Podcasts by AEA Research Highlights

Ep. 69: Testing two theories of the origin of government from 2023-10-31T07:00

Some social scientists have postulated that governments are designed for the purpose of helping the powerful take resources from the less powerful. But while there have been many explo...

Ep. 68: Ending school segregation for Mexican Americans from 2023-10-02T07:00

Seven years before the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision ended the legal segregation of Black schoolchildren, California ended the legal segregation of Mexican American schoolc...

Ep. 67: Learning the language from 2023-09-05T06:00

The bulk of education research focuses on the benefits of the traditional K–12 and higher education systems, while non-traditional programs are relatively understudied. But economists are starti...

Ep. 66: Transitional housing and recidivism from 2023-08-09T07:00

The United States spends over a billion dollars a year on housing programs that give recently released prisoners a place to stay and modest support before reintegration into society. Y...

Ep. 65: Economic questions raised by Alzheimer's disease from 2023-07-11T07:00

The costs of Alzheimer’s disease are significant. In 2021, it affected nearly 6 million Americans and accounted for an estimated 8 percent of total US health-care spending—about as muc...

Ep. 64: Reconceptualizing the path to universal health insurance from 2023-06-12T07:00

For decades US policymakers have tried to achieve the universal health insurance coverage that many other developed countries enjoy. But despite incremental reforms, based on tweaking ...

Ep. 63: Gender bias in bank lending from 2023-05-16T07:00

Around the world, female entrepreneurs borrow less than their male counterparts. Many people suggest that the reason for this gap comes down to the fact that women select into less cap...

Ep. 62: The importance of local activism from 2023-04-17T06:00

A wave of Listen

Ep. 61: Market design and live events from 2023-03-20T06:00

Fans have frequently experienced the frustration of event tickets selling out in a matter of minutes and then being resold for twice as much or more. This combination of underpriced ti...

Ep. 60: Graduate school and mental health from 2023-02-21T07:00

Graduate school should be about learning how to push the frontiers of knowledge. Many students, however, also learn that getting a PhD can push them into emotional and psychological tr...

Ep. 59: Mental health therapy in the developing world from 2023-01-23T07:00

Cognitive behavioral therapy ...

Ep. 58: How good is popular financial advice? from 2022-12-13T07:00

When most Americans look for financial advice, they don't turn to academic journals for guidance. Instead, they’re likely to get information from financial person...

Ep. 57: The costs of cultural traditions from 2022-11-15T07:00

Religion is a deep source of tradition and meaning for many people around the world, especially those in developing countries. But religious practices can sometim...

Ep. 56: Fundraising Appeals and the Lift/Shift Question from 2022-10-20T12:36:17

Major charity appeals can bring in hundreds of millions of dollars. But many worry that these efforts shift money away from other charities or merely move donations forward in time.

In a ...

Ep. 55: School bullying, cyberbullying, and remote learning from 2022-09-19T06:00

The pandemic has taken a toll on the education system. School Listen

Ep. 54: Protecting vulnerable kids from 2022-08-22T06:00

Every year, hundreds of thousands of kids enter the US foster care system. And yet, improving their welfare remains an understudied topic among economists, accord...

Ep. 53: Grade inflation and graduation from 2022-07-25T08:00

From the 1970s to the 1990s, the share of students leaving college with a degree steadily declined. But according to a Listen

Ep. 52: Just what the doctor ordered? from 2022-06-27T04:30

In the 1990s, drug manufacturers Listen

Ep. 51: The returns to an economics degree from 2022-05-31T05:00

Publicly available statistics on career earnings show that an economics degree pays far more on the job market than degr...

Ep. 50: Comparing 911 responses from 2022-05-02T09:00

Black Lives Matter protests have put a spotlight on police abuses since 2014, but it has been challenging for  researchers to assess the impact of race from the a...

Ep. 49: The great reset? from 2022-04-04T04:00

The COVID-19 pandemic has already significantly widened wealth and income disparities around the world. 

Poorer popu...

Ep. 48: Reframing development in Africa from 2022-03-16T04:00

The past weighs on every country, and nowhere is that more true than in Africa. The continent’s legacy of slavery, colonialism, and division has stood in the way ...

Ep. 47: Moving on up? from 2022-03-02T05:00

In the first half of the twentieth century, four million African Americans left the Jim Crow South to create new lives for themselves.

Listen

Ep. 46: Money well spent from 2022-02-16T05:00

The United States has dramatically increased its funding for public schools over the last four decades. Real per-pupil expenditures have nearly doubled since 1980...

Ep. 45: Immigration politics from 2022-02-02T05:00

Nine in ten Rep...

Ep. 44: Inverted outcomes resulting from the Electoral College system from 2022-01-19T05:00

Only four times in US presidential history has the candidate with fewer popular votes won the election. Two of those occurred recently in 2000 and 2016, leading t...

Inoculating adolescents, protecting the public from 2022-01-05T05:00

This is a rebroadcast of a conversation that Chris Fleisher had with University of Georgia professor Emily Lawler back in 2019 about her Listen

Ep. 43: The long-run benefits of public preschool from 2021-12-22T05:00

Head Start was launched nearly sixty years ago as part of the United States’ War on Poverty. Since then, it has helped prepare millions of kids for first grade. Listen

Ep. 42: Reimagining public safety research from 2021-12-08T05:00

The Black Lives Matter movement has s...

Ep. 41: Divergences in life expectancy across US states from 2021-11-24T05:00

Listen

Ep. 40: The recovery of Southern wealth after the Civil War from 2021-11-10T05:00

The American Civil War and emancipation ended chattel slavery, and as a result, substantially reduced the fortunes of slaveholding households in the years immedia...

Ep. 39: Deterring crime with DNA databases from 2021-10-27T04:00

DNA databases have become essential for solving crimes with few to no leads. But their benefits extend beyond finding suspects. 

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Ep. 38: Growth by proximity from 2021-10-13T04:00

Austin was a laid-back college town in the 1980s when a student at the University of Texas named Listen

Ep. 37: Going from gasoline to electric from 2021-09-29T04:00

Countries around the world are Listen

Ep. 36: Demagoguery on the airwaves from 2021-09-15T04:00

Right-wing radio has served as a megaphone for populist outrage in America.

Talk-show hosts like Alex Jones and the ...

Ep. 35: Work and childcare during the pandemic from 2021-09-01T04:00

COVID-19 has reshaped work in numerous ways. Many fortunate white-collar Americans spent the last year working from home. Others in service-oriented jobs lost wor...

Ep. 34: The politics of tax evasion from 2021-08-18T04:00

Tax evasion costs the United States hundreds of billions of dollars every year. 

But for some Americans, hiding inco...

Ep. 33: Military handoffs from 2021-08-04T04:00

For a military intervention to end successfully, foreign forces have to hand off security to domestic forces. But historically, these Listen

Bonus: The case for paying college athletes from 2021-07-23T04:00

**Editor's note: This is a rebroadcast of an interview from 2019.

College sports have become big business, ...

Ep. 32: How policy shapes culture from 2021-07-21T04:00

Culture is shaped by the conditions in which humans live.

As societies modernize, their cultural traditions will cha...

Ep. 31: More than a few bad apples from 2021-07-07T04:00

Police officers have a lot of discretion in how they enforce the law, but they are not always evenhanded in how they employ their judgement.

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Ep. 30: LGBTQ economics from 2021-06-23T04:00

A lot has changed since the first economics papers on LGBTQ issues appeared in the mid-1990s. 

The volume of researc...

Ep. 29: Making economic tools more reliable from 2021-06-09T04:00

Can economists trust their models? How does their data drive their conclusions? These are some of the big questions that motivate econometrician Listen

Ep. 28: The Pros and Cons of Collaboration from 2021-05-26T04:00

There was a time not long ago when most economists tended to work by themselves. 

In 1960, fewer than one in five ec...

Ep. 27: American capitalism and incarceration from 2021-05-12T04:00

The first private prison in the United States Listen

Ep. 26: Creating Africa’s own Green Revolution from 2021-04-28T04:00

More than 50 years ago, a revolution in seed and fertilizer technology bolstered food production and economic well-being in Asia and Latin America.

...

Ep. 25: Why the United States has the best research universities from 2021-04-14T04:00

At the turn of the 19th century, American universities were mostly under-resourced, regional schools. By World War II, they had become research leaders on the glo...

Ep. 24: Climate change and migration from 2021-03-31T04:00

Nobel Prize winner William Nordhaus has called climate change “Listen

Ep. 23: How much do local leaders matter? from 2021-03-17T04:00

After a failed revolution in 1848, hundreds of Germans were expelled from their home country and settled in the US. It was not obvious that this eclectic group wo...

Ep. 22: Supreme polarization from 2021-03-03T05:00

Democrats may control the White House and Congress, but Republicans have a clear advantage on the nation’s highest court. 

Listen

Bonus: Tech: economists wanted from 2021-02-17T05:00

Companies like Listen

Ep. 21: The consquences of school choice. from 2021-02-03T05:00

In the US, most students enroll in their neighborhood school. But sometimes, they have a choice.

Families might be g...

Ep. 20: Rereading The Road to Serfdom from 2021-01-20T05:00

Friedrich Hayek is one of the giants of 20th century economics. He did important work on everything from business cycles to psychology, earning a Nobel Prize in e...

Ep. 19: Social well-being and academic success from 2021-01-06T05:00

Schools are academic institutions. But they are not only that. They are also social spaces that are critical to children’s development.

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Ep. 18: The promise of conditional cash transfers from 2020-12-23T05:00

Simply giving cash with a few strings attached could be one of the most promising ways to reduce poverty and insecurity in the developing world. Today, over 63 co...

Ep. 17: Gendered laws from 2020-12-09T05:00

It’s well documented that women earn less than men for doing the same job. But the pay gap is just one way in which women are economically disadvantaged. Listen

Ep. 16: The anatomy of inequality from 2020-11-25T05:00

More and more of the wealth in the richest countries is going to their richest citizens. And there are no signs that it’s stopping.

Listen

Ep. 15: How economists can help combat COVID-19 from 2020-11-11T05:00

Epidemiology used to be a quiet discipline whose experts were not much used to being in the public eye.  

Then COVID...

Bonus episode: How Democrats lost the South from 2020-10-30T04:00

The GOP has owned the US South, Listen

Ep. 14: Importing polarization from 2020-10-28T04:00

The gap between red and blue America has been expanding for Listen

Ep. 13: Populism's rise from 2020-10-14T04:00

Populism’s rise has sparked fundamental questions for advanced democracies around the world.

Perhaps the biggest que...

Ep. 12: Taxing hidden wealth from 2020-09-30T04:00

The IRS knows that taxpayers <...

Ep. 11: Reviving distressed communities from 2020-09-16T04:00

The US spends nearly $50 billion a year on job-creating business incentives. Unfortunately, a lot of this money doesn’t go to the places that need it most....

Ep. 10: What helps and hurts minorities’ progress in an economics career? from 2020-09-02T04:00

Black, Latinx, and Native American people are badly underrepresented in economics.  In 2017, they were 30 percent of the US population, but earned fewer than 10 p...

Ep. 9: A century of women’s enfranchisement from 2020-08-19T04:00

This week marks the centennial of women’s enfranchisement in the United States and women have never been so politically powerful—or politically divided with men.<...

Ep. 8: Wielding charity for political influence from 2020-08-05T04:00

The amount of money in politics seems to grow every year. Spending by Listen

Ep. 7: Building barriers from 2020-07-22T04:00

Even before there was President Trump, there was “the wall.”

America has spent billions on border enforcement, which...

Ep. 6: Autocracies in the information age from 2020-07-08T04:00

The world has been adjusting to the Listen

Bonus episode: The gender gap in economics from 2020-07-01T04:00

Swarthmore professor Amanda Bayer Listen

Ep. 5: Rethinking racial discrimination from 2020-06-24T04:00

The economics profession is in a moment of racial reckoning.

A field still dominated by white men is rethinking long...

Ep. 4: The persistence of poverty and insecurity from 2020-06-10T11:00

Few economists have shed as much light on the long-run impact of institutions as Melissa Dell.

Her efforts, which ea...

Ep. 3: Scrutinizing for-profit colleges from 2020-05-27T11:00

For-profit colleges hope to be profitable again.

Years of intense regulatory scrutiny over high student loan default...

Ep. 2: Supplying a fiscal lifeline from 2020-05-13T11:00

There’s little doubt Listen

Ep. 1: "An ambassador of the economics profession" from 2020-04-29T12:00

Anyone who has ever taken Econ 101 will likely be familiar with our guest Grego...

Introducing the AEA Research Highlights podcast from 2020-04-22T11:12:56

Five years ago, the American Economic Association began posting short, readable summaries of the research published in our journals. We called them Research Highl...