Chicago Booth Review Podcast

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.

In February, Jeff Bezos, owner of the Washington Post, said its opinion section would focus on contributions that support “personal liberties and free markets” and would not run any opinions that oppose those two values. In response, Chicago Booth’s Luigi Zingales called for opinion writers to boycott the publication. What does Zingales think the episode tells us about media coverage in the age of Trump? To follow the Stigler Center's 2025 Antitrust and Competition Conference, visit https://www.chicagobooth.edu/research/stigler/events/2025-antitrust

Who is the face of capitalism? And how has that face changed over time? In this bonus episode, John Paul Rollert, our In-House Ethicist, Rollert analyzes some of the characters who have represented capitalism over time in the popular imagination, revealing how many people perceive the economic system. He charts the evolution of capitalism’s protagonists from the hardworking professional lauded by Adam Smith to the tech founders of Silicon Valley. So who will be the next face of capitalism? https://www.chicagobooth.edu/review/ihe-podcast#sort=%40articledate%20descending

Salary negotiations are difficult. Many of us hate talking about money, particularly with a potential employer. So what can you do to make sure you arrive at a fair wage? Chicago Booth’s George Wu says the trick to a successful salary conversation is to prepare, give yourself options, and don’t celebrate too soon.