Explain It to Me

Dylan, German, and Jerusalem get together to discuss one of the world’s least likely but most interesting utopian ideas: open borders. They discuss the moral and economic logic for making it easy to move to and work in different countries, and the political constraints that make such an idea anathema in most rich countries. Also, they discuss a new paper about how housing regulation is making it hard for Americans to move to where they’d get the best jobs.References:Bryan Caplan’s case for open borders, on Vox and in comic book formMatt Yglesias’s case for more immigrationMichael Clemens’s economic case for broader migrationA review of the evidence on voter backlash to immigrationAngela Nagle’s leftist case against open bordersArlie Hochschild’s Strangers in Their Own LandJerusalem on the intersection of refugee policy and housing policy”Angela Merkel Was Right” by NYT's Michelle Goldberg “Does Immigration Produce a Public Backlash or Public Acceptance? Time-Series, Cross-Sectional Evidence from Thirty European Democracies”White Paper: “Location, Location, Location” by David Card, Jesse Rothstein, and Moises YiHosts:Dylan Matthews (@dylanmatt), senior correspondent, VoxGerman Lopez (@germanrlopez), senior correspondent, VoxJerusalem Demsas (@jerusalemdemsas), policy reporter, VoxCredits:Sofi LaLonde, producer & engineerLibby Nelson, editorial advisorAmber 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 Ian Millhiser talks with law professor Joseph Blocher and historian Carol Anderson about the Second Amendment, the triumph of the NRA's vision for that amendment, and an upcoming Supreme Court case that endangers more than a century of American gun control laws.References:The Positive Second Amendment Rights, Regulation, and the Future of Heller, Joseph Blocher The Second: Race and Guns in a Fatally Unequal America, Carol AndersonHosts:Ian Millhiser (@imillhiser), senior correspondent, VoxCredits:Sofi LaLonde, producer & engineerLibby Nelson, editorial advisorAmber 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, German, and Dara talk about the whopping 5.4 percent inflation rate the Consumer Price Index estimated last week, what it means, and if inflation is going to get worse. They dig into a paper out of the Federal Reserve arguing that we're thinking about inflation all wrong. And they close out with a fascinating new study on what the Great Migration meant for African Americans who moved northward.References: Ben Casselman explains where prices are risingWhy looking at “trimmed” inflation measures can be useful Neil Irwin from the New York Times on “shadow inflation” Back when Dylan was less worried about inflationJW Mason explains why “America’s inflation debate is fundamentally confused” Jeremy Rudd, "Why Do We Think That Inflation Expectations Matter for Inflation? (And Should We?)" Ricardo Reis’s critique of the Rudd paper; Joe Gagnon’s critique of the Rudd paper Rudd and Blinder on the oil explanation for the inflation in the 1970sThis week’s white paper: Ellora Derenoncourt, "Can you move to opportunity? Evidence from the Great Migration" Leah Boustan's book on the economic effects of the Great Migration on migrants and those left behindHosts:Dylan Matthews (@dylanmatt), senior correspondent, VoxGerman Lopez (@germanrlopez), senior correspondent, VoxDara Lind (@dlind), immigration reporter, ProPublicaCredits:Sofi LaLonde, producer & 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

Joe Biden has proposed a landmark $400 billion expansion of funding for home and community-based services (HCBS), the part of Medicaid that funds support services for older adults and people with disabilities living at home rather than in institutions. But with Congress fighting over which of Biden's priorities to cut to appease moderate Democrats, that proposal could be in peril.Mia Ives-Rublee is a longtime disability rights activist who helped organize the Women's March in 2017 and now serves as director of the Disability Justice Initiative at the Center for American Progress. She spoke with Vox's Dylan Matthews about how HCBS works now, and how Democrats' plans for additional funding would change it.References: Biden’s home-based care plan, explained Polling suggests funding for home care is quite popular "How Could $400 Billion New Federal Dollars Change Medicaid Home and Community-Based Services?" The House Energy and Commerce Committee proposal on HCBS Better Care Better Jobs Act state-by-state fact sheet The Urban Institute's report on strengthening long-term care services Investing in Home Care and Early Childhood Educators Has Outsize Impacts on Employment Hosts:Dylan Matthews (@dylanmatt), senior correspondent, VoxCredits:Sofi LaLonde, producer & 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 reporter Rebecca Leber (@rebleber) joins The Weeds to explain the problem of migration caused by climate change, such as that due to wildfires, rising seas, and crop failures. She explains how a warming planet is forcing people to move both in the US and internationally, and how policymakers are and aren’t adapting. Vox reporters Dylan Matthews and Jerusalem Demsas continue the conversation with ProPublica’s Dara Lind, discussing a new white paper arguing that social mobility in America rose in the 20th century.References: ProPublica’s feature on climate migration in Central AmericaHow climate change is driving up flood insurance premiums in Canarsie, Brooklyn NPR’s investigation into the federal government selling flood-prone houses to low-income families California is encouraging rebuilding in fire-prone regionsThe case for “managed retreat” from coastal areas A New York Times feature on how climate migration will reshape America The Grapes of Wrath, John SteinbeckWhy Greg Clark is pessimistic that social mobility even exists White Paper of the Week: Intergenerational Mobility in American History: Accounting for Race and Measurement Error, Zachary WardHosts:Dylan Matthews (@dylanmatt), senior correspondent, VoxJerusalem Demsas (@jerusalemdemsas), policy reporter, VoxDara Lind (@DLind), immigration reporter, ProPublicaCredits:Sofi LaLonde, producer & engineerLibby Nelson, editorial adviserAmber Hall, deputy editorial director of talk podcastsSign up for The Weeds newsletter each Friday: vox.com/weeds-newsletter 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 Supreme Court correspondent Ian Millhiser talks with NYU professor Melissa Murray (@ProfMMurray) about the future of reproductive freedom. The Supreme Court started its new term this week, and with six conservative judges on the bench, Republicans are likely to win a generational victory overruling Roe v. Wade.Resources:Texas’s radical anti-abortion law explainedThe staggering implications of the Supreme Court’s Texas anti-abortion ruling“Race-ing Roe: Reproductive Justice, Racial Justice, and the Battle for Roe v. WadeHosts:Ian Millhiser (@imillhiser), Senior Correspondent, VoxCredits:Sofi LaLonde, Producer & EngineerLibby Nelson, Editorial AdvisorAmber Hall, Deputy Editorial Director of Talk PodcastsSign up for The Weeds newsletter each Friday: vox.com/weeds-newsletter 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, German, and Jerusalem talk about vaccine mandates. They discuss the evidence supporting vaccine requirements, the United States’ history with inoculation campaigns, and the patchwork nature of America’s many public health measures. Plus, a white paper about elite universities. References:This is a good summary of the evidence supporting vaccine mandatesHere is the Homevoter Hypothesis Dylan mentionedThe NIMBY lawsuit against UC Berkeley and the NIMBY war against Georgetown’s expansionGerman mentioned two vaccination studies: this one and this oneThis week’s white paper about elite universitiesLeopold Aschenbrenner on the case for smaller universitiesHosts:Dylan Matthews (@dylanmatt), senior correspondent, VoxGerman Lopez (@germanrlopez), senior correspondent, VoxJerusalem Demsas (@jerusalemdemsas), policy reporter, VoxCredits:Sofi LaLonde, producer & engineerLibby Nelson, editorial adviserAmber Hall, deputy editorial director of talk podcastsSign up for The Weeds newsletter each Friday: vox.com/weeds-newsletter 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 and Jerusalem are joined by Kathryn Paige Harden, professor of clinical psychology at the University of Texas at Austin, to discuss her new book The Genetic Lottery: Why DNA Matters for Social Equality. They talk about what geneticists have learned about the impact of genes on income and education inequality, the social implications of this research and its potential misuse, and why genetics should leave us humbled by the huge effect of luck in our lives.Hosts:Dylan Matthews (@dylanmatt), senior correspondent, VoxJerusalem Demsas (@JerusalemDemsas), policy reporter, VoxCredits:Sofi LaLonde, producer and engineerLibby Nelson, editorial adviser Amber Hall, deputy editorial director, talk podcastsSign up for The Weeds newsletter each Friday: vox.com/weeds-newsletter 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, German, and Dara discuss the debt ceiling: the current crisis, what the debt ceiling even is, and how the debt ceiling has become a politically polarized issue. They also talk about why the debt ceiling is bad for democracy. Plus, a white paper about Canadian bread cartels. Resources:The Bipartisan Policy Center’s estimate of when we’ll hit the debt ceilingCongressional Research Service’s history of the debt ceilingJanet Yellen on the costs of breaching the debt ceilingNeil Buchanan and Michael Dorf on why breaching the debt ceiling is the “least illegal” optionThe trillion dollar coin (and the Obama rejection of it) explainedSteven Schwarcz on using special investment tools to evade the debt ceilingMatt Yglesias on the “Honduras scenario” for American democracy failing"Hub and Spoke Cartels: Theory and Evidence from the Grocery Industry" by Robert Clark, Ignatius Horstmann, Jean-François HoudeNetflix documentary on the Canadian maple syrup cartelHosts:Dylan Matthews (@dylanmatt), Senior Correspondent, VoxGerman Lopez (@germanrlopez), Senior Correspondent, VoxDara Lind (@DLind), Immigration Reporter, ProPublicaCredits:Sofi LaLonde, Producer & EngineerLibby Nelson, EditorAmber Hall, Deputy Editorial Director of Talk PodcastsSign up for The Weeds newsletter each Friday: vox.com/weeds-newsletter 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, German, and Jerusalem sit down to answer listener questions. In our first AMA episode of the post-Matt-Yglesias Weeds era, the trio discusses constitutional amendments, climate change, how we could fix global poverty, influential books, and more.Resources:Reasons and Persons by Derek ParfitGang of Five: Leaders at the Center of the Conservative Ascendancy by Nina J. EastonThe Collaborator: The Trial and Execution of Robert Brasillach by Alice KaplanNight by Elie WieselThe Cult of Pharmacology: How America Became the World’s Most Troubled Drug Culture by Richard DeGrandpreMiddlesex by Jeffrey EugenidesCochraneThe Journalist’s Resource, the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public PolicyJim Tankersley, the New York Times (@jimtankersley)Victoria Guida, Politico (@vtg2)Eric Levitz, New York magazine (@ericlevitz) Hosts:Dylan Matthews (@dylanmatt), senior correspondent, VoxJerusalem Demsas (@JerusalemDemsas), policy reporter, VoxGerman Lopez (@germanrlopez), senior correspondent, Vox Credits:Sofi LaLonde, producer and engineerAmber Hall, deputy editorial director, talk podcastsSign up for The Weeds newsletter each Friday: vox.com/weeds-newsletter Want to support The Weeds? Please consider making a donation to Vox: bit.ly/givepodcast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices