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Articles by Gary Becker
The Great Fertility Collapse (with Jesus Fernandez-Villaverde)
0:37 Intro. [Recording date: September 10, 2026.] Russ Roberts: Today is September 10th, 2026, and my guest is Jesús Fernández-Villaverde, the Howard Marks Presidential Professor of Economics at the University of Pennsylvania.
Local opinion: Community Food Bank's 50 years of serving SE Arizona
The following is the opinion and analysis of the writers: For 50 years, the Community Food Bank of Southern Arizona has been there when our neighbors in Southeastern Arizona (Pima, Graham, Greenlee, Cochise and Santa Cruz counties) needed us. As former members of the Board of Directors, we have seen that work from the inside. We have seen when demand surged, budgets tightened, and difficult decisions had to be made.
How We Tamed Ourselves and Invented Good and Evil (with Hanno Sauer)
Enter your email address to subscribe to our monthly newsletter: DELVE DEEPER Watch this podcast episode on YouTube: How Do We Decide What's Good and Evil?. Live-recorded video with audio. Available at the Hoover Institution. This week's guest: Hanno Sauer's Home page This week's focus: The Invention of Good and Evil: A World History of Morality, by Hanno Sauer at Amazon.com.* Additional ideas and people mentioned in this podcast episode: Adam Smith The Theory of Moral Sentiments, by Adam Smith.
In Defense of Intuition (with Gerd Gigerenzer)
0:37 Intro. [Recording date: December 4, 2025.] Russ Roberts: Today is December 4th, 2025, and my guest is psychologist and author, Gerd Gigerenzer, of the Max Planck Institute for Human Development. This is Gerd's third appearance on the program. He was last here in August of 2022, discussing artificial intelligence. Our topic for today is his book, The Intelligence of Intuition. Gerd, welcome back to EconTalk. Gerd Gigerenzer: Oh, I'm glad to be here with you again.
Twenty Years of Freakonomics (with Stephen Dubner)
0:37 Intro. [Recording date: September 29, 2025.] Russ Roberts: Today is September 29th, 2025, and my guest is author, podcaster, journalist Stephen Dubner. He is the author, with economist Steven Levitt, of Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything, which is now coming out with a 20th-anniversary edition; and he is the host of the podcast Freakonomics Radio. Stephen, welcome to EconTalk. Stephen Dubner: Thank you, Russ. Very happy to be here.
The Intellectual Portrait Series: A Conversation with Milton Friedman
(author) (interviewer) Milton Friedman discusses his economic ideas with Gary S. Becker. Recipient of the 1976 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics, Milton Friedman was a leader of the Chicago school of monetary economics. He was also the Paul Snowden Russell Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus of Economics at the University of Chicago, where he taught from 1946 to 1976. Friedman was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1988 and received the National Medal of Science the same year.
The Past and Present of Privacy and Public Life (with Tiffany Jenkins)
0:37 Intro. [Recording date: April 23, 2025.] Russ Roberts: Today is April 23rd, 2025, and my guest is author Tiffany Jenkins. She was last here in January of 2023 talking about Plunder, Museums, and Marbles. Her latest book, which is our topic for today, is Strangers and Intimates: The Rise and Fall of Private Life. Tiffany, welcome back to EconTalk. Tiffany Jenkins: Glad to be here.
The Past and Present of Privacy and Public Life (with Tiffany Jenkins)
0:37 Intro. [Recording date: April 23, 2025.] Russ Roberts: Today is April 23rd, 2025, and my guest is author Tiffany Jenkins. She was last here in January of 2023 talking about Plunder, Museums, and Marbles. Her latest book, which is our topic for today, is Strangers and Intimates: The Rise and Fall of Private Life. Tiffany, welcome back to EconTalk. Tiffany Jenkins: Glad to be here.
Rational Crime and Subjective Probability
Here’s a personal tidbit about me – I’m a bit of a true crime buff. I often listen to true crime podcasts and audio essays while unwinding at the end of the day, or during my time in the gym.
Reclaiming Tribalism (with Michael Morris)
0:37 Intro. [Recording date: September 3, 2024.] Russ Roberts: Today is September 3rd, 2024. My guest is cultural psychologist and author Michael Morris of Columbia University. His latest book and the subject of today's conversation is Tribal: How the Cultural Instincts that Divide Us Can Help Bring Us Together. Michael, welcome to EconTalk. Michael Morris: Thanks so much. It's really an honor to be here.
The Problems of Boys and Men in Today's America (with Richard Reeves)
0:37 Intro. [Recording date: August 7, 2024.] Russ Roberts: Today is August 7th, 2024, and my guest is Richard Reeves. He is the president and founder of the American Institute for Boys and Men, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. His most recent book is Of Boys and Men: Why the Modern Male Is Struggling, Why It Matters, and What to Do About It. Today we're going to talk about boys and men and the challenges they're facing in this moment. Richard, welcome to EconTalk.
Free Markets Against Discrimination on eBay
I live in Alabama, where college football is the major religion. The two major denominations are the University of Alabama Crimson Tide and the Auburn University Tigers. They have fought a storied and ludicrously overwrought since 1893, except for the four-decade gap between 1907 and 1948 when they didn’t play one another because the two schools hated each other so much. Suffice it so say Alabama fans (like me) don’t go out of their way to shop for Auburn merchandise and vice versa.
Giandomenica Becchio on Feminist Economics
Giandomenica Becchio is a professor of economics and the history of economic thought at the University of Torino. Today, she tells us about feminist economics and why it’s an important criticism of neoclassical economics. Without understanding the role of typical gender and family roles, we cannot correctly understand or think about the true division of labor between genders in the workforce and in the home.
Systemic Racism in Crime and Housing | Online Library of Liberty
Response Essay Systemic Racism in the Housing Market Introduction: The Challenge of Defining Systemic Racism How do we begin to discuss systemic racism? Often these discussions have a confusing overlap of different definitions, with unspoken assumptions about how the world works. Economists often avoid these discussions because the discussions can swing from the external world (laws, programs, and regulations) to the internal (thoughts, beliefs and values) within the same conversation.
Tyler Cowen on the GOAT of Economics
0:37 Intro. [Recording date: October 30, 2023.] Russ Roberts: Today is October 30th, 2023 and my guest is Tyler Cowen. This is Tyler's 18th appearance on the program. He was last here in May of 2023, talking about artificial intelligence. Our topic for today is his latest book, GOAT: Who is the Greatest Economist of all Time, and Why Does it Matter? I want to let listeners listening with children know that this may contain adult themes. Tyler, welcome back to EconTalk.
Roland Fryer on Race, Diversity, and Affirmative Action
0:37 Intro. [Recording date: July 26, 2023.] Russ Roberts: Today is July 26, 2023, and my guest is economist Roland Fryer of Harvard University. He was last here in October of 2022 discussing educational reform. Roland, welcome back to EconTalk. Roland Fryer: Thanks for having me, Russ. It's great to see you. 0:57 Russ Roberts: Our topic for today is diversity, affirmative action, racial disparities.
A Child Comes With His Own Bread
Since at least the publication of Paul Ehrlich’s The Population Bomb in 1968, the narrative that has gripped both academicians and the popular audience has been one of a world that is overpopulated.
James Rebanks on the Shepherd's Life
James Rebanks's family has raised sheep in the same small English village for at least four centuries. There are records of people with his same last name going back a few hundred more. Even his sheep are rooted in place: their DNA is from Viking times. It's enough to make anyone feel insignificant--and according to Rebanks, that's a wonderful thing.
Constraints Must Constrain: Becker and Backwards Induction
The most powerful weapon in an economist’s arsenal is the law of demand. When the price (or opportunity cost) of something increases, people will purchase, consume, or choose it less often. The law of demand is a common backbone for many arguments. If the spine breaks the body falls. Naturally, those who want to undermine economic arguments will attack the law of demand directly.
Mancur Olson - Econlib
Mancur Olson was an American economist who had pathbreaking insights about collective action, the rise and decline of national economies, and the fortunes of Communist and post-Communist countries. The Logic of Collective Action Olson’s first major work, The Logic of Collective Action, published in 1965, examined what is required for collective action to succeed when the number of people in the “collective” is large.
Behavioral Economics: Method, Norms, and Policy
In the neoclassical economic model, agents are assumed to act in pursuit of maximum utility—to know their preferences and some of the constraints they face—and to effectively satisfy their economic needs by means of market exchanges.
Behavioral Versus Free Market Economics
In the late 1960s, the ideal of a society with free markets was definitively out of favor with the public. The Great War ended the “century of liberalism” (1815-1914), and the Great Depression pressed governments of all political stripes to intervene in the economy and to disengage from free trade.
The Price of Doing Business with John List
Episode Transcript My guest today, John List, is an economics professor, a friend and a colleague at the University of Chicago. And of all my peers, John is the one who has most greatly influenced the way I think about the world. Welcome to People I (Mostly) Admire, with Steve Levitt. The use of randomized experiments in economics has exploded in the last 25 years, and John deserves more credit for that than anyone else. But how he did it, that’s the really remarkable thing.
Johnathan Bi on Mimesis and René Girard
When the 20-year-old overachiever Johnathan Bi's first startup crashed and burned, he headed to a Zen retreat in the Catskills to "debug himself." He discovered René Girard and his mimetic theory--the idea that imitation is a key and often unconscious driver of human behavior. Listen as entrepreneur and philosopher Bi shares with EconTalk host Russ Roberts what he learned from Girard and Girard's insights into how we meet our primal need for money, fame, and power.
To Float or Not to Float: Munger and Roberts on the [Un]examined Life
We’ve all been super excited waiting for the release of EconTalk host Russ Roberts’ new book, Wild Problems. It’s now out, and both I and Russ hope you all choose to read it! (How else will you catch the chapter on Bill Bellichick?!?!?) This episode is icing on the cake, as Russ brings back Mike Munger- this time to interview him!. (P.S. Many other interviews with Russ are now available. Here’s a link to the one he did recently with Tim Ferriss.) What are wild problems? The big ones.
Diane Coyle on Cogs, Monsters, and Better Economics
0:37 Intro. [Recording date: April 28, 2022.] Russ Roberts: Today is April 28th, 2022, and my guest is economist and author, Diane Coyle. This is Diane's fourth appearance on EconTalk. She was last here in April of 2014 talking about GDP [Gross Domestic Product]. Our topic for today is her latest book, Cogs and Monsters: What Economics Is, and What It Should Be. Diane, welcome back to EconTalk. Diane Coyle: Thank you for inviting me back again.
Tyler Cowen and Russ Roberts on Nation, Immigration, and Israel
0:37 Intro. [Recording date: December 23, 2021.] Russ Roberts: Today is December 23rd, 2021, and today's episode of EconTalk is also being released as an episode of Conversations with Tyler. I am speaking with Tyler Cowen of George Mason, who blogs on Marginal Revolution, podcasts at Conversations with Tyler. It's his 14th appearance here on the program. He was last here in April of 2021 talking about the pandemic. We're going to do something a little unusual today.
Jennifer Frey on Education, Philosophy, and the University
Philosopher Jennifer Frey of the University of South Carolina talks about the state of the university in American education. Frey urges a stronger focus on virtue and human flourishing and a reduced focus on career preparation. Roberts, despite his sympathy with the examined life, challenges the virtue of philosophical enquiry. At the end of the conversation, both guest and host defend philosophy.
James Heckman on Inequality and Economic Mobility
0:37 Intro. [Recording date: July 7th, 2021.] Russ Roberts: Today is July 7th, 2021, and my guest is economist James Heckman of the University of Chicago. He's the Director of the Center for the Economics of Human Development there. And, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics in the year 2000. His first appearance on EconTalk was in January of 2016, discussing the state of econometrics.
Jason Riley on Race in America
0:37 Intro. [Recording date: April 15th, 2021.] Russ Roberts: Today is April 15th, 2021 and my guest is journalist and author Jason Riley. He's a Fellow at the Manhattan Institute and a columnist for the Wall Street Journal. His latest book coming out soon is Maverick: A Biography of Thomas Sowell. I want to thank the Union League Legacy Foundation for partnering with us on this episode. This was part of a live webinar last month. Jason, welcome to EconTalk. Jason Riley: Thank you.
Tabula-Rasa Economics in Biden’s Speech to Congress
A good exercise for economics students is to find instances of economic nonsense in a politician’s speech. In his speech of last Wednesday before Congress, President Joe Biden provided good course material. The proverbial Martian landing on Earth would have thought that Biden’s goal was to emulate his immediate predecessor. Even some elements of style—the interrupted and hanging sentences, and the repeated words, for example—look like an imitation.
Michael Munger on Desires, Morality, and Self-Interest
0:38 Intro. [Recording date: February 2nd, 2021.] Russ Roberts: Today is February 2nd, 2021, and my guest is economist, political theorist, and author Michael Munger of Duke University. I want to thank Plantronics for supplying the Blackwire 5220 for today's guest. Mike was last here on the program in July of 2020, talking about education. If I've counted correctly, this is Mike's 38th appearance on EconTalk--which is clearly a record. It will probably never be broken. Mike, welcome back to EconTalk.
The Political Firm
by Pierre Lemieux One can, à la James Buchanan, imagine politics as exchange. With Gordon Tullock, Buchanan wrote: Men co-operate through exchange of goods and services in organized markets, and such co-operation implies mutual gain. … At base, political or collective action under the individualistic view of the State is much the same. Two or more individuals find it mutually advantageous to join forces to accomplish certain common purposes.
A Conversation with Gary S. Becker
Gary Becker (1930-2014) was one of the most original and pathbreaking economists of modern times.
Steven Levitt on Freakonomics and the State of Economics
Author and economist Steven Levitt is the William B. Ogden Distinguished Service Professor of Economics at the University of Chicago and host of the podcast "People I (Mostly) Admire." He is best known as the co-author, with Stephen Dubner, of Freakonomics. The book, published in 2005, became a phenomenon, selling more than 5 million copies in 40 languages. Levitt talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the book's surprising success, the controversy it generated, and how it shaped his career.
Zoom and the Society of Meddlers
One potent argument for free markets is that they make individual liberty and autonomy possible. To use an example from Milton Friedman’s 1962 book Capitalism and Freedom, it is unlikely that both the Wall Street Journal and the Daily Worker would have equal access to newsprint if paper were allocated by government instead of markets. Same for other means of communication. But is it true that free markets always work in the impersonal, non-discriminatory way implied by this argument?
Caplan on Discrimination and Labor Markets
Continuing Conversation... Bryan Caplan on College, Signaling, and Human Capital In this episode, Roberts talks with EconLog blogger Bryan Caplan about higher education. In the spirit of continuing conversation, here are some things to consider. Questions below the fold: Check Your Knowledge: 1. What is the earning premium to college...
Viviana Zelizer on Money and Intimacy
Munger on Love, Money, Profits, and Non-profits Mike Munger of Duke University talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the world of profit, money, love, gifts, and incentives. What motivates people, self-interest or altruism? Both obviously. But how do these forces interact with each other? Does relying...
The Economics of Organ Donations
Kidney Donations A special thank you to Alice Temnick for creating this Extra. Do you or have you known someone who has donated, is in need of, or has received a transplanted organ? If so, how has that association shaped your thinking... Richard Epstein on Regulation Richard Epstein of New York University and Stanford University's Hoover Institution talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the current state of the economy, particularly the regulatory climate.
Hanushek on Educational Quality and Economic Growth
0:36 Intro. How does education affect growth and development? What have we learned about the relationship between education and growth? What determines growth across nations? Human capital, but it's hard to measure. School attainment--number of years of schooling--has been the standard measure but it's not a very good measure of human capital, particularly in an international context. Gary Becker, early 1960s, Ted Schultz, Adam Smith, skill of the population.
Caplan on Parenting - Econlib
0:36 Intro. [Recording date: April 28, 2011.] Central argument of book is that kids are less burdensome and more fun than they appear. As a father of four, I'm sympathetic to that idea; but for those who may be less sympathetic, what's the basic idea? It is true that parents push themselves very hard today. Actually, they spend more time taking care of their kids than they did during the baby boom, surprisingly enough.
Posner on the Financial Crisis
0:36 Intro. [Recording date: November 2, 2009.] Indict capitalism for the crisis; book came out in May; forecast the worsening of things at the time. What is the source of the problem. Wouldn't say capitalism indicted in the book. Failure of the governmental institutionalism of capitalism: Federal Reserve and the regulatory system controlling financial business. Need that.
Ober on the Ancient Greek Economy
0:36 Intro. [Recording date: July 30, 2012.] Russ: Topic is the economy of ancient Greece, and your recent paper on the topic, titled "Wealthy Hellas." You say in that paper that ancient Greece has always been perceived as very poor. Why was that the standard view? Guest: I think there are really two reasons. The first reason, the one that's most obvious if we think about from the point of view of classical studies is that the Greeks themselves described themselves as poor.
Edward Lazear on Becker
0:33 Intro. [Recording date: May 21, 2014.] Russ: Our topic for today is the work of Gary Becker, who recently passed away, and I want to start with some brief personal thoughts from both of us; and then we'll move on to Gary's work. Eddie, tell us how you knew Gary and when you first met him, and your relationship with him over the years. Guest: Well, Gary was my idol, actually, as both an undergraduate and as a graduate student.
Russ Roberts and Mike Munger on How Adam Smith Can Change Your Life
0:33 Intro. [Recording date: October 7, 2014.] Russ: This week's episode is going to be a little different. I have a new book out, How Adam Smith Can Change Your Life: An Unexpected Guide to Human Nature and Happiness. And the ideas of that book are the subject of this week's conversation.
Daron Acemoglu on Inequality, Institutions, and Piketty
0:33 Intro. [Recording date: October 6, 2014.] Russ: Now, your paper, "The Rise and Fall of General Laws of Capitalism," is a critique of both, in general, the idea that there are general laws; but in particular, you are taking aim at Thomas Piketty's book, Capital in the Twenty-First Century. He was just recently a guest on EconTalk, discussing the book. And at the heart of your critique is a failure, you claim, on Piketty's part to take account in institutions. Explain what you mean.
Joshua Angrist on Econometrics and Causation
0:33 Intro. [Recording date: December 15, 2014.] Russ: Joshua Angrist is the author, with Steve Pischke, of the book Mastering 'Metrics: The Path from Cause to Effect and also with Pischke, the author of "The Credibility Revolution in Empirical Economics: How Better Research Design is Taking the Con Out of Econometrics," which was published in the Journal of Economic Perspectives (JEP) in the spring of 2010.
Paul Robinson on Cooperation, Punishment and the Criminal Justice System
0:33 Intro. [Recording date: August 7, 2015.] Russ: Now, your book surprised me. We've had EconTalk episodes on pirates with Pete Leeson and on prisoners with Dave Skarbek. And those conversations and their books emphasized how order can emerge from the bottom up. But your book, although it's related, focuses on a very different set of questions. In particular, you are interested in cooperation in the absence of government law, and deviations from that cooperation--when are those likely to occur.
Daniel Sumner on the Political Economy of Agriculture
0:33 Intro. [Recording date: January 29, 2015.] Russ: Our topic for today is agriculture, and in particular government subsidies and involvement in agriculture, particularly in the United States at the federal level. When did subsidies of a serious kind begin? And what are some of the different variations in how crops are treated, over time? Guest: Yeah, and like every simple question, of course the answer is complicated. In one sense agricultural subsidies go back into the Dark Ages.
Eric Hanushek on the Education, Skills, and the Millennium Development Goals
0:33 Intro. [Recording date: July 15, 2015.] Russ: Our topic for today is the Millennium Development Goals, especially related to education around the world, and how we might think about the best policies to improve wellbeing and the role education plays in that. We're going to draw on work that Rick has done with Ludger Woessmann, and we'll put a link up to the study you've done on the topic. And to get us started, tell us what the Millennium Development Goals are and why they matter--if at all.
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