Chicago Booth Review Podcast

One of the byproducts of growing inequality is that many wealthier people grow up, live, and work without ever knowing someone who is poor or struggling financially. Do the wealthy have an obligation to know what life is like for those on the lower end of the income spectrum? In this episode, we hear from John Paul Rollert, an adjunct associate professor at Chicago Booth and our in-house ethicist.

Researchers discuss using AI to enhance investment decision-making by leveraging machine-learning models to streamline regulatory filings, target relevant financial information, analyze stock market data patterns, and improve startup investment decisions. They explore the implications of bid-ask spreads, 'bloat' on informed trading, and the successful transfer learning from US to foreign markets.

Many of us have observed how social media shapes or warps our behavior. Some people are more willing to get into disagreements or show off more. The rest of us see these behaviors and can assume that that’s just how other people behave, even though in reality algorithms may be directing us to the most controversial or explosive content. In this episode, Jeff Cockrell, editor of the Chicago Booth Review website, meets Chicago Booth’s Joshua Jackson to discuss his research on the effects of social media on “social learning.”

For decades, income inequality has been on the rise around the world. Is that mainly because those at the very top are getting paid more, or are they increasingly passively collecting the income produced by their accumulated wealth? In this episode of the Chicago Booth Review podcast, we ask what makes the rich so rich, with Chicago Booth’s Luigi Zingales and Eric Zwick, and the University of California at Berkeley’s Gabriel Zucman.

Ben Baldanza ran Spirit Airlines from 2006 to 2016, and transformed it into a ultra low-cost carrier, abandoning all frills and charging for any extras. In this episode of the Chicago Booth Review podcast, he debates Chicago Booth’s John Paul Rollert, one of our adjunct professors, who had just written an article entitled, “A business school professor studies the world’s worst airline.”

Thanks to the growth of index funds, more and more of us own passive investments. To what extent are we responsible for what goes into those index funds? In this episode of the Chicago Booth Review podcast, Chicago Booth’s John Paul Rollert asks if there really is such a thing as a truly “passive” investment.

Regulators have trained their sights on Big Tech companies. Many Americans think Big Tech should be more tightly regulated, and politicians across the aisle agree. But what exactly should be done? In this episode of the Chicago Booth Review podcast, we explore three possible options: break up the biggest companies, regulate them more forcefully, or wait and see.

The Showtime series Super Pumped told the story of the rise of Uber in a swirl of excess and intrigue. But many startups seem to be run by charismatic CEOs with a big vision, which sometimes turns out to be nothing but an illusion fueled by investor cash. In this episode of the Chicago Booth Review podcast, we present a conversation about startup culture with New York Times reporter Mike Isaac, whose book inspired the TV series, and two experts on entrepreneurship, Chicago Booth’s Steve Kaplan and Starr Marcello.

How does the experience of poverty shape decision-making? Research suggests that, rather than bad decisions leading to poverty, being poor can lead to some poorer decisions. At the same time, research also indicates that the stark financial choices faced by poor people can actually make them better at assessing the trade-offs involved in some decisions. 

Stakeholder capitalism is the idea that business should be about more than just making money. That seems a world away from the brash financial types of Bret Easton Ellis’s 1991 novel ‘American Psycho,’ or the 1987 movie ‘Wall Street.’ But in this episode of the Chicago Booth Review podcast, Chicago Booth’s John Paul Rollert asks how much we have really moved on, and reflects on the continuing relevance of Easton Ellis’s novel.