Explain It to Me

Dylan Matthews and Dara Lind are joined by Robinson Meyer (@robinsonmeyer), a staff writer at the Atlantic, to talk about the illusion of US energy independence. They discuss how the US produces its oil; the fracking boom and bust; and the country’s position in the global market. Plus, a white paper about carbon taxes and CO2 emissions in Sweden. References:Robinson’s piece about America’s “independence” from Russian oilHe was also on Today, Explained to talk about the US banning Russian oil importsAnd, you can sign up for Rob’s newsletter hereVox reporter Rebecca Leber busted a few myths about oil and gas pricesBiden’s administrative authority to lower gas pricesRussell Gold’s The Boom: How Fracking Ignited the American Energy Revolution and Changed the WorldWhite Paper: “Carbon Taxes and CO2 Emissions: Sweden as a Case Study”Hosts:Dylan Matthews (@dylanmatt), senior correspondent, VoxDara Lind (@dlind), Weeds co-host, VoxCredits:Sofi LaLonde, producer and engineerLibby Nelson, editorial adviserAmber Hall, deputy editorial director of talk podcastsSign up for The Weeds newsletter each Friday: vox.com/weedsletter Want to support The Weeds? Please consider making a donation to Vox: bit.ly/givepodcasts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Dylan Matthews and Jerusalem Demsas are joined by Nick Buttrick (@NickButtrick), a psychologist at Princeton, to talk about interstate mobility in the US (or the lack thereof). They talk about why it is so hard to move; why some of those reasons, Jerusalem argues, are arbitrary; and what an immobile population means for American culture.  References:Jerusalem’s article about why it’s so hard to move in AmericaNick Buttrick’s research: The cultural dynamics of declining residential mobilityA paper from David Schleicher called Stuck! The Law and Economics of Residential Stagnation  Research from the Brookings Institution: US migration still at historically low levelsNBER paper: The China Shock: Learning from Labor Market Adjustment to Large Changes in TradeHosts:Dylan Matthews (@dylanmatt), senior correspondent, VoxJerusalem Demsas (@jerusalemdemsas), policy reporter, VoxCredits:Sofi LaLonde, producer and engineerLibby Nelson, editorial adviserAmber Hall, deputy editorial director of talk podcastsSign up for The Weeds newsletter each Friday: vox.com/weedsletter Want to support The Weeds? Please consider making a donation to Vox: bit.ly/givepodcasts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Dylan Matthews and Jerusalem Demsas are joined by Vox senior correspondent Zack Beauchamp to talk about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. They discuss Ukraine’s surprising strength to date, plus Europe’s and America’s overwhelming economic response to the invasion. Plus, a white paper about how citizens in authoritarian regimes think about war.References:Vox’s podcast playlist: What to know about Russia and UkraineAll of Vox’s written coverage on Russia and Ukraine Zack’s piece on why Putin is attacking UkraineAdam Tooze on the economic war with RussiaPutin’s brother died in the siege of LeningradThe real history of the Soviet-Pepsi submarine dealWHITE PAPER: “Authoritarian Public Opinion and the Democratic Peace”Hosts:Dylan Matthews (@dylanmatt), senior correspondent, VoxJerusalem Demsas (@jerusalemdemsas), policy reporter, VoxZack Beauchamp (@ZackBeauchamp), senior correspondent, VoxCredits:Sofi LaLonde, producer and mix engineerDara Lind, studio engineerLibby Nelson, editorial adviserAmber Hall, deputy editorial director of talk podcastsSign up for The Weeds newsletter each Friday: vox.com/weedsletter Want to support The Weeds? Please consider making a donation to Vox: bit.ly/givepodcasts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We’re hitting snooze on Friday episodes, but they’re not going away forever. We’re just slowing things down while we work on some special projects. We’ll see you on Tuesday!Important Links: Send us an email at weeds@vox.com  Check out The Weeds Facebook group Sign up for our newsletter at vox.com/weedsletter Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Dylan Matthews, Jerusalem Demsas, and Dara Lind discuss the recent school board recall election in San Francisco and also whether the Great Resignation is boosting inflation.References:Clara Jeffery's summary of why the recall succeededFormer Green Party mayoral nominee Matt Gonzalez’s case for the recallFormer board president Gabriela López's post-mortem after she was recalledLópez’s 2021 interview with the New Yorker on school renamingThe $87 million lawsuitLowell alum Justin Lai arguing in favor of the new admissions policiesThe Asan American backlash against changing Lowell admissions (see also)Students in selective exam schools don’t seem to reap many benefitsA review of exam schools nationwidePutting “non-gifted” students in gifted classrooms helps them a lotWhite Paper: The Effects of the “Great Resignation” on Labor Market Slack and InflationHosts:Dylan Matthews (@dylanmatt), senior correspondent, VoxJerusalem Demsas (@jerusalemdemsas), policy reporter, VoxDara Lind (@dlind), Weeds co-host, VoxCredits:Sofi LaLonde, producer and engineerLibby Nelson, editorial adviserAmber Hall, deputy editorial director of talk podcastsSign up for The Weeds newsletter each Friday: vox.com/weedsletter Want to support The Weeds? Please consider making a donation to Vox: bit.ly/givepodcasts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Vox Senior Correspondent Zack Beauchamp talks with political scientist Lee Drutman, author of Breaking the Two-Party Doom Loop. They discuss the history of the two-party system in American politics, and examine a number of possible structural reforms that could work to get the U.S. out of the morass it's in, looking to several other countries' democracies for inspiration.Host: Zack Beauchamp (@zackbeauchamp), Senior Correspondent, VoxGuest: Lee Drutman (@leedrutman), senior fellow, New AmericaReferences:  "How does this end?" by Zack Beauchamp (Vox; Jan. 3) Breaking the Two-Party Doom Loop: The Case for Multiparty Democracy in America (Oxford; 2020) "Democracy in America? Partisanship, Polarization, and the Robustness of Support for Democracy in the United States" by Matthew H. Graham and Milan W. Svolik (American Political Science Review, 114 (2); May 2020) "One way to reform the House of Representatives? Expand it" by Lee Drutman and Yuval Levin (Washington Post; Dec. 9, 2021)  Enjoyed this episode? Rate Vox Conversations ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ and leave a review on Apple Podcasts.Subscribe for free. Be the first to hear the next episode of Vox Conversations by subscribing in your favorite podcast app.Support Vox Conversations by making a financial contribution to Vox! bit.ly/givepodcastsThis episode was made by:  Producer: Erikk Geannikis Editor: Amy Drozdowska Engineer: Paul Robert Mounsey Deputy Editorial Director, Vox Talk: Amber Hall Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Dylan Matthews and Jerusalem Demsas are joined by Vox’s Andrew Prokop (@awprokop) to talk about the midterm elections. More specifically, why the president’s party almost always loses seats in Congress. They discuss the theories of this phenomenon and what, if anything, can work on the margins. Plus, a white paper about Obamacare and the 2010 midterm elections.References:Why the president’s party almost always has a bad midtermThe political science of door-knocking and TV adsWhite paper: “One Vote Out of Step? The Effects of Salient Roll Call Votes in the 2010 Election”Dylan’s old, wrong article arguing that congressional position-taking doesn’t matter muchHosts:Dylan Matthews (@dylanmatt), senior correspondent, VoxJerusalem Demsas (@jerusalemdemsas), policy reporter, VoxCredits:Sofi LaLonde, producerDara Lind, engineerLibby Nelson, editorial adviserAmber Hall, deputy editorial director of talk podcastsSign up for The Weeds newsletter each Friday: vox.com/weedsletter Want to support The Weeds? Please consider making a donation to Vox: bit.ly/givepodcasts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Dylan Matthews talks with Victor Cha (@VictorDCha) about the international politics surrounding the 2022 Beijing Olympics. The US and several other countries are boycotting the games to protest China’s human rights record, which brings up the question: What does this boycott mean for US-China relations?References:Beyond the Final Score by Victor Cha Cha on the politicization of the 2022 GamesVox’s Jen Kirby on the Biden administration’s diplomatic boycott of the 2022 OlympicsVox’s Bryan Walsh on the failure of the Games to promote international peaceOlympic sponsors are facing pressure over China’s human rights violationsHosts:Dylan Matthews (@dylanmatt), senior correspondent, VoxCredits:Sofi LaLonde, producer and engineerLibby Nelson, editorial adviserAmber Hall, deputy editorial director of talk podcastsSign up for The Weeds newsletter each Friday: vox.com/weedsletter Want to support The Weeds? Please consider making a donation to Vox: bit.ly/givepodcasts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Dylan Matthews, Dara Lind, and Jerusalem Demsas talk about affirmative action. They dig into the current Supreme Court case about Harvard’s admission rates and ask: How do we make sure our elite institutions adequately reflect the population? Plus, a white paper about the effects of education on mortality.References: Vox senior correspondent Ian Millhiser’s explainer about the SCOTUS cases Peter Arcidiacono, Josh Kinsler, and Tyler Ransom's empirical papers on Harvard admissions Jay Caspian Kang on the Harvard case Ending affirmative action in California pushed Black and Latinx students into worse schools and jobs Randall Kennedy’s case for affirmative action Sheryll Cashin’s case for “place-based affirmative action” An argument that class-based affirmative action produces more racial diversity than regular affirmative action Nicholas Lemann on affirmative action for the New Yorker How the Texas “10 percent” rule changed high school enrollment White paper: "The Effects of Education on Mortality: Evidence Using College Expansions" “A Generation of American Men Give Up on College: ‘I Just Feel Lost,’” the Wall Street Journal Opinion | “Affirmative Action Was Never a Perfect Solution,” the New York Times  “Estimating Benefits from University-Level Diversity”  Hosts:Dylan Matthews (@dylanmatt), senior correspondent, VoxJerusalem Demsas (@jerusalemdemsas), policy reporter, VoxDara Lind (@dlind), Weeds cohost, VoxCredits:Sofi LaLonde, producer and engineerLibby Nelson, editorial adviserAmber Hall, deputy editorial director of talk podcastsSign up for The Weeds newsletter each Friday: vox.com/weedsletter Want to support The Weeds? Please consider making a donation to Vox: bit.ly/givepodcasts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Dylan Matthews talks with Mark Galeotti (@MarkGaleotti), director of Mayak Intelligence, about what’s going on in Ukraine. They discuss in depth the historical tensions between Russia and Ukraine, Russia’s NATO problem, and the calculations and motivations behind President Vladimir Putin’s moves.References:Today, Explained’s episode about Ukraine's pipeline problem Vox’s Jen Kirby wrote an explainer about Russia-Ukraine tensionsAdam Tooze on Russia as a petro-stateAn excellent 2019 episode from NPR’s Throughline about the rise of PutinThe Weaponisation of Everything: A Field Guide to the New Way of War, by Mark Galeotti Hosts:Dylan Matthews (@dylanmatt), senior correspondent, VoxCredits:Sofi LaLonde, producer and engineerLibby Nelson, editorial adviserAmber Hall, deputy editorial director of talk podcastsSign up for The Weeds newsletter each Friday: vox.com/weedsletter Want to support The Weeds? Please consider making a donation to Vox: bit.ly/givepodcasts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices