Vox's Emily Stewart talks with Kathryn Judge, professor at Columbia Law School and author of the new book Direct: The Rise of Middleman Economy and the Power of Going to the Source. They discuss how middlemen — which include real estate agents, stock brokers, but also Amazon and Walmart — came to assume such an outsized role in our economy, the pros and cons ... Show More
Jul 31
How Google broke the internet
The internet is changing. For years our primary gateway to the internet has been search engines: we ask a question, a list of websites pops up, and we choose which ones to click on. But we are rapidly headed towards a different model, one in which AI-generated answers to our ques ... Show More
41m 3s
Jul 27
The illusion of the ‘self’
Sean Illing talks with neuroscientist Gregory Berns, author of The Self Delusion. Berns claims that the idea of a unified, persistent self is a kind of illusion, and that we are better understood as multiple selves at different moments in time, tied together by a story — which is ... Show More
43m 38s
Jul 24
How MAGA is turning on itself
For years, right-wing influencers and politicians have pushed the conservative movement to have more controversial, anti-establishment views. Why are some of those figures now upset about where the movement has ended up? In today’s episode, guest host Bryan Walsh speaks with Vox ... Show More
46m 30s
Jun 2022
The Pros and Cons of Our “Middleman Economy”
Kathryn Judge, a finance professor at Columbia Law School, is troubled by the rise of intermediary platforms between products and services and the customers who eventually purchase them. Thanks to technology and globalization, she shows how the importance of “middlemen” in the va ... Show More
22m 39s
Jul 2025
One Big Beautiful Econ Con?
In the wake of Trump's sweeping economic legislation, Jon is joined by Clara Mattei, Professor of Economics at The University of Tulsa and author of "The Capital Order," and James Robinson, Professor at the Harris School for Public Policy at the University of Chicago. Together, t ... Show More
1h 17m