs, Labor Mobility, and Development” by Nikita Melnikov, Carlos Schmidt-Padilla, and Maria Micaela Sciatschi. Probable Causation Episode 15: Mica Sviatschi. “Growing Up in the Projects: The Economic Lives of a Cohort of Men Who Came of Age in Chicago Public Housing” by Steven Levitt and Sudhir Allude Venkatesh. “Gangs of Medellin: How Organized Crime is Organized” by Christopher Blattman, Gustavo Duncan, Benjamin Lessing, and Santiago Tobon. [Unpublished Manuscript] “Gang Rule: Understanding and Countering Criminal Governance” by Christopher Blattman, Gustavo Duncan, Benjamin Lessing, and Santiago Tobon. “Can Precision Policing Reduce Gun Violence? Evidence from “Gang Takedowns” in New York City” by Aaron Chalfin, Michael LaForest, and Jacob Kaplan. “The Effects of Civil Gang Injunctions on Reported Violent Crime: Evidence from Los Angeles County” by Jeffrey Grogger. “Student Exposure to Proactive Policing: Heterogenous Effects of Los Angeles Gang Injunctions” by Jessica Wagner. [Available from the author upon request]
We all have deep human needs—for belonging, for autonomy, for creative expression, for safety and security. But modern life can make it a real challenge to get those needs met in meaningful ways. Instead, we're offered products with flashy marketing messages. Kitchen gadgets, social media platforms, clothing, personal care products, and many others offer to help us live our best lives. Financial and educational products promise a greater sense of security and autonomy. But do these commodities really satisfy our needs? Or do they merely stave off the hunger a little longer?In this final episode of The Economics Of, I explore how various economic concepts can help us understand why we buy the things we do, how our consumption relates to larger economics forces, and how our relationships are influenced by it all. I also talk with Mara Glatzel, the author of Needy, about how to better understand our own needs and create the conditions through which we can get those needs met.Footnotes: Get your copy of Needy by Mara Glatzel Learn more about Mara Glatzel “Varieties of the Rat Race: Conspicuous Consumption in the US & Germany” by Till Van Treeck, via the Institute for New Economic Thinking “Trickle-Down Consumption” by Marianne Bertrand and Adair Morse in The Review of Economics and Statistics “Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844” by Karl Marx Adam Smith's America by Glory M. Liu Capitalism and Freedom by Milton Friedman “Alienation” on Overthink with David Pena-Guzman and Ellie Anderson More on Thorstein Veblen via Investopedia Everything, All the Time, Everywhere by Stuart Jeffries Liquid Love by Zygmunt Bauman New episodes are published in essay form every Thursday at explorewhatworks.com. Get them delivered straight to your inbox, free of charge, by subscribing to What Works Weekly: explorewhatworks.com/weeklyIf you'd like to learn more about how we can approach life and work differently, check out my book, What Works. I explore the history and cultural context that's led us to this success-obsessed, productivity-oriented moment. Then I guide you through deconstructing those messages and rebuilding a structure for work-life that works. ★ Support this podcast ★
Sara Heller and Max Kapustin talk about the effects of the READI program on gun violence in Chicago. “Predicting and Preventing Gun Violence: An Experimental Evaluation of READI Chicago” by Monica P. Bhatt, Sara B. Heller, Max Kapustin, Marianne Bertrand, and Christopher Blattman. *** Probable Causation is part of Doleac Initiatives, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. If you enjoy the show, please consider making a tax-deductible contribution. Thank you for supporting our work! *** OTHER RESEARCH WE DISCUSS IN THIS EPISODE: “Cure Violence: A Public Health Model to Reduce Gun Violence” by Jeffrey Butts, Caterina Gouvis Roman, Lindsay Bostwick, and Jeremy R. Porter. “Machine Learning Can Predict Shooting Victimization Well Enough to Help Prevent It” by Sara B Heller, Benjamin Jakubowski, Zubin Jelveh, and Max Kapustin. “The Enhanced Transitional Jobs Demonstration: Implementation and Early Impacts of the Next Generation of Subsidized Employment Programs” by Cindy Redcross, Bret Barden, Dan Bloom, Joseph Broads, Jennifer Thompson, Sonya Williams, Sam Elkins, Randall Jurus, Janae Bonus, Ada Tso et al. “Thinking, Fast and Slow? Some Field Experiments to Reduce Crime and Dropout in Chicago” by Sara B. Heller, Anuj K. Shah, Jonathan Guryan, Jens Ludwig, Sendhil Mullainathan, and Harold A. Pollack. “Reducing Crime and Violence: Experimental Evidence from Cognitive Behavioral Therapy in Liberia” by Christopher Blattman, Julian C. Jamison, and Margaret Sheridan. “Reducing Violence Without Police: A Review of Research Evidence” by Charles Branas, Shani Bugs, Jeffrey A. Butts, Anna Harvey, and Erin M. Kerrison. “Advance Peace Stockton, 2018-20 Evaluation Report” by Jason Corburn and Amanda Fukutome. “Implementation Evaluation of Roca, Inc.” by Abt Associates. “Reaching and Connecting: Preliminary Results from Chicago CRED's Impact on Gun Violence Involvement” by Northwestern Neighborhood & Network Initiative.
We are thrilled to welcome Ray Fisman (@RFisman), Professor of Economics at Boston University, long-standing corruption expert and author of Economic Gangsters: Corruption, Violence, and the Poverty of Nations (https://press.princeton.edu/books/paperback/9780691144696/economic-gangsters) (with Ed Miguel) and Corruption: What everybody needs to know (https://books.google.de/books/about/Corruption.html?id=XdVKDgAAQBAJ&redir_esc=y) (with Miriam Golden). Matthew and Ray sat down to discuss the classic question whether corruption always hinders development, which types of corruption are particularly harmful, conversations that inspired Ray's career and Ray's more recent work on the hidden influence of political connections. You can find all the referenced papers below: Professor Louis T. Wells (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_T._Wells) whose work on Indonesia influenced Ray Samuel Huntington (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_P._Huntington) who coined the idea that corruption may grease the wheels Moncur Olsen (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mancur_Olson) who introduced the distinction between some forms of centralized corruption being like a stationary bandit while other less centralized are like roving bandits Andrej Shleifer and Robert Vishny's famous QJE paper entitled Corruptionhttps://academic.oup.com/qje/article/108/3/599/1881822?login=true Benjamin Olken and Patrick Barron's work in Aceh introducing the idea of a toll booth theory of corruption https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/full/10.1086/599707?casa_token=FXxoxMmoqHYAAAAA%3ARSJD5IXWK31c7PjQO_vIuBlNTyZPOCRhiszsBLnTd_j0Sn8rbN5kPkO-aK4bj_zLiKYaHe0xBLeN Shang-Jin Wei's work on the varying prices of bribes https://www8.gsb.columbia.edu/cbs-directory/detail/sw2446 New York Times Article of mine collapse in China: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/27/world/asia/china-mine-disaster.html Ray & Marianne Bertrand's work on hidden influence of political connectedness: https://gcgc.global/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/5.-Yegen_Politics_Ownership_compressed.pdf https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/aer.20180615
Backward Induction, Child Penalties and the Gender Pay Gap | with Carlotta Pilgram In this episode we are talking to Carlotta Pilgram, Consultant at TWS Partners and Economics graduate from Lund University in Sweden. We discuss the role of Game Theory in analysing the gender pay gap, the current state of research, why many intuitive explanations have little explanatory power and what measures can be taken to reduce payment differences which can be traced back to gender. Carlotta Pilgram works as a Consultant at TWS Partners. Previously she has studied Economics at Lund University in Sweden, focusing on gender Economics and in particular payment inequality. She finished her Master's degree with her thesis entitled "Are Women leaving their Jobs before they are actually leaving", where she analysed potential economic causes for the gender pay gap. During the interview, Carlotta refers to a study by Marianne Bertrand et. al. from 2010, which can be found here.
Marianne Bertrand shares the results of some of her work done on implicit biases, particularly within the labor market, and tactical ways to address the inequality they can cause. Sources can be found at: ubs.com/WIE. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
"V-shaped recovery" and "green shoots" are being flung around in newspapers and discussions everywhere. But how were India's households affected economically during the lockdown? And to what extent have their employment, income, and consumption levels recovered since then?To better answer these questions, Prof. Marianne Bertrand of Chicago's Booth School of Business and Dr. Kaushik Krishnan, Chief Economist at CMIE, join me in discussing their findings from analyzing CMIE's household surveys. They and a team of two other economists- Prof. Rebecca Dizon-Ross of Booth and Prof. Heather Schofield of UPenn, have published a series of op-eds (linked below) that shed light on how employment, income, and consumption of Indian households have behaved during and post-lockdown. Their first oped, published in May, highlighted the economic carnage Covid19 and the lockdown brought about. Since then, they have conducted a more extensive study of how the economic fundamentals of households have recovered. While CMIE's unemployment levels are back to pre-pandemic levels by July, all's not well in employment, as the Employment-to-population ratio continued to be lower than before post-lockdown. However, while incomes have rebounded dramatically post-lockdown, they continue to be 25% lower year-on-year in June, and consumption of key items such as dairy/eggs/meat and other food items have also registered some recovery but not fully by August. We explore what these different set of results, along with other findings from the study, means for a V-shaped recovery for India.Show Notes:Most Recent Op-ed (*Highly Encouraged Reading and Basis for this episode!*): https://www.chicagobooth.edu/research/rustandy/blog/2020/employment-income-and-consumption-in-india-during-and-after-the-lockdownBusiness Standard's abridged version of the Oped, v1: https://www.business-standard.com/article/opinion/employment-income-in-india-during-and-after-lockdown-a-v-shape-recovery-120112601501_1.htmlFirst Op-ed (published in May): https://www.chicagobooth.edu/research/rustandy/blog/2020/how-are-indian-households-coping-under-the-covid19-lockdownTimestamps:0.00: Intro4.15: Understanding CMIE's survey mechanism and scope, and how they managed to survey during the lockdown18.59: Discussion of May Oped's findings of income losses and unemployment24.59: Recovery in unemployment, but continued concerns for the employment33.26: Quick chat about growth in GST revenues41.30: Income transitions during and post-lockdown53.47: Consumption trends 58.39: What do the findings mean for a V-shaped recovery? What's a reasonable timeline for a recovery?1.05.05: Policy responses (MGNREGA and EPFO wage subsidy)
Hi Friends! Today is a very special episode. I am obsessed with dog products. And I love to share the ones that pass the Crazy Dog Lady test. I'm excited to feature Muttluks as one of my favorite things. Please join me and Muttluks founder, Marianne Bertrand. Let's have a crazy dog chat.https://muttluks.com/
The amount of money in politics seems to grow every year. Spending by outside groups reached a record of half billion dollars in the 2016 elections cycle, and lobbying expenditures regularly exceed $3 billion annually. But economists Marianne Bertrand and Matilde Bombardini argue that a lot of corporate influence is still overlooked. In the July issue of the American Economic Review, they estimate that as much as $1 billion a year of corporate philanthropy is used to sway congressional representatives. For a typical year, that’s over twice as much as contributions form political action committees (PAC). Money from corporate foundations could be having a far reaching effect on how our laws and regulations get written. But unlike traditional lobbying, there are few transparency requirements for such charitable spending. Professors Bertrand and Bombardini recently spoke with the AEA’s Tyler Smith about the political influence that corporations wield through their charities and what can be done about it. Theme music is by Sound of Picture.
As India enters week 8 of its lockdown, the country's economy has reached a grinding halt. To better understand the impact of the pandemic – especially on the labor and household sectors– Srinath Raghavan speaks to Mahesh Vyas about the long-term repercussions of the lockdown on the Indian economy. References: A Third Shock by Mahesh Vyas Sharp Slowdown in Project Completions by Mahesh VyasHow are Indian Households coping under the COVID-19 Lockdown? 8 Key Findings by Marianne Bertrand, Kaushik Krishnan, and Heather Schofield
Nicholas Bloom is a professor of economics at Stanford University and a leading scholar on management, productivity, innovation and economic uncertainty. Nick is a previous guest of Macro Musings and returns to share his thoughts on COVID-19 and what it means for the US economy, both in the short-run and in the long-run. David and Nick also discuss the impact of the virus on the future of urban living, on the economics profession as a whole, and who will bear the biggest brunt of these impacts. Transcript for the episode can be found here: https://www.mercatus.org/bridge/tags/macro-musings Nick’s NBER archive: https://www.nber.org/people/nick_bloom Nick’s Stanford profile: https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/faculty-research/faculty/nicholas-bloom Related Links: Bonus segment with Nick: https://youtu.be/q2M0TLwV_Xw *COVID-Induced Economic Uncertainty* by Scott R. Baker, Nicholas Bloom, Steven J. Davis, and Stephen J. Terry. https://www.nber.org/papers/w26983 *U.S. Economic Activity During the Early Weeks of the SARS-Cov-2 Outbreak* by Daniel J. Lewis, Karel Mertens, and Jim Stock. https://www.newyorkfed.org/research/staff_reports/sr920 *Depression Babies: Do Macroeconomic Experiences Affect Risk-Taking?* by Ulrike Malmendier and Stefan Nagel. https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1369049 *Managing with Style* by Marianne Bertrand and Antoinette Schoar. https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=376880 *Are Ideas Getting Harder to Find?* by Nicholas Bloom, Charles I. Jones, John Van Reenen, and Michael Webb. https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3039019 *Does Working from Home Work? Evidence from a Chinese Experiment* by Nicholas A. Bloom, James Liang, John Roberts, Zhichun Jenny Ying https://nbloom.people.stanford.edu/sites/g/files/sbiybj4746/f/wfh.pdf *How Many Jobs Can be Done at Home?* by Jonathan I. Dingel and Brent Neiman. https://bfi.uchicago.edu/wp-content/uploads/BFI_White-Paper_Dingel_Neiman_3.2020.pdf David’s blog: macromarketmusings.blogspot.com David’s Twitter: @DavidBeckworth
A special Convocation edition podcast from the UChicago Podcast Network, featuring the full speeches given by Class Day speaker Valerie Jarrett, distinguished senior fellow in the University of Chicago Law School former senior adviser to President Obama; and Marianne Bertrand, the Chris P. Dialynas Distinguished Service Professor of Economics at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.
University of Chicago Booth School of Business Podcast Series
Marianne Bertrand, the Chris P. Dialynas Distinguished Service Professor of Economics, discusses her research on the pay gap as well as some new findings on corporate board quotas.
University of Chicago Booth School of Business Podcast Series
Marianne Bertrand, the Chris P. Dialynas Distinguished Service Professor of Economics, discusses her research on the pay gap as well as some new findings on corporate board quotas.
Marianne Bertrand, professor at economics at Chicago Booth School of Business, explains why women MBAs earn less than their male peers as their careers progress. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.