Chicago Booth Review Podcast

One of the fastest-growing parts of the financial system in the past 15 years has been private credit, that is, lending not by banks but by other financial institutions or funds that don’t take deposits. The sector expanded ten fold between 2009 and 2023, to reach a value of about $2 trillion, according to McKinsey. And McKinsey thinks it has room to continue growing to become a $30 trillion industry. What does this mean for companies, and for the broader US economy? Welcome to the Chicago Booth Review podcast, where we bring you groundbreaking academic research in a clear and straightforward way. I’m Hal Weitzman, and today, I’m talking with Chicago Booth’s Amir Sufi about the rise of private capital. Is it better or worse for borrowers? Should we be worried about systemic risk? And why aren’t banks lending as they used to?

Anders Humlum, a faculty member at Chicago Booth, delves into the intriguing paradox of AI's limited impact on economic growth and corporate earnings. He discusses how Danish companies are integrating AI tools like chatbots but reveals a surprising disconnect between increased efficiency and tangible profit. The conversation emphasizes the need for effective training and workflow reforms to harness potential productivity gains. Humlum also warns against overhyping AI's capabilities while advocating for metrics that truly reflect its economic contributions.

Moving home is one of the most stressful things you’ll do in life, but negotiating to buy a home has to be up there. Chicago Booth’s George Wu teaches negotiation to MBAs. What techniques does he recommend to reduce the stress and improve the success when it comes to getting a deal over the price of a home?

The US murder rate is around 5 per 100,000 people, lower than a recent COVID-era spike, but nonetheless much higher than most other developed countries. Many Americans have concluded that either they need a gun to protect themselves, or that the problem is too big to address. In our second episode with Jens Ludwig, author of Unforgiving Places: The Unexpected Origins of American Gun Violence, he outlines some small and cheap interventions that could make a big difference in how we tackle homicides.

The United States has more guns than people, and one of the world’s highest rates of gun homicide. What’s really driving America’s appalling murder rate? Is it bad people, poverty, or something else? Jens Ludwig, a professor at the Harris School of Public Policy, and Director of the University of Chicago’s Crime Lab, talks to us about his new book, Unforgiving Places: The Unexpected Origins of American Gun Violence. Ludwig thinks America’s failure to tackle gun violence stem from a fundamental misunderstanding about what causes it in the first place. This is the first of two episodes with Ludwig about his book.

Married people are happier than the unmarried, on average. Those who are married and having regular sex are even happier. And over time, the difference between the happiness of the married and the unmarried is growing. So what do the statistics tell us about sex, marriage, and happiness? Chicago Booth’s Sam Peltzman talks about his research into happiness and marriage.

Most nonprofits depend on donations. But should they be acting more like companies, and focus on raising revenue instead? Chicago Booth’s Rob Gertner thinks philanthropy might not be the best way to achieve a social goal. He talks about his research into social enterprises—organizations that have a social goal, but achieve it in part by charging money for goods and services.

Many of us have so many subscriptions that we’ve lost track of them all. Companies also increasingly have subscriptions for services such as software and cloud computing. As customers, they’re the source of a lot of value to providers. Chicago Booth’s Amir Sufi says this “customer capital” accounts for a lot of the differences in how companies are valued between industries. And it might even have overturned what has been a cardinal rule of business: that revenue is more important than acquiring and maintaining customers.

What makes news stories newsworthy? Can you measure newsworthiness? Are people right in thinking that the media tend to focus on bad news? Chicago Booth’s Emir Kamenica argues that accounting for newsworthiness changes how we view the media’s apparent focus on negative news. So how do you measure newsworthiness? And is the news not always as negative as it may first appear?

Elon Musk’s DOGE, the Department of Government Efficiency, has driven a steamroller through the federal government, slashing jobs and dismantling entire agencies. But will it actually do much to address the US’s budget deficit? We hear from Chicago Booth’s Sam Peltzman, a longtime critic of government regulation and bureaucracy, and a onetime federal employee himself.