The Pie: An Economics Podcast

In the stock market, we all want to do well, but for some investors it’s also important to do good. In this episode, Chicago Booth’s Lubos Pastor joins to discuss his research on sustainable investing and what two recent studies tell us about the returns on “green” vs “brown” assets.

Did borrowers and the American economy benefit from the federal government’s 2020 student debt moratorium? The picture is complicated according to new research from UChicago Economics’ Michael Dinerstein and Chicago Booth’s Constantine Yannelis. They join this week to share their surprising findings.

Vote-buying, or influencing voters’ decisions through favors or gifts, is pervasive in areas such as Latin America, Africa, and Southeast Asia. UC Berkeley’s Frederico Finan, the TC Liu Distinguished Visitor at BFI, discusses his work studying how vote-buying unfolds on the ground in Paraguay. Finan describes how norms of reciprocity drive voters to opt for politicians who have treated them favorably in the past, and offers advice for how policymakers might disrupt this process to combat election fraud.

The number of ways we can use AI is exploding, and it’s expected to change how entire industries function. Chicago Booth professor Maximilian Muhn and PhD student Alex Kim studied whether ChatGPT can simplify information and improve outcomes for investors. They share how AI summarizes inputs like annual reports and conference calls in ways that better explain stock market movements.

Around the world, people underestimate support for basic women's rights. In new research, UChicago Economics' Leonardo Bursztyn documents these misperceptions and shows how they restrict women's progress. Aligning people's perceived and actual views, he says, can help promote women's full participation in the labor force.

Nobody ever wants to pay more for anything, especially when prices rise drastically – but can inflationary episodes be good for the economy? Harris Policy’s Carolin Pflueger joins The Pie to discuss different types of inflation, how they affect the economy, and what her research tells us about monetary policy in the world of newly rising prices.

When rural patients need care that local medical facilities can’t provide, what’s the best way to ensure they get the care they need? Chicago Booth's Jonathan Dingel and Harris Policy's Joshua Gottlieb explore how larger cities and rural areas trade medical services, and challenge assumptions about the best ways to improve both access and care.

Social media behaviors, moving at an ever faster pace, may not reflect what users really want, according to new research from economists Sendhil Mullainathan (Chicago Booth) and Amanda Agan (Rutgers University). They join The Pie to discuss how algorithms feed off our lizard brains to magnify biases.

At the third anniversary of COVID-19 lockdowns, this episode takes a look at ongoing healthcare market failures and the pandemic’s role in making them plain. Katherine Baicker, healthcare economist and newly appointed Provost of the University of Chicago, joins to take stock of the US healthcare system and discuss the challenges that remain.

What can vultures and economics tell us about the cost of losing a keystone species? New research from environmental economist Eyal Frank of the Harris School of Public Policy explores the social and economic cost in India, where a plummeting population of vultures may serve as a warning for the future.