The Marginal Revolution Podcast
by Mercatus Center at George Mason University · 13 episodes
ScienceSocialSociety
Marginal Revolution has been one of the most influential economics blogs in the world for over two decades thanks to its sharp economic analysis and thought-provoking ideas. Now, co-creators Alex Tabarrok and Tyler Cowen are bringing their nerdy winsomeness to your earbuds. Each episode features Alex and Tyler drawing on their decades of academic expertise to tackle whatever economic idea is currently tickling their noggins.
Latest episodes
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37 min
America's Debt: Crisis or Calm?
Can America afford $30 trillion in debt—or is the real question whether it wants to? In the final episode of Season 2, Alex and Tyler take on the growing mountain of federal debt—n…
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54 min
The Return of Tariffs - Unpacking incidence, retaliation, and the return of protectionism
In this episode, Alex and Tyler tackle the resurgence of tariffs in American policy, a development neither saw coming after decades of trade liberalization. They unpack the economi…
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52 min
Compensating Differentials and Selective Incentives
Why do butchers earn more than bakers even though they're typically less educated? What does Uber driver data reveal about wage gaps? In part three of their series on favorite mode…
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51 min
The Baumol Effect
Why are college tuition, healthcare, and car repairs eating up bigger shares of our budgets? Alex says it's all about the Baumol effect, a deep economic insight about relative pric…
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55 min
Favorite Models: Spence on Monopolies, Harberger on Incidence, Solow on Growth
Alex and Tyler put three classic models through their paces. Alex starts with Spence on how a monopolist chooses quality and applies it to how the New York Times' paywall flipped i…
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1 h 03
In Praise of Commercial Culture
Tyler and Alex revisit Tyler's 1998 book and trace how commerce disciplines and amplifies creativity. Great artists bargained hard because money buys orchestras and time. "Inspired…
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44 min
The Quest to Price Options
In the final episode of Season 1, Alex and Tyler explore one of the most consequential quests in the history of economics and finance: the decades-long search for a formula to pric…
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48 min
The New Monetary Economics
In this exploration of the "new monetary economics," Alex and Tyler revisit the ideas of thinkers like Fischer Black, Eugene Fama, and Robert Hall, whose bold views about the Fed a…
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59 min
The Economics of Insurance
In this episode, Alex and Tyler dive deep into the fascinating and often misunderstood world of insurance, exploring how this trillion-dollar industry underpins modern economies wh…
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51 min
The 1970s Crime Wave
In this final installment of their series on the 1970s, Alex and Tyler turn to the social upheaval and crime wave that marked the decade as one of America's most turbulent. They ex…
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46 min
Oil Shocks, Price Controls, and War
In this second installment of their three-part series on the 1970s, Alex and Tyler unravel the economic and geopolitical forces behind the oil shocks that upended global global mar…
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39 min
The Economics Nobel: Predictions, Missed Opportunities, and Questionable Winners
Alex and Tyler share their predictions for the upcoming Nobel Prize in economics, considering potential winners like Michael Woodford for monetary theory, Susan Athey for her bring…
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35 min
1970s Inflation: The Economic Fever That Changed America
Welcome The Marginal Revolution Podcast! In the Season 1 premiere, Alex and Tyler kick off a 3-part series on the 1970s by exploring the decade's defining economic challenge: rampa…