605. What Do People Do All Day?

Not exactly. But their runaway success with games like Wordle says something bigger about the way we live now. (Part one of a series, “We Are All Gamers Now.”) SOURCES: Alex Hardiman, chief product officer at The New York Times. Jonathan Knight, S.V.P. and general manager for New ... Show More

Great. Then depressed. Then great again. Stephen Dubner gets the full story from David Lang; we also hear from some fans, and the New York Philharmonic’s president. The math and the aftermath of wealth of nations. (Part two of a series.) SOURCES: David Lang, composer and professo ... Show More

Economists and politicians have turned him into a mascot for free-market ideology. Some on the left say the right has badly misread him. In this updated replay of a 2022 episode, we hold a very Smithy tug of war. SOURCES: Eamonn Butler, co-founder and director of the Adam Smith I ... Show More

<p>David Autor took his first economics class at 29 years old. Now he’s one of the central academics studying the labor market. The M.I.T. economist and Steve dissect the impact of technology on labor, spar on A.I., and discuss why economists can sometimes be oblivious.</p><p> </ ... Show More

<p>Abby, Patrick, and Dan welcome writer, critic, and scholar Moira Weigel, co-founder of <em>Logic </em>magazine and co-editor with Ben Tarnoff of <em>Voices of the Valley: Tech Workers Talk About What They Do And How They Do It. </em>Moira introduces listeners to the history an ... Show More

<p>Stefanie Stantcheva’s approach seemed like career suicide. In fact, it won her the John Bates Clark Medal. She talks to fellow winner Steve Levitt about why she uses methods that most of the profession dismisses — and what she’s found that can’t be learned any other way.</p><p ... Show More

In this episode, Timothée Parrique joins us for a discussion on degrowth. We begin the conversation with explaining the concept of degrowth, looking at its history, and really unpacking what it is and what it isn't. We talk about degrowth's two-fold agenda to both downscale produ ... Show More

<p>For a long time, the story about the world’s population was that it was growing too quickly. There were going to be too many humans, not enough resources, and that spelled disaster. But now the script has flipped. Fertility rates have declined dramatically, from about five chi ... Show More

<p>Which industries should cease to exist immediately? And what ‘bullshit jobs’ should they take with them? In episode 143 of Overthink, Ellie and David explore the&nbsp;academic and social movement of ‘Degrowth.’ They discuss the imperial mode of living that has become normalize ... Show More

<p>Elon Musk has been on a slash-and-burn tear through the federal government — gaining access to I.T. systems, dismantling U.S.A.I.D. and unleashing a firehose of attacks on his platform, X, accusing the bureaucracy of various conspiratorial crimes.</p><p>As this all unfolds bef ... Show More