Economics, Applied

Steve Davis welcomes Mary Daly for a return appearance on Economics, Applied – this time directly from the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. They discuss the Fed’s new communications regime, how the Fed should respond to demand overheating and inflationary supply shocks, and how Daly thinks about the implications of AI technologies for the conduct of monetary policy. Other topics include wage stickiness and whether the banking system is safe from cyber attacks. ABOUT ECONOMICS, APPLIED Economics, Applied brings together top leaders and researchers to break down key economic developments, offering evidence-based insights and practical lessons for navigating today’s economy. Economic change is constant.

Steve Davis welcomes Harvard’s Wenxin Du to discuss her analysis of how to cost-effectively transfer funds across international borders. Perhaps surprisingly, the all-in costs of using stablecoins for small-amount transfers (less than $10,000) greatly exceed the cost of using fintech apps and sometimes exceed the cost of relying on commercial banks. Along the way, Wenxin’s analysis also highlights the consumer benefits of greater competition in the market for remittances and other cross-border payments. ABOUT ECONOMICS, APPLIED Economics, Applied brings together top leaders and researchers to break down key economic developments, offering evidence-based insights and practical lessons for navigating today’s economy. Economic change is constant.

At the Jackson Hole Economic Policy Symposium, OECD chief economist Stefano Scarpetta joins Steven J. Davis to discuss how distributed ledger technology, stablecoins, and tokenization could make transactions more efficient and less expensive, while expanding access to financial markets. Scarpetta explains that for these technologies to perform successfully at scale, users need to have confidence in them and acquire financial and digital literacy to understand how they work. Scarpetta points to interoperability, open standards, data portability, consumer safeguards, and international cooperation as necessary conditions for capturing the benefits of these payment system innovations while minimizing their risks. ABOUT ECONOMICS, APPLIED Economics, Applied brings together top leaders and researchers to break down key economic developments, offering evidence-based insights and practical lessons for navigating today’s economy. Economic change is constant.

ECB Executive Board Member Philip Lane joins Steven Davis at Jackson Hole to discuss AI’s impact on Euro-area economies, why Europe lags the United States in this area, the role of regulations and VC financing, and the challenges of integrating AI technologies into workflows and production pipelines. ABOUT ECONOMICS, APPLIED Economics, Applied brings together top leaders and researchers to break down key economic developments, offering evidence-based insights and practical lessons for navigating today’s economy. Economic change is constant.

Ken Rogoff joins Steve Davis at Jackson Hole to discuss our limited understanding of real interest rates, the risks associated with high government debt levels, and what it all means for the conduct of fiscal policy. They also discuss how the external political environment and incentives within the economics profession can, and did, lead to imprudent advice about fiscal policy from leading professional economists. ABOUT ECONOMICS, APPLIED Economics, Applied brings together top leaders and researchers to break down key economic developments, offering evidence-based insights and practical lessons for navigating today’s economy. Economic change is constant.

Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee joins Steve Davis to discuss his recent speech on how central banks should respond to supply shocks. Goolsbee argues that the Fed should not simply “look through” supply shocks but should instead treat them as persistent or recurring and, hence, as a call for tightening by the Fed. The discussion ranges widely from oil shocks and inflation in the 1970s to supply-chain disruptions and tariffs in the 2020s. They also discuss wage stickiness and its implications for monetary policy. ABOUT ECONOMICS, APPLIED Economics, Applied brings together top leaders and researchers to break down key economic developments, offering evidence-based insights and practical lessons for navigating today’s economy. Economic change is constant.

Steven Davis asks Anil Kashyap to unpack recent US interventions in the Treasury bond market and the Yen-Dollar FX market and whether they can meaningfully influence borrowing costs. They also examine fiscal pressures in the United States and Japan and what Fed Chair Kevin Warsh’s Jackson Hole speech signals for inflation, interest rates, and monetary policy. ABOUT ECONOMICS, APPLIED Economics, Applied brings together top leaders and researchers to break down key economic developments, offering evidence-based insights and practical lessons for navigating today’s economy. Economic change is constant.

How can we reap the benefits of financial innovation while ensuring a sound, trustworthy financial system? Steven Davis asks IMF head Kristalina Georgieva at Jackson Hole. Their conversation touches on tokenization, stablecoins, cross-border payments, and regulatory frameworks. Georgieva describes strong institutions as the fertile ground for dynamic and stable financial innovation as well as the foundations of sound monetary and fiscal policy, lessons from emerging economies, and the growing fiscal challenges facing advanced economies. Georgieva argues that policymakers should address debt and deficits during good economic times rather than waiting for a crisis to force action. ABOUT ECONOMICS, APPLIED Economics, Applied brings together top leaders and researchers to break down key economic developments, offering evidence-based insights and practical lessons for navigating today’s economy. Economic change is constant.

Raghuram Rajan, former Reserve Bank of India governor, joins Steve Davis at the Jackson Hole Symposium to offer his take on Fed chairman Kevin Warsh’s speech and Treasury secretary Scott Bessent’s recent intervention in bond markets. Rajan explains why attempts to push down long-term yields can distort important market signals, and why rising debt-servicing costs could ultimately force policymakers to pay greater attention to addressing persistent government deficits. Rajan and Davis address the long-term behavior of real interest rates, the risks of assuming unusually low real interest rates at a point in time will continue in the future, and the need for more fiscal prudence amid high levels of government debt. They also discuss the limits of central banks, which can address liquidity problems and market dysfunction but cannot rescue governments from an underlying fiscal crisis. ABOUT ECONOMICS, APPLIED Economics, Applied brings together top leaders and researchers to break down key economic developments,…

Tom Barkin, president and CEO of the Richmond Fed, chats with Steve about Fed Chair Kevin Warsh’s speech at the Jackson Hole Symposium. They also discuss Ken Rogoff’s lunchtime remarks about the end of low real interest rates and what that means for the US fiscal outlook. They wrap up with reflections on lessons learned about housing (un)affordability by driving around Maryland, West Virginia, Virginia, and North and South Carolina. ABOUT ECONOMICS, APPLIED Economics, Applied brings together top leaders and researchers to break down key economic developments, offering evidence-based insights and practical lessons for navigating today’s economy. Economic change is constant.

Jeffrey Schmid sits down with Steven Davis at the 49th edition of the Jackson Hole Economic Policy Symposium. They chat about Kevin Warsh’s keynote speech, innovations in the payments system, digital assets, competition for banks, and what it means for crisis management by the Fed and other central banks. ABOUT ECONOMICS, APPLIED Economics, Applied brings together top leaders and researchers to break down key economic developments, offering evidence-based insights and practical lessons for navigating today’s economy. Economic change is constant.

Steven Davis chats with Ross Levine about how the rule of law and competition foster prosperity and freedom in a system of market-based capitalism. They highlight the moral dimensions of the case for capitalism and its limits. They explain why the state is necessary for well-functioning markets, and how state power can undermine competition, prosperity, and freedom. They also discuss the toughest challenge facing a capitalist, or any, society – how to ensure widespread opportunity. ABOUT ECONOMICS, APPLIED Economics, Applied brings together top leaders and researchers to break down key economic developments, offering evidence-based insights and practical lessons for navigating today’s economy. Economic change is constant.

Steven Davis chats with Liya Palagashvili about her new paper on “Artificial Intelligence and the Rise of Independent Work.” They start with a discussion of why, as a matter of economics, it’s plausible that generative AI tools make it easier to operate solo businesses. They then turn to Liya’s evidence, which suggests that AI has helped spur the growth of one-person businesses since 2024 in the United States. They close with a discussion of how this development should inform our thinking about labor market policies. ABOUT ECONOMICS, APPLIED Economics, Applied brings together top leaders and researchers to break down key economic developments, offering evidence-based insights and practical lessons for navigating today’s economy. Economic change is constant. Subscribe to keep up: hoover.org/podcasts/economics-applied.

Hundreds of millions of people around the world are deaf or hard of hearing, which can impair job performance. Can AI tools help? Steven Davis speaks to two researchers who study the effects of a new AI tool on the productivity and wages of hearing-impaired workers in the food delivery business. They also discuss how the profit motive drove the adoption and diffusion of the new AI tool, raising the wages and earnings of hearing-impaired workers. ABOUT ECONOMICS, APPLIED Economics, Applied brings together top leaders and researchers to break down key economic developments, offering evidence-based insights and practical lessons for navigating today’s economy. Economic change is constant. Subscribe to keep up: hoover.org/podcasts/economics-applied.

Steven Davis speaks to Aaron Chalfin and Max Kapustin about “focused deterrence,” a strategy that concentrates policing and social services on persons at high risk of gang-related gun violence. After Baltimore implemented this strategy in early 2022, its homicide rate fell 60% over three years. Aaron and Max explain the strategy, and Steve asks them what we know about how and why it works. They also discuss prospects for bringing “focused deterrence” to other American cities. ABOUT ECONOMICS, APPLIED Economics, Applied brings together top leaders and researchers to break down key economic developments, offering evidence-based insights and practical lessons for navigating today’s economy. Economic change is constant. Subscribe to keep up: hoover.org/podcasts/economics-applied.

Steve speaks with William Evans and Ethan Lieber about the heartbreaking rise of deaths due to drug misuse in the United States. A major shift in prescription practices for pain management after 1995 drove higher levels of opiate use and misuse and contributed to an explosion of illicit opiates in the 21st century. It’s a disturbing story of professional misjudgments, deceptive marketing, policy mistakes, and unintended consequences. Reforms in prescription practices, while overdue, will mitigate but not solve current-day problems of drug abuse and misuse. ABOUT ECONOMICS, APPLIED Economics, Applied brings together top leaders and researchers to break down key economic developments, offering evidence-based insights and practical lessons for navigating today’s economy. Economic change is constant. Subscribe to keep up: hoover.org/podcasts/economics-applied.

Cross-border supply chains bring great efficiencies but also present vulnerabilities that adversaries can exploit. How should we think about these vulnerabilities and their implications for economic and national security? How can we identify, assess, and respond to these vulnerabilities? Steve asks two noted trade policy experts, Chad Bown and Soumaya Keynes. ABOUT ECONOMICS, APPLIED Economics, Applied brings together top leaders and researchers to break down key economic developments, offering evidence-based insights and practical lessons for navigating today’s economy. Economic change is constant. Subscribe to keep up: hoover.org/podcasts/economics-applied.

Steven Davis speaks to Evan Starr, a leading expert on the economics of noncompete clauses. They discuss the prevalence of noncompete clauses in employment agreements; the pros and cons for employers, workers, and society; where to draw the line in disallowing noncompete clauses; the role of antitrust in policing noncompete clauses; their effects on the pace of innovation; and whether the United States should adopt a national policy on noncompete clauses. ABOUT ECONOMICS, APPLIED Economics, Applied brings together top leaders and researchers to break down key economic developments, offering evidence-based insights and practical lessons for navigating today’s economy. Economic change is constant. Subscribe to keep up: hoover.org/podcasts/economics-applied.

When job loss leads to a long spell of unemployment, it causes a big blow to self-esteem, a lasting drop in living standards, and serious hardship for the job loser’s family. Is there a low-cost way to help job losers navigate the search process and find rewarding new work? Yes, say two economists at Cornell University, based on their insightful new study. Steve discusses the study and underlying thinking with the authors. ABOUT ECONOMICS, APPLIED Economics, Applied brings together top leaders and researchers to break down key economic developments, offering evidence-based insights and practical lessons for navigating today’s economy. Economic change is constant. Subscribe to keep up: hoover.org/podcasts/economics-applied.

How does war affect national output, productivity, and consumer prices in belligerent countries and economies worldwide? Two economists, Jonathan Federle and Moritz Schularick, investigate how war and its intensity relate to national output, productivity, consumer prices, and international trade. They exploit 150 years of data for 60 countries. Steven Davis chats with them about what they learned. ABOUT ECONOMICS, APPLIED Economics, Applied brings together top leaders and researchers to break down key economic developments, offering evidence-based insights and practical lessons for navigating today’s economy. Economic change is constant. Subscribe to keep up: hoover.org/podcasts/economics-applied.

Mortality rates fell sharply for college-educated Americans in recent decades but not for other Americans. Mortality trends also differ sharply between rural and urban areas of the United States and across US counties. Steven Davis asks Jonathan Skinner about these puzzling and troubling trends, and how to explain them. According to Jonathan’s recent research, “Deaths of despair,” “the China shock," obesity, and income inequality don’t explain the trends. Instead, the explanation turns on differences in smoking trends and the consequences for mortality. ABOUT ECONOMICS, APPLIED Economics, Applied brings together top leaders and researchers to break down key economic developments, offering evidence-based insights and practical lessons for navigating today’s economy. Economic change is constant. Subscribe to keep up: hoover.org/podcasts/economics-applied.

Tariffs: How high? Who pays? And what’s their impact on trade deficits? Steven Davis speaks to Brent Neiman about President Trump’s approach to tariff policy and the latest data on trade deficits. While tariffs are up in 2025, Brent’s research reveals that actual tariff rates are only half as high as headlines suggest. Steve and Brent also discuss who pays Trump’s tariffs, how we know, the damage caused by uncertainty around tariffs, and the value of commitment in the conduct of trade policy. ABOUT ECONOMICS, APPLIED Economics, Applied brings together top leaders and researchers to break down key economic developments, offering evidence-based insights and practical lessons for navigating today’s economy. Economic change is constant. Subscribe to keep up: hoover.org/podcasts/economics-applied.

US military forces captured Nicolás Maduro last month, but the Chavista regime remains intact, at least for now. How can Venezuela find its way back to the rule of law, human rights, democracy, and prosperity? What role should the United States play? Steven Davis asks renowned economist Ricardo Hausmann. ABOUT ECONOMICS, APPLIED Economics, Applied brings together top leaders and researchers to break down key economic developments, offering evidence-based insights and practical lessons for navigating today’s economy. Economic change is constant. Subscribe to keep up: hoover.org/podcasts/economics-applied.

The United States has looked to Asia for software developers, scientists, engineers, and physicians in recent decades. How has that worked out for Americans? For other countries? Immigrants from five Asian countries — India, China, South Korea, Japan, and the Philippines — account for much of the growth in U.S. software developers, scientists, engineers, and physicians since 1990. What forces drove this migration of foreign talent? What are the economic effects in the United States? In the source countries? Steve talks about these matters with Gaurav Khanna, who has done extensive research on high-skilled immigration and its economic consequences. ABOUT ECONOMICS, APPLIED Economics, Applied brings together top leaders and researchers to break down key economic developments, offering evidence-based insights and practical lessons for navigating today’s economy. Economic change is constant. Subscribe to keep up: hoover.org/podcasts/economics-applied.

The U.S. occupational licensing system is riddled with problems and conflicts of interest. How can we fix it? Rebecca Allensworth joins Steven Davis to talk about her new book on occupational licensing, which covers one-fifth of all American jobs. Licensing reduces supply, limits competition, raises prices, and harms consumers, benefiting incumbent practitioners at the public's expense. The US approach to licensing is especially prone to conflicts of interest and poor performance. Professor Allensworth offers several proposals to fix the licensing system, and Davis offers his thoughts as well. ABOUT ECONOMICS, APPLIED Economics, Applied brings together top leaders and researchers to break down key economic developments, offering evidence-based insights and practical lessons for navigating today’s economy. Economic change is constant. Subscribe to keep up: hoover.org/podcasts/economics-applied.

Nicholas Bloom joins Steven Davis to discuss cool new research presented at the annual Hoover-SIEPR conference on remote work: How much do employers save on wages when they let employees work from home? Why does remote work raise productivity in some settings but lower it in others? Do children perform better at school when parents work from home? What does the rise of remote work mean for cities? ABOUT ECONOMICS, APPLIED Economics, Applied brings together top leaders and researchers to break down key economic developments, offering evidence-based insights and practical lessons for navigating today’s economy. Economic change is constant. Subscribe to keep up: hoover.org/podcasts/economics-applied.

Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) member Jeffrey Schmid speaks with Steven Davis about inflation, labor market conditions, and US monetary policy. They discuss the state of the economy, the thinking behind recent monetary policy decisions, the public’s intense dislike of inflation, central bank credibility, how the recent government shutdown challenged policymakers, and the need to rethink economic statistics. ABOUT ECONOMICS, APPLIED Economics, Applied brings together top leaders and researchers to break down key economic developments, offering evidence-based insights and practical lessons for navigating today’s economy. Economic change is constant. Subscribe to keep up: hoover.org/podcasts/economics-applied.

Steven Davis speaks to Catherine Pakaluk, author of an audacious book on highly educated American women who choose to have many children. How do these women explain and understand their choices to have large families? What do their stories say about the broader forces that influence fertility decisions? What are the lessons for families and communities? ABOUT ECONOMICS, APPLIED Economics, Applied brings together top leaders and researchers to break down key economic developments, offering evidence-based insights and practical lessons for navigating today’s economy. Economic change is constant. Subscribe to keep up: hoover.org/podcasts/economics-applied.

Richmond Fed President, Tom Barkin, joins Steven Davis to consider what it takes for small towns to prosper, and why it matters for families and communities. They also discuss how policymakers and civic leaders can address concerns about the downsides of economic development. ABOUT ECONOMICS, APPLIED Economics, Applied brings together top leaders and researchers to break down key economic developments, offering evidence-based insights and practical lessons for navigating today’s economy. Economic change is constant. Subscribe to keep up: hoover.org/podcasts/economics-applied.

Austan Goolsbee joins Steven Davis to consider “The Strange and Awful Path of Productivity in the U.S. Construction Sector.” Strange because construction productivity has stagnated for decades. Awful because it makes homes less affordable for American families. They probe the issue, drawing on Austan’s recent research with Chicago Booth Professor Chad Syverson. ABOUT ECONOMICS, APPLIED Economics, Applied brings together top leaders and researchers to break down key economic developments, offering evidence-based insights and practical lessons for navigating today’s economy. Economic change is constant. Subscribe to keep up: hoover.org/podcasts/economics-applied.

Claudia Goldin joins Steven Davis to discuss the “The Downside of Fertility,” her essay presented at the 2025 Jackson Hole Economic Policy Symposium. She offers an explanation for why fertility rates fell around the world as women gained greater agency in multiple domains (marriage, reproduction, education, labor markets). When women gain agency, Goldin argues that a “mismatch” between men and women in their expectations about child-rearing responsibilities leads to lower fertility. She also argues that this form of mismatch is more acute in the wake of sustained, rapid economic development, as women pursue newfound opportunities while many men cling to traditional views about marriage and child rearing. RELATED SOURCES “The Downside of Fertility” by Claudia Goldin, 2025. Claudia Goldin, Official Nobel Prize Interview, 2023. The Population Bomb by Paul Ehrlich, 1968 The Vorkosigan Saga, a series of science fiction novels by Lois McMaster Bujold in which artificial wombs profoundly influence human…

Mary Daly joins Steven Davis to discuss how the Fed communicates with the public about monetary policy. How precise should the Fed be about its actions and goals? How transparent about its reasoning and internal deliberations? How should the Fed weigh the need for flexibility in responding to unforeseen shocks against the desire for clarity and guidance? How can the Fed improve its communications? Mary and Steve also discuss the market’s reaction to Jerome Powell’s speech at the Jackson Hole Monetary Policy Symposium. RELATED SOURCES “Dynamic Central Bank Communication,” a speech by Mary Daly at the Western Economic Association International Annual Conference, San Francisco, 22 June 2025. “Monetary Policy and the Fed’s Framework Review,” a speech by Jerome Powell at the Jackson Hole Monetary Policy Forum, 22 August 2025. ABOUT ECONOMICS, APPLIED Economics, Applied brings together top leaders and researchers to break down key economic developments, offering evidence-based insights and practical lessons for…

Engaged fathers help children build happy, prosperous lives, as Steven Davis discusses with sociologist Brad Wilcox and educational entrepreneur Ian Rowe. Brad and Ian also share their ideas on how to strengthen fatherhood and help children choose better life paths. RELATED SOURCES Good Fathers, Flourishing Kids: The Importance of Fatherhood in Virginia by Brad Wilcox, Nicholas Zill, Richard Reeves, Ian Rowe, Gerard Robinson and Linda Malone-Colon, 2025. Get Married: Why Americans Should Defy the Elites, Forge Strong Families and Save Civilization by Brad Wilcox, 2024. Agency: The Four Point Plan (F.R.E.E.) for ALL Children to Overcome the Victimhood Narrative and Discover Their Pathway to Power by Ian Rowe, 2022. The Two-Parent Privilege: How Americans Stopped Getting Married and Started Falling Behind by Melissa Kearney, 2023. “Where Is the Land of Opportunity? The Geography of Intergenerational Mobility in the United States,” Raj Chetty, Nathaniel Hendren, Patrick Kline and Emmanuel Saez, Quarterly…

The international economic system has reached a major turning point. Challenges include the rise of China, U.S. ambivalence about its role on the global stage, and Trumpian trade policy disruptions. What comes next, and what are the potential consequences? RELATED SOURCES “The International Monetary and Financial System: A Fork in the Road,” Andrew Crockett Memorial Lecture delivered by Maurice Obstfeld in Basel, Switzerland, 29 June 2025. “Maurice Obstfeld on the Trade War’s Damage to the Monetary System,” Central Banking, 22 May 2025. ABOUT ECONOMICS, APPLIED Economics, Applied brings together top leaders and researchers to break down key economic developments, offering evidence-based insights and practical lessons for navigating today’s economy. Economic change is constant. Subscribe to keep up: hoover.org/podcasts/economics-applied.

Since the end of World War II, the United States has played the leading role in designing, supporting, and governing the international economic system. How did the system operate, and what were its underlying principles, goals, and challenges? Steven Davis speaks to Maurice Obstfeld about the international economic system that emerged after World War II, the central role of the United States, and how the positive-sum nature of the system fostered prosperity. They consider how the system functioned in the Bretton Woods era, the Nixon Shock of 1971, high inflation in the 1970s, transition to sound monetary policy in the 1980s, and how the U.S. Dollar became even more central to the system in the 1990s. RELATED SOURCES “The International Monetary and Financial System: A Fork in the Road,” Andrew Crockett Memorial Lecture delivered by Maurice Obstfeld in Basel, Switzerland, 29 June 2025. ABOUT ECONOMICS, APPLIED Economics, Applied brings together top leaders and researchers to break down key economic…

Steven Davis speaks with Carolina Arteaga and Victoria Barone, two Econ professors, about the US opioid epidemic. They discuss Purdue Pharma’s marketing strategy, its influence on physicians, and policy factors as drivers of the epidemic. Next, they consider economic consequences, the odd character of how the media covered the epidemic, the (slow) response of most politicians to a mounting tragedy, and how – over time – the opioid epidemic and its fallout drove a major political realignment in the United States. RELATED SOURCES The Great Trade Hack: How Trump’s Trade War Fails and the World Moves On by Richard Baldwin, 2025 The Globotics Upheaval: Globalization, Robotics, and the Future of Work by Richard Baldwin, 2019 “Destructive Trade Policy” by Steven Davis, April 2025 Trends in the Distribution of Household Income from 1979 to 2021, U.S. Congressional Budget Office, September 2024 "Dollar Dominance: A Conversation with Ken Rogoff", Economics Applied podcast, 11 June 2025 VoxEU columns At War with…

Richard Baldwin joins the podcast to speak with Steve about Trumpian Trade Policy, its underlying political logic, its lack of economic coherence, and its consequences for the American and global economies. They also discuss economic and political forces that led to the current protectionist moment in US trade policy, and whether it will endure. Finally, they outline four scenarios for the future international trading system and what it means for US economic fortunes and geopolitical influence. ABOUT THE SPEAKERS Richard Baldwin is Professor of International Economics at IMD Business School and Editor-in-Chief of VoxEU, an innovative online platform that publishes short, accessible articles grounded in recent research in economics and political economy. Previously, he held faculty appointments at the Geneva Graduate Institute and Columbia Business School. He also served as Senior Staff Economist at the Council of Economic Advisers under President George H.W. Bush. Steven Davis is the Thomas W. and Susan B.…

Steven Davis speaks with Kenneth Rogoff about the dominant role of the US Dollar in the international monetary and financial system, drawing on Ken’s new book, Our Dollar, Your Problem. They review how the Dollar became pre-eminent, the benefits and costs, the relationship to U.S. monetary policy, and the forces that could undermine Dollar Dominance. These include geopolitical tensions between the U.S. and China, the U.S. fiscal outlook, and threats to central bank independence. Recorded on June 2, 2025. ABOUT THE SPEAKERS Kenneth Rogoff is a Professor of International Economics at Harvard, former Chief Economist at the International Monetary Fund, chess grandmaster, and author of many influential works, including his highly celebrated book with Carmen Reinhart, This Time Is Different: Eight Centuries of Financial Folly. He is an elected member of the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Steven Davis is the Thomas W. and Susan B. Ford Senior Fellow and Director of…

Steven Davis chats again with Jens Ludwig about his new book on gun deaths in America. The conversation focuses on low-cost policy solutions that can reduce gun deaths without remaking American society. The solutions include pocket parks, predictive policing, and programs that help people think about behavior in stressful situations. Recorded on April 23, 2025. ABOUT THE SPEAKERS Jens Ludwig is the Edwin A. and Betty L. Bergman Distinguished Service Professor at the University of Chicago’s Harris School of Public Policy. He is also the Pritzker Director of the University’s Crime Lab and codirector of the NBER’s working group on the economics of crime. His latest book, just out from the University of Chicago Press, is titled Unforgiving Places: The Unexpected Origins of American Gun Violence. Steven Davis is the Thomas W. and Susan B. Ford Senior Fellow and Director of Research at the Hoover Institution, and Senior Fellow at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research (SIEPR). He is a research…

Steve Davis speaks to Jens Ludwig about his deeply-researched new book on gun deaths in America. They discuss why America has so many gun deaths, how traditional narratives fail to explain most gun violence, and why past policies failed to reduce the deadly toll. Ludwig also advances a fuller explanation for gun violence, grounded in evidence and behavioral insights. Recorded on April 23, 2025. ABOUT THE SPEAKERS Jens Ludwig is the Edwin A. and Betty L. Bergman Distinguished Service Professor at the University of Chicago’s Harris School of Public Policy. He is also the Pritzker Director of the University’s Crime Lab and codirector of the NBER’s working group on the economics of crime. His latest book, just out from the University of Chicago Press, is titled Unforgiving Places: The Unexpected Origins of American Gun Violence. Steven Davis is the Thomas W. and Susan B. Ford Senior Fellow and Director of Research at the Hoover Institution, and Senior Fellow at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research…

Donald Trump is disrupting U.S. trade policy as never before. His tariff gyrations are roiling financial markets, raising the prospects of recession, and alarming allies. Tune in as Steve discusses the economic and geopolitical consequences with two outstanding experts on trade policy.

In the 1920s, the US government sharply restricted immigration inflows from countries in Eastern and Southern Europe. At the time, most immigrants from these countries had modest skills. Steve speaks to Stanford economist Ran Abramitzky about these immigration cutbacks, their effects on the earnings of US-born workers, and how the economy adapted. Recorded on April 2, 2025. ABOUT THE SPEAKERS: Ran Abramitzky is the Stanford Federal Credit Union Professor of Economics, Senior Associate Dean of the Social Sciences at Stanford University, and Senior Fellow at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research. His studies economic history, with a focus on immigration and income inequality. His recent book with Leah Boustan, Streets of Gold: America's Untold Story of Immigrant Success (PublicAffairs 2022), was listed on The New Yorker's Best Books of 2022, Forbes' Best Business Books of 2022, and Behavioral Scientist's Notable Books of 2022. Steven Davis is the Thomas W. and Susan B. Ford Senior Fellow and…

Steve speaks to Feng Chi about her research on the commercial value of the Decennial Census of Population and Housing. Using a creative empirical approach, Feng offers evidence that fresher government statistics yield better business outcomes and more value for consumers. Steve and Feng also discuss how government statistics improve the value of statistics generated in the private sector. Recorded on March 19, 2025. ABOUT THE SPEAKERS: Feng Chi, a PhD candidate at Cornell University, will join the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign as an Assistant Professor of Economics in Fall 2025. She holds a Master of Science degree in Applied Economics and Management from Cornell University and a B.A. in Finance from Renmin University. Her research interests are in information economics, fintech, and entrepreneurship. Steven Davis is the Thomas W. and Susan B. Ford Senior Fellow and Director of Research at the Hoover Institution, and Senior Fellow at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research (SIEPR).…

In the 1930s, as part of the New Deal, the U.S. government hired unemployed writers to interview older Americans and record their life stories. Today’s guest examines those stories to investigate the sources of meaning, happiness, and hardship in the lives of everyday Americans. One theme to emerge is the central role of work as a source of meaning for many people. Another key theme is that men and women differ in how they find meaning in their lives and in the sources of hardship. Join Steve as he speaks with Brown University Professor Stelios Michalopoulos. Recorded on February 27, 2025. ABOUT THE SPEAKERS: Stelios Michalopoulos is the Eastman Professor of Political Economy in the Department of Economics at Brown University. An imaginative scholar, he works at the intersection of political economy and culture. He has conducted research on folklore, movies, the origins of ethnic diversity, the effects of colonial and pre-colonial institutions on economic development in Africa, and much more. He serves on…

Who uses generative AI in the workplace? Will the spread of GenAI tools propel a lasting productivity boom in the United States? David Deming has some answers, grounded in data.

How do immigrant students in the classroom affect the educational outcomes of US-born children? Tune in to find out!

Immigration, political backlash, consequences. It’s an old story, with many variants. Today’s episode reaches back in U.S. history to consider the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 and its economic consequences. You may be surprised by how it played out.

How have economic and financial sanctions on Russia affected its economy and its war-fighting capabilities? Oleg Itskhoki and Elina Ribakova join host Steven Davis to share their insights on this pressing question and on the broader question of when sanctions do and don’t work.

Nick Bloom joins Steven Davis to discuss Return-to-Office mandates (RTOs), Amazon’s RTO, long-distance CEOs, the business start-up boom, employment among people with disabilities, the “child penalty” for working women, burglary, golf, and more.

How big is the U.S. immigration surge in recent years? What are its fiscal and economic consequences? Join Steven Davis, as he probes these questions with economists Wendy Edelberg and Madeline Zavodny.