
All Else Equal: Making Better Decisions
Join Stanford GSB finance professor Jonathan Berk and Jules van Binsbergen of The Wharton School in a conversation with prominent business leaders about common flaws in the decision making process and what to do about them. Learn more at AllElseEqualPodcast.com.All Else Equal: Making Better Decisions Podcast is a production of Stanford Graduate School of Business and is produced by University FM.
Latest episodes

Nov 29, 2023 • 25min
Ep36 "Institutional Neutrality: Open Debate and Moral Stands" with John Etchemendy
Former Provost of Stanford University, John Etchemendy, discusses institutional neutrality in universities and the challenges they face in maintaining it. The importance of open debate and critical thinking, embracing doubt and debate for scientific progress, the misconception that university statements represent the entire community's opinion, and the challenges of maintaining institutional neutrality are explored in this entertaining podcast.

Nov 23, 2023 • 28min
Ep35 “Does Common Ownership Affect Product Market Outcomes?” with Martin Schmalz
It turns out your airline ticket prices might be affected by common ownership in mutual and index funds, but how? In this episode, hosts and finance professors Jonathan Berk and Jules van Binsbergen welcome Martin Schmalz, Professor of Finance and Economics at Oxford Saïd and Academic Area Head for the FAME faculty group (Finance, Accounting, Managerial Science, and Economics) for a discussion about Common Ownership, and the unseen power it holds in asset management for the corporate world. Submit your questions to the show here: https://bit.ly/AllElseEqualFind All Else Equal on the web: https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/business-podcasts/all-else-equal-making-better-decisionsAll Else Equal: Making Better Decisions Podcast is a production of Stanford Graduate School of Business and is produced by University FM.RELEVANT LINKS:Common Ownership, Competition and Top Management IncentivesAnticompetitive Effects of Common OwnershipSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

9 snips
Nov 1, 2023 • 29min
Ep34 “Why Has Private Equity Grown So Much?” with Eric Zinterhofer
Eric Zinterhofer, Founder of Searchlight Capital Partners, joins the hosts to discuss the tradeoff between Public Equity and Private Equity. They explore the advantages and drawbacks of private equity funds, the challenges of performance measurement, and the time commitment required for private equity investors. They also discuss the factors driving the growth of private equity and the importance of alignment.

4 snips
Oct 19, 2023 • 24min
Ep33 How Risky Should Your Retirement Savings Be?
In this episode of All Else Equal: Making Better Decisions, hosts and finance professors Jonathan Berk and Jules van Binsbergen discuss the second half of the retirement equation, after going over how much you need to save, they now elaborate on how to think about investing what you have saved, and what theories make for optimizing your own personal risk exposure. They explain the importance of holding a diversified portfolio and tailoring the overall risk of that portfolio to you own personal needs. Submit your questions to the show here: https://bit.ly/AllElseEqualFind All Else Equal on the web: https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/business-podcasts/all-else-equal-making-better-decisionsAll Else Equal: Making Better Decisions Podcast is a production of Stanford Graduate School of Business and is produced by University FM.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

13 snips
Oct 5, 2023 • 27min
Ep32 “Labor Unions and Detroit Struggle” with Larry Katz
Larry Katz, Guest from Harvard University discusses the past and current landscape of labor unions. Topics include the impact of unions on market competitiveness, players unions in professional sports, the decline of labor unions in the US, and conflicts of interest within unions.

Aug 30, 2023 • 27min
Ep31 How Much Should You Save?
Finance professors discuss retirement planning and savings, challenges with target date funds and mandatory pension contributions, limitations of one-size-fits-all policies, optimal house buying strategy, and the importance of saving close to 20% of income for retirement.

9 snips
Aug 2, 2023 • 26min
Ep30 “Becoming a Better Communicator” with Matt Abrahams
Are you breaking some basic rules of communication without knowing it? What are the things you can start doing right now to communicate better? In this episode of All Else Equal: Making Better Decisions, hosts and finance professors Jonathan Berk and Jules van Binsbergen are joined by Matt Abrahams, lecturer at Stanford GSB, and host of the highly influential podcast Think Fast, Talk Smart for a discussion about becoming a more effective communicator and presenter. Submit your questions to the show here: https://bit.ly/AllElseEqualFind All Else Equal on the web: https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/business-podcasts/all-else-equal-making-better-decisionsAll Else Equal: Making Better Decisions Podcast is a production of Stanford Graduate School of Business and is produced by University FM.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

14 snips
Jun 29, 2023 • 33min
Ep29 “How Do You Become CEO?” with Dirk Jenter
A lot has been written and said about CEOs and their compensation, but who are they really and how did they get there? According to the data, what are the most likely paths to become one? In this episode of All Else Equal: Making Better Decisions, hosts and finance professors Jonathan Berk and Jules van Binsbergen are joined by Dirk Jenter, Professor of Finance at the London School of Economics, for a fascinating discussion of CEOs, including the surprising truths about who rises to the rank of CEO and from where, as well as exploring the issue of CEO pay, and how it could be justified. Submit your questions to the show here: https://bit.ly/AllElseEqualFind All Else Equal on the web: https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/business-podcasts/all-else-equal-making-better-decisionsAll Else Equal: Making Better Decisions Podcast is a production of Stanford Graduate School of Business and is produced by University FM.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

5 snips
Jun 14, 2023 • 26min
Ep28 Incentives and Externalities
Humans respond to incentives, and so incentives predict behavior and sometimes the behavior can be detrimental. In this episode of All Else Equal: Making Better Decisions, hosts and finance professors Jonathan Berk and Jules van Binsbergen discuss a range of less obvious examples of how incentives produce negative externalities — long legal contracts, negative news stories, dumb traffic lights, overly pessimistic disaster prediction and other examples. Submit your questions to the show here: https://bit.ly/AllElseEqualFind All Else Equal on the web: https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/business-podcasts/all-else-equal-making-better-decisionsAll Else Equal: Making Better Decisions Podcast is a production of Stanford Graduate School of Business and is produced by University FM.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

6 snips
May 31, 2023 • 30min
Ep27 "The Future of AI" with Michal Kosinski
The speed at which AI is getting smarter is on everybody's mind these days. In this episode of All Else Equal: Making Better Decisions, hosts and finance professors Jonathan Berk and Jules van Binsbergen discuss with Stanford Professor Michal Kosinski what we should expect from the coming wave of AI technology, how it relates to the research on "Theory of Mind" and whether and how it potentially could be regulated.Submit your questions to the show here: https://bit.ly/AllElseEqualFind All Else Equal on the web: https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/business-podcasts/all-else-equal-making-better-decisionsAll Else Equal: Making Better Decisions Podcast is a production of Stanford Graduate School of Business and is produced by University FM.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.