The Counterfactual Turning Point

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"Counterfactual" is the what if version of ourselves. What if we'd gone to a different school? What if we hadn't taken that job? Do you ever think about, like, what your counterfactual life would have been if you hadn't done the whole West Point military thing?" "Like basically all of us, Kyle's life had these huge turning points where things could have gone in a totally different direction," she says.

A great economics paper does two things. It takes on a big question, and it finds a smart way to answer that question.

But some papers go even further. The very best papers have the power to change lives.That was the case for three economists we spoke to: Nancy Qian, Belinda Archibong, and Kyle Greenberg.

They all stumbled on important economics papers at crucial moments in their careers, and those papers gave them a new way to see the world. On today's show - how economics papers on the Pentecostal church in Ghana, the Vietnam war draft, and the price of butter in Sweden shaped the courses of three lives.

This episode was produced by Sam Yellowhorse Kesler. It was edited by Keith Romer. Sierra Juarez checked the facts, and it was mastered by Natasha Branch with help from Gilly Moon. Jess Jiang is our acting executive producer.

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