Risk Talking
Risk Talking is a podcast hosted by Allison Schrager—economist, journalist, and author—where she discusses cutting-edge economics in plain language. Schrager, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute and contributing editor of City Journal, interviews leading economists, business journalists, and historians, exploring their work in an effort to understand what’s happening in the marketplace today.
Allison Schrager is also a columnist at Bloomberg Opinion and co-founder of LifeCycle Finance Partners, LLC, a risk advisory firm. She's written widely in the popular press, received a Ph.D. in economics from Columbia, and is the author of An Economist Walks into a Brothel: And Other Unexpected Places to Understand Risk.
Latest episodes
Jun 8, 2023 • 51min
Bail Bonds and the Nature of Risk
Bail bondsman Nicholas Lindblad joins Allison Schrager to discuss the risk calculations involved in the bail business.
May 18, 2023 • 48min
Can States and Cities Dig Themselves Out?
Yale Law School professor David Schleicher joins Allison Schrager to discuss the fiscal situation of American states and localities. His new book, In a Bad State, is out now.
Apr 28, 2023 • 40min
The Banking Crisis and ESG Investing
Richard J. Shinder, founder and managing partner of Theatine Partners, a financial consultancy, joins Allison Schrager to discuss the banking crisis, ESG investing, and the intersection of politics and financial markets.
Mar 23, 2023 • 44min
Reforming Social Security
American Enterprise Institute senior fellow Andrew Biggs joins Allison Schrager to discuss Social Security's flaws, the tradeoffs required to rework the program, and the role of private accounts in American retirement saving.
Mar 1, 2023 • 29min
The Uses and Abuses of Debt
Why do cities and states find themselves in fiscal holes? Economist Robert Inman joins Allison Schrager to discuss the roots of municipal debt crises, the post-Covid balance sheets across the U.S., and the need for disciplined local governance.
Feb 15, 2023 • 52min
When Our Relationship to Government Changed
Economic historian Price Fishback joins Allison Schrager to discuss the economic history of the New Deal, the various programs that constituted it, and whether today’s economic struggles compare to those of the 1930s.
Feb 1, 2023 • 45min
Making Sense of the U.S. Health-Care System
MI senior fellow Chris Pope joins Allison Schrager to discuss health care in the United States, the future of entitlement spending, and ways to increase competition and coverage.
Dec 15, 2022 • 37min
Why America Needs Apprenticeships
Urban Institute fellow Robert Lerman joins Allison Schrager to discuss apprenticeship programs in the U.S., the need both to equip young people with occupational skills and to retrain workers, and lessons from other countries’ own apprenticeship policies.
Nov 30, 2022 • 40min
How to Fix Human Capital
Jonathan Meer joins Allison Schrager to discuss the American labor market, the need to prioritize skilled labor, and changes that educators can make to prepare young people to enter the workplace.
Nov 8, 2022 • 51min
The Return of Economic Reality
Brian Riedl joins Allison Schrager to discuss the end of free-lunch economics, the hard choices facing fiscal and monetary policymakers, and the long-term demographic challenges facing developed-world economies.
