Risk Talking

Yale School of Management professor William N. Goetzmann joins Allison Schrager to discuss the history of financial innovation, the role of markets in Athens, Sumeria, and Rome, and the democratization of risk-taking. His latest book is Money Changes Everything: How Finance Made Civilization Possible.

American Enterprise Institute senior fellow Beth Akers joins Allison Schrager to discuss student loans, the rising cost of college, and policy alternatives to blanket debt forgiveness.

Economist Fatih Guvenen joins Allison Schrager to discuss his research into some of the most pressing issues facing the American economy—from wage stagnation to income risk—and how the use of big data can demystify the nation’s economic challenges.

NYU-Stern professor and Manhattan Institute adjunct fellow Arpit Gupta joins Allison Schrager to discuss the state of the U.S. housing market, the long-term consequences of remote work, and the demand- and supply-side impediments to building more housing.

Perry Mehrling, a Boston University professor and author, dives into the evolving definitions of money amid today's financial chaos. He discusses how central banks' experiments and the rise of cryptocurrencies, particularly stablecoins, challenge traditional monetary systems. The interplay between money and credit is dissected, revealing the dollar's dominance and the implications of cryptocurrencies in global commerce. Through historical parallels, Mehrling provides a critical look at the future of crypto and its sustainability in an ever-changing economic landscape.

For years, a cohort of economists, public officials, and journalists confidently proclaimed that inflation was a thing of the past. Demographic trends heralded long-term deflationary pressures, the thinking went, and new ideas in fiscal and monetary policy meant that interest rates could remain low indefinitely. Conditions today put paid to that thesis, but how did so many get things so wrong? In this episode of Risk Talking, economist and Shadow Open Market Committee member Mickey Levy joins Allison Schrager to discuss the state of the macroeconomy, the Federal Reserve's evolving posture, and the complacency of the doves.

Everyone seems to think the world economy has taken a wrong turn, but nobody seems to agree on the reasons why. What if the culprit is the world's hidden transition from tangible to intangible assets? In this episode of Risk Talking, Royal Statistical Society chief executive Stian Westlake joins Allison Schrager to define the intangible economy and explain how it affects the world around us. His new book, co-authored with Jon Haskel and called Restarting the Future: How to Fix an Intangible Economy, is out now.

On the inaugural episode of Risk Talking, Joel Mokyr, the pathbreaking economic historian, joins Allison Schrager to discuss the past, present, and future of innovation and the modern economy. What sparked the industrial revolution? What are the intellectual underpinnings of economic growth? What is the future of work in an increasingly technologized world? And does today’s stifling political environment threaten our prosperity? Mokyr and Schrager take up these questions—and much more.

Learn about "Risk Talking" with Allison Schrager, a podcast from the Manhattan Institute.