All Else Equal: Making Better Decisions

Latest Episodes:

Rerun: Ep65 "Will Future AI Systems Operate Like The Human Brain? It’s Complicated” with Jeff Hawkins Jun 03, 2026

Show notes

This episode originally aired previously and is being re-shared due to its continued relevance. Enjoy this conversation with Jeff Hawkins on intelligence, neuroscience, and the future of AI.

With growing concerns over whether or not AI will take away jobs and eventually become superior to human intelligence, maybe it’s time to take a closer look at the human brain and discover how AI will always have its limitations.

Hosts and finance professors Jonathan Berk and Jules van Binsbergen sit down with Jeff Hawkins, a neuroscientist and computer scientist, whose book A Thousand Brains challenges the way we think about intelligence and how the brain works.

Jonathan, Jules, and Jeff discuss the fundamentals of how the human brain operates and how it differs from the way current AI models work. They also dive into the cutting-edge innovations happening in the world of AI and whether future versions of the technology could one day emulate the human brain more closely.

Find All Else Equal on the web:

https://lauder.wharton.upenn.edu/allelse/

All Else Equal: Making Better Decisions Podcast is a production of the UPenn Wharton Lauder Institute through University FM.

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Ep77 The Academic Journal System is Broken, Here’s How to Fix It May 13, 2026

Show notes

How should academic discourse take place? Is it time to update the antiquated journal system?

In the season finale, hosts and finance professors Jonathan Berk and Jules van Binsbergen tackle the problems present in the current system for disseminating academic research, including how digital distribution has eliminated effective curation while peer review remains slow, incentive-misaligned, and dominated by anonymous referees seeking to impress editors.

Together, they explain the inner-workings of the academic journal system and the problems with peer review. Jonathan also shares details about his new website, launched with fellow researchers, that provides a place for rigorous informed discourse.

Find All Else Equal on the web:
https://lauder.wharton.upenn.edu/allelse/

All Else Equal: Making Better Decisions Podcast is a production of the UPenn Wharton Lauder Institute through University FM.

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Rerun: Ep46 "May Contain Lies" with Alex Edmans Apr 29, 2026

Show notes

This week, we’re revisiting our ever-timely and fascinating conversation around misinformation with London Business School professor Alex Edmans. All Else Equal will be back with a new episode in two weeks.

What is the real problem with misinformation? Are our biases so ingrained in us that we are unable to think critically about the world and the systems around us? What happens when large institutions attempt to push a heterodox narrative? Do we simply need more education to overcome misinformation, or do we need something much deeper—to learn to think critically again? In this episode, hosts and finance professors Jonathan Berk and Jules van Binsbergen welcome Alex Edmans, Professor of Finance at London Business School to discuss his latest book, May Contain Lies: How Stories, Statistics, and Studies Exploit Our Biases – And What We Can Do About It.

Find All Else Equal on the web:
https://lauder.wharton.upenn.edu/allelse/

All Else Equal: Making Better Decisions Podcast is a production of the UPenn Wharton Lauder Institute through University FM.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Ep76 “How Should You Deal with Uncertainty in Today's World?” with Nick Bloom Apr 15, 2026

Show notes

What do measures of uncertainty tell us about the state of the economy and how should firms and households use

those measurements to inform decision-making? Hosts and finance professors Jonathan Berk and Jules van Binsbergen are joined by returning guest Nick Bloom,

professor of economics at Stanford University, whose research on the causes and consequences of uncertainty helped build the Economic Policy Uncertainty Index.

In the discussion, they cover the various ways to measure uncertainty including the VIX and text-based methods, Bloom explains how the Economic Policy Uncertainty Index works, why

discrepancies can sometimes exist between uncertainty measurements, and how these uncertainty indices can help inform better business decision-making.

Find All Else Equal on the web:

https://lauder.wharton.upenn.edu/allelse/

All Else Equal: Making Better Decisions Podcast is a production of the UPenn Wharton Lauder Institute through University FM.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Ep75 The Misleading Truth Behind IRR Apr 02, 2026

Show notes

Despite it being widely taught in business schools and practiced in the industry, you should think twice before using the internal rate of return as a criteria for making an investment decision.

Hosts and finance professors Jonathan Berk and Jules van Binsbergen are back to discuss why using the internal rate of return (IRR) as an investment decision rule is fundamentally flawed compared with the net present value (NPV).

They outline IRR’s problems including multiple or nonexistent solutions, failure to account for scale and timing, and structural vulnerability once financing/payment plans are allowed, enabling arbitrary or inflated IRRs.

Find All Else Equal on the web:

https://lauder.wharton.upenn.edu/allelse/

All Else Equal: Making Better Decisions Podcast is a production of the UPenn Wharton Lauder Institute through University FM.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Ep74 Is The Financial Sector Good for Society? Mar 18, 2026

Show notes

What value does a financial sector add to society? How would society function without a financial sector?

In this episode, hosts and finance professors Jonathan Berk and Jules van Binsbergen make the case that a competitive market financial sector is crucial to economic growth and the betterment of society.

Jonathan and Jules contend with the critiques they hear most often when it comes to free markets, breaking down the core purpose of a financial sector and why its value is not easily observable or necessarily fair. They also compare and contrast other financial systems, like command-and-control, and explain why those systems tend to fail.

Find All Else Equal on the web:

https://lauder.wharton.upenn.edu/allelse/

All Else Equal: Making Better Decisions Podcast is a production of the UPenn Wharton Lauder Institute through University FM.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Rerun: Ep29 “How Do You Become CEO?” with Dirk Jenter Mar 04, 2026

Show notes

All Else Equal is on Spring Break this week, so we’re revisiting one of our most popular episodes dealing with the question: How does one become a CEO? We’ll be back with new episodes in two weeks.

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, 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.

Find All Else Equal on the web:
https://lauder.wharton.upenn.edu/allelse/

All Else Equal: Making Better Decisions Podcast is a production of the UPenn Wharton Lauder Institute through University FM.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Ep73 “The Dangers of Group Think on Decision Making” with Adi Sunderam Feb 19, 2026

Show notes

Whether it be in politics, public health, or corporate finance, why are people more likely to interpret facts or data in a way that fits their preconceived notions about the world as opposed to searching for the fundamental truth?

A new paper from the Harvard Business School called, Sharing Models to Interpret Data (by Joshua Schwartzstein and Adi Sunderam)

studies the propensity for people to adopt interpretations to data based on their community’s beliefs, and why this can lead to less accurate conclusions. Hosts and finance professors Jonathan Berk and Jules van Binsbergen are joined by the paper’s co-author Adi Sunderam, who is a professor of corporate finance at Harvard Business School, a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research, and a co-editor of the Journal of Finance.

The conversation covers the complexity of Bayesian updating and how the process is improperly deployed in today’s thinking, not only in corporate decision-making but also on a sociological level. They also discuss Sunderam’s model for explaining how people interpret data, why people are more likely to fall into group-belief dynamics, and if there are any interventions that would lead to better decision-making.

Read Adi Sunderam and Joshua Schwartzstein’s paper: Sharing Models to Interpret Data

Find All Else Equal on the web:

https://lauder.wharton.upenn.edu/allelse/

All Else Equal: Making Better Decisions Podcast is a production of the UPenn Wharton Lauder Institute through University FM.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Ep72 Alternatives vs. Mutual Funds: Where Should You Put Your Money Feb 04, 2026

Show notes

In the rapid-moving world of delegated money management, it is important to recognize the differences in how mutual funds and alternative assets operate. When it comes to alternatives, how do these funds wind up with strong incentive contracts for the money managers as opposed to flat fee contracts more commonly seen in mutual funds? Why do managers of alternatives cap their fund sizes when it could potentially lead to lower fees?

On this episode, hosts and finance professors Jonathan Berk and Jules van Binsbergen examine the key differences between mutual funds and alternatives, by unpacking research in a new paper co-authored by Berk.

The conversation covers performance fees, persistent alpha, limits on capital, and the key liquidity distinction between mutual funds and alternatives.

Read “A Unified Theory of Delegated Capital Management” by Jonathan Berk and Peter DeMarzo here: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=6019667

Find All Else Equal on the web:

https://lauder.wharton.upenn.edu/allelse/

All Else Equal: Making Better Decisions Podcast is a production of the UPenn Wharton Lauder Institute through University FM.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Ep71 “The Working From Home Revolution” with Nick Bloom Jan 22, 2026

Show notes

When the pandemic hit in 2020, working from home skyrocketed. Six years later, many companies have returned to in-person work, but hybrid models are still the dominant structure. So with WFH here to stay in some form, what’s the proper balance? And what are we at risk of losing in the long term with less in-office interaction?

Nick Bloom is an economics professor at Stanford University and one of the first researchers to take a serious look at the work from home phenomenon. He joins hosts and finance professors Jonathan Berk and Jules van Binsbergen to discuss his research into why working from home has outlasted COVID precautions, its impact on employee performance, the surprising effects its had on birthrates, and his recommendation to companies on striking the perfect balance with a hybrid structure.

Find All Else Equal on the web:

https://lauder.wharton.upenn.edu/allelse/

All Else Equal: Making Better Decisions Podcast is a production of the UPenn Wharton Lauder Institute through University FM.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.