Economic Rockstar

175: Glenn Hubbard on Leadership Values, Supply-Side Economics and Manhattanville Feb 15, 2019

Professor Glenn Hubbard is an American economist and academic. He is currently the Dean of the Columbia University Graduate School of Business, where he is also Russell L. Carson Professor of Finance and Economics.

On September 13, 2018 he announced that he would not seek another term in his position as Dean after having served out his current term which ends on June 30, 2019.

Glenn previously served as Deputy Assistant Secretary at the U.S. Department of the Treasury from 1991 to 1993, and as Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers from 2001 to 2003.

Professor Hubbard is a Visiting Scholar at the conservative American Enterprise Institute, where he studies tax policy and health care.

Check out the show notes page at www.economicrockstar.com/glennhubbard

174: Wendy Carlin on The Core Project, Capitalism, Democracy and Normative Statements Jan 31, 2019

Wendy Carlin is Professor of Economics at University College London (UCL), Research Fellow of the Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR), London, and Fellow of the European Economic Association.

Her research focuses on macroeconomics, institutions and economic performance, and the economics of transition.

She is a member of the Expert Advisory Panel of the UK’s Office for Budget Responsibility. She has acted as a consultant for international organizations such as the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), London, and the World Bank.

She has co-authored with David Soskice three macroeconomics books. Macroeconomics and the Wage Bargain (1990), Macroeconomics: Imperfections, Institutions and Policies (2006) and Macroeconomics: Institutions, Instability and the Financial System (2015).

She is leading an international project – the CORE project – funded by INET on undergraduate economics curriculum reform. The CORE project has published The Economy, which is free on-line at www.core-econ.org.

In 2016 Wendy was awarded the CBE for services to economics and public finance.

Check out www.economicrockstar.com/wendycarlin for all books, links and resources mentioned in this episode.

173: Stephen Wright on Core Econ as a Learning Resource for Mainstream Economics Jan 28, 2019

This is an excerpt from a previous conversation that I had with Professor Stephen Wright but was unreleased at the time.

We felt it appropriate that it should be released at a time if I ever spoke to Professor Wendy Carlin. This day is coming and now this part of my conversation with Stephen can be released.

Check out the links over at www.economicrockstar.com/coreecon.

Visit www.core-eco.org to access this amazing website.

172: Best of 2018 Part 2: From the Great Depression to Futurism; Institutions, Individualism and Cooperation Jan 21, 2019

This is a reflection on some episodes from 2018. The themes I have chosen looks at growing up in the Great Depression and what to expect in the future with AR and AI, as well as Institutions, Individualism, Cooperation and Reciprocity.

Featured episodes are: 123 Vernon Smith on his early childhood years during the Great Depression and how they survived by moving to live on a farm before losing it all, his mother as a socialist and who she voted for in the Presidential elections in 1919 when women were first given the right to vote in the US.

162 Jennifer Burns on Ayn Rand's views on Capitalism, Communism and Christianity and why the individual is better that the collective, the virtues of selfishness, hippies in the 1960s, Objectivism, Existentialism and Nietzche.

147 Ngaio Hotte on Elinor Ostrom’s work on collective action and cooperation to reach mutually beneficial outcomes and how this can relate to natural resource problems as well as Ostrom’s observation of reciprocity in Game Theory.

135 David Zetland on group cooperation to protecting public goods such as the water supply and the environment and how cooperation rewards and benefits groups.

168 Harry Markowitz on growing up with the family grocery store during the Great Depression in an upper middle-class area, using the museums and libraries of Chicago as a teen, Darwin’s ‘Origin of Species’ as an influence and how reading the great philosophers and his self-study of the physical sciences helped with his placement at the University of Chicago.

125 Eugene Fama on his early academic year to the development of the Efficient Market Hypothesis as well as the Benoit Madlebrot's discovery of Louis Bachelier's paper 167 James Kenneth Galbraith on the influences of his father John Kenneth Galbraith on his own academic work in economics and the significance or lack of significance of economics in academia today.

136 Abby Hall on the growth of big government since 9/11 and the militarisation of the domestic police force in the US from the creation of the first US SWAT team during the US occupation of the Philippines in 1898.

149 Soumaya Keynes on why trade should not be blamed for the loss of jobs, the Economic Consequences of Our Grandchildren by Soumaya’s great grand uncle John Maynard Keynes, trade blocs in the 1930s compared to todays global trading systems to remove barriers and maintain peace.

156 Peter Boettke on how F. A. Hayek developed his interest in economics through the Viennese culture and the intellectual hubs which were based on law, philosophy and politics and the mentors he encountered as well as Hayek’s observations of the nature of macro volatility, the growth of government, technology and inhumanity during his life.

163 Kevin Kelly on technology of the future such as AI and AR to help to quantify and track our movements and expressions to help with our decision-making.

171: Best of 2018 Part 1 Jan 02, 2019

Best of 2018 Part 1

Excerpts from the following episodes feature in this 'Best of 2018 Part1'.

170 Jim Rogers on opportunities in Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Venezuela and North Korea

139 Loretta Napoleoni North Korea growth prospects and how they can position themselves in the world economy

155 Lotta Moberg Refugee Cities and SEZs

167 James Kenneth Galbraith on the prospects for the Greek economy

150 Chris Blattman the economic and psychological effects of violence and war esp among children and in communities

169 Jennifer Murtazashvili democrarcy and governance in Afghanistan and the leadership role of women in communities in Uzbekistan

145 Marie Mora Under-represented minority women in economics and the plight of Puerto Ricans in the US

161 Tyler Cowen on art, culture, liberty and prospects of economic growth and welfare in the US, China and India

160 Arjo Klamer Culture (Japan) and Writing as a means to create personal value

153 Sarah and Steve Writing

170: Jim Rogers on Investing in 2019 and the US Debt Problem Dec 23, 2018

Jim Rogers is an American businessman and financial commentator based in Singapore. He is the Chairman of Rogers Holdings and Beeland Interests, Inc.

In 1973, Jim co-founded of the Quantum Fund with George Soros and having retired at the age of 37, Jim spent some of his time traveling on a motorcycle around the world - a Guinness World Record and one which is documented in Investment Biker, a international bestselling book.

He has been a guest professor of finance at the Columbia Business School.

In 1998 he created the Rogers International Commodities Index (RICI) and has been an outspoken advocate of agriculture investments.

Between 1999 and 2002, Jim and his wife did another Guinness World Record journey travelling 116 countries in a custom-made Mercedes. He wrote Adventure Capitalist following this around-the-world adventure.

In 2007, Jim moved to Singapore due to the investment growth potential in Asia.

In this episode Jim shares some excellent advice about how you should approach investing and what the next 10 to 20 years could turn out for the global economy. He suggests that North Korea, Russia and agriculture are contrarian bets that will have positive payoffs for those of us willing to go against the crowd. Also, I ask him about his views on cryptos and blockchain and whether he as any advice for you if you feel stuck in your job or if you’re undecided about what you should do if starting out on your career path.

Check out the books and links mentioned in this episode at www.economicrockstar.com/jimrogers

Support the podcast for as little as $1 per month at www.patreon.com/economicrockstar

169: Jennifer Murtazashvili on Democracy and Informal Order in Afghanistan and Uzbekistan Dec 16, 2018

Jennifer Murtazashvili is professor and director of the International Development Program at the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Pittsburgh.

Her research explores questions of governance, public administration, and local institutions with a geographical focus on Central and South Asia and the former Soviet Union.

Jennifer’s first book, Informal Order and the State in Afghanistan, was published by Cambridge University Press in 2016.

Check out the links, books and resources mentioned in this episode over at www.economicrockstar.com/jennifer

Support the show for as little as $1 per month over at www.patreon.com/economicrockstar

168: Harry Markowitz on His Journey Through Philosophy and Finance and Not Being Done Yet Dec 01, 2018

Dr. Harry Markowitz is the principal of Markowitz Company, and an adjunct professor at the Rady School of Management, UCSD.

Harry has applied computer and mathematical techniques to various practical decision making areas.

In recognition of his work, Harry received the 1989 Von Neumann Award from the Operations Research Society of America for his work on portfolio theory, sparse matrix techniques and the SIMSCRIPT simulation programming language.

In 1990 he shared The Nobel Prize in Economics for his work on portfolio theory.

Check out www.economicrockstar.com/harrymarkowitz for links, books and resources mentioned in this episode.

Support the show for as little as $1 per month over at www.patreon.com/economicrockstar

167: James Kenneth Galbraith on Inequality, Democracy and the Impact of the Financial Crisis on Greece Nov 25, 2018

James Kenneth Galbraith is the Lloyd M. Bentsen Jr. Chair in Government/Business Relations and Professor of Government at Lyndon B. Johnson School of Business Affairs at The University of Texas at Austin.

He directs the University of Texas Inequality Project and is a managing editor of Structural Change and Economic Dynamics.

In 2014 he was co-winner, with Angus Deaton, of the Leontief Prize for Advancing the Frontiers of Economics. James has a PhD from Yale University.

James Galbraith's books include "Welcome to the Poisoned Chalice: The Destruction of Greece and the Future of Europe" (2016).

James is the son of the late John Kenneth Galbraith, renowned economist, public official and diplomat.

In this episode we discuss James’ views on the teachings of mainstream economics today, his work on inequality, democracy, the financial crisis of 2008 and the impact it has had on Greece as well as, of course, his father John.

Check out the links and books mentioned in this episode over at http://www.economicrockstar.com/jamesgalbraith

Support the show for as little as $1 per month over at http://www.patreon.com/economicrockstar

166: Naomi Brockwell on Bitcoins, Blockchain and ICOs Nov 16, 2018

In this episode with Naomi Brockwell, we discuss bitcoin, blockchain and initial coin offerings (ICOs).

This is our second conversation - 4 years on from our first back in 2014.

Check out the links at www.economicrockstar.com/naomi

Support the podcast at www.patreon.com/economicrockstar

Enjoy!

165: Stephen Wright on Valuing the Stock Market Using Equity q Nov 09, 2018

Stephen Wright is Professor of Economics at Birkbeck College, University of London, UK.

Previously Professor Wright worked at the Bank of England and Cambridge University.

He is co-author of 'Valuing Wall Street: Protecting Wealth in Turbulent Times' - an informative book published in 2000 warning of the high valuation placed on stocks at that time.

In this episode we discuss his work on valuing the stock market using a variant of Tobin's q - a valuation method put forward by the late James Tobin (Nobel Prize in Economics, 1981).

Check out the show notes for all links, books and resources over at www.economicrockstar.com/stephenwright

Support the podcast on Patreon for as little as $1 per month: www.patreon.com/economicrockstar

164: Nicholas Gruen on Data Sharing and Reform in Economic Thinking Nov 01, 2018

Nicholas Gruen is CEO of Lateral Economics and is a widely published policy economist, entrepreneur and commentator.

In this episode Professor Gruen discusses the need for reform in economics at both academic and policy level.

He also explains the importance of information and how information is poorly managed at the central planning stage but can be used effectively under the right direction if this information or data can be shareable both from the private and the public sector.

Check out the episode at www.economicrockstar.com/nicholasgruen

Support the show from as little as $1 per month over at www.patreon.com/economicrockstar

163: Kevin Kelly on the Inevitable and Asking Questions of the Unknown Oct 26, 2018

Kevin Kelly is cofounder of Wired Magazine and former editor of The Whole Earth Review.

He is considered a futurist and has written a number of books identifying technological trends and innovations, including his most recent book The Inevitable: Understanding the 12 Technological Forces That Will Shape Our Future.

Check out the episode at www.economicrockstar.com/kevinkelly or watch it over on the Economic Rockstar YouTube channel.

Support the podcast at www.patreon.com/economicrockstar for as little as $1 a month

162: Jennifer Burns on Ayn Rand:Goddess of the Market and Objectivism Oct 20, 2018

In this episode Jennifer Burns, Associate Professor of History and Research Fellow of Stanford's Hoover Institution, explores the life and work of Ayn Rand.

Jennifer's book Goddess of the Market: Ayn Rand and the American Right was featured in this episode and is available at all leading bookstores.

Check out the links at www.economicrockstar.com/jenniferburns

Support the podcast at www.patreon.com/economicrockstar

161: Tyler Cowen on Stubborn Attachments - A Vision for a Society of Free and Prosperous Individuals Oct 11, 2018

Tyler Cowen is Holbert L. Harris Chair of Economics at George Mason University and serves as chairman and general director of the Mercatus Center at George Mason University.

He is coauthor of the popular economics blog Marginal Revolution and cofounder of the online educational platform Marginal Revolution University.

His latest book 'Stubborn Attachments' is part of our discussion in this episode.

Check out www.economicrockstar.com/tylercowen for all links, books and resources mentioned in this episode.

Support the podcast for as little as $1 at www.patreon.com/economicrockstar

160: Arjo Klamer on the Value of Culture and Art in Economics Oct 04, 2018

Arjo Klamer is Professor of Cultural Economics at the Erasmus University Rotterdam in the Netherlands.

His recent book 'Doing the Right Thing: a Value Based Approach' looks at the human perspective in the economy and the firm. It focuses on the most important goods such as families, homes, communities, knowledge and art. It places economic processes in their cultural context.

Professor Klamer's other book 'The Value of Culture' is also discussed in this episode.

Check out the links at www.economicrockstar.com/arjoklamer.

Support the show at www.patreon.com/economicrockstar.

159: Diane Coyle Rebroadcast on GDP, Its Shortcomings and Alternative Measures Sep 23, 2018

This is a rebroadcast of a conversation I had with professor Diane Coyle. It first featured as episode 69 on 21 January 2016.

Check out www.economicrockstar.com/dianecoyle for all links, books and resources mentioned in this episode.

Support the podcast on Patreon for as little as $1 per month over at www.patreon.com/economicrockstar

158: Robin Hanson Rebroadcast: The Age of Em and How Brain Emulations Will Double Economic Growth Every Month Sep 14, 2018

This is a rebroadcast of my conversation with Professor Robin Hanson of George Mason University. Robin discusses his book the Age of Em and I decided to rebroadcast this after listening to The Joe Rogan Experience with Elon Musk.

Check out the show notes page at www.economicrockstar.com/robinhanson

Support the show at www.patreon.com/economicrockstar

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157: François Allisson on Value and Prices in Russian Economic Thought Sep 08, 2018

François Allisson is a scholar in history of economic thought and a senior lecturer at the Centre Walras-Pareto at the University of Lausanne in Switzerland.

His research interests encompass the whole history of Russian economic thought, with a special emphasis on the theories of value and prices at the end of the imperial period and the beginning of the Soviet era ( which covers the years from the 1870s to the 1920s).

In this episode we chat about pricing using the theory labour of value and on marginal utility, as well as the Swiss-based Russian economist Nikolay Sieber.

Check out the links, books and resources mentioned by François over at www.economicrockstar.com/allisson.

Support the podcast by leaving an honest rating and review on Apple Podcasts or join me on Patreon at www.patreon.com/economicrockstar

156: Peter Boettke on Hayekian Economics, Political Economy and Social Philosophy Aug 31, 2018

Peter Boettke of George Mason University joins me once again on the podcast.

He discusses the Hayekian principles laid out in his new book "F. A. Hayek: Economics, Political Economy and Social Philosophy".

Check out the links at www.economicrockstar.com/hayekeconomics

Support the show on Patreon at www.patreon.com/economicrockstar

155: Lotta Moberg on Refugee Cities and the Blockchain Industry as Special Economic Zones Aug 25, 2018

Lotta Moberg is a Macroeconomic Analyst for William Blair’s Dynamic Allocation Strategies (DAS) team. She has a Ph.D. in Economics from George Mason University and earned her BA in Economics from Lund University (Sweden).

Prior to joining the DAS team, Lotta worked in Russia for the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs and in Kosovo for the Swedish Armed Forces.

She has published articles on special economic zones, tax benefits, tax competition, and municipal bankruptcy.

Lotta's book The Political Economy of Special Economic Zones: Concentrating Economic Development is available at your favourite online store.

Check out www.economicrockstar.com/lottamoberg for all the links, books and resources mentioned by Lotta in this episode.

Never miss a show by subscribing on Apple Podcasts and if you'd like to support the show for as little as $1 per month, please visit www.patreon.com/economicrockstar.

154: Pat Holt on the Economics in Spider-Man, Wonder Woman and Black Panther Aug 17, 2018

Pat Holt is a computer engineer, a comic book geek and a born-again economics lover.

Pat reached out to Brian O'Roark after listening to episode 116 of this podcast and after a while, he contributed a chapter to the book 'Superheroes and Economics: The Shadowy World of Capes, Masks and Invisible Hands' edited by Rob Salkowitz and Brian.

Listen to Pat's story right here on the Economic Rockstar podcast.

Check out the show notes page at www.economicrockstar.com/patholt

Support the podcast on Patreon at www.patreon.com/economicrockstar

153: Sarah Skwire and Steve Horwitz on Their Writing Approach, Advice, Habits and Struggles Aug 11, 2018

I catch up once again with Sarah Skwire and Steve Horwitz but this episode is a little different and was inspired by my previous conversation with Sarah back in episode 129.

We chat about their approach to writing, their habits and struggles that they deal with as well as any tips and advice that they can share with us.

Check out the show notes over at www.economicrockstar.com/sarahandsteve

Support the show on Patreon at www.patreon.com/economicrockstar

152: David Kyle Johnson on Economics and Philosophy in Soylent Green Aug 04, 2018

This is a 3rd instalment of my interviews with Professor David Kyle Johnson, an Associate Professor of Philosophy at King’s College in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.

We catch up again after watching the 1973 dystopian movie 'Soylent Green' and discuss some economics and philosophical themes that run through the movie.

I hope you enjoy this one. Make sure to listen to episodes 146 and 151 featuring Professor Johnson.

Check out the show notes page for all links and resources mentioned in this episode over at www.economicrockstar.com/soylentgreen

151: David Kyle Johnson Unreleased Bonus Episode Continuing Our Conversation from Episode 146 Aug 02, 2018

This is a continuation of my conversation with Professor David Kyle Johnson from Episode 146.

Here we talk about some economic themes present in the 1970s movie Soylent Green and more.

Show notes at www.economicrockstar.com/episode151

Support the show for as little as $1 per month at www.patreon.com/economicrockstar

Thanks again for your continued support. It's always appreciated.

150: Chris Blattman on Crime, Cocaine, Chicago Gangs and the Colombia Mafia Jul 28, 2018

Chris Blattman is the Ramalee E. Pearson Professor of Global Conflict Studies at The University of Chicago’s Pearson Institute and Harris Public Policy.

He is an economist and political scientist who studies poverty, violence and crime in developing countries.

Chris has designed and evaluated strategies for tackling poverty, including cash transfers to the poorest.

Much of his work is with the victims and perpetrators of crime and violence, testing the link between poverty and violence.

His recent work looks at other sources of and solutions to violence.

These solutions range from behavioral therapy to social norm change and local-level state building.

He has worked mainly in Colombia, Liberia, Uganda, Ethiopia, and Chicago’s South Side.

Dr. Blattman was previously a faculty member at Columbia and Yale Universities, and holds a PhD in Economics from UC Berkeley and a Master’s in Public Administration and International Development from the Harvard Kennedy School.

He chairs the Peace & Recovery sector at Innovations for Poverty Action and the Crime, Violence and Conflict initiative at MIT’s Poverty Action Lab.

Check out the show notes page for all the links, books and resources mentioned in this episode over at www.economicrockstar.com/chrisblattman

Support the podcast for as little as $1 per month over at Patreon: www.patreon.com/economicrockstar

149: Soumaya Keynes on Tariffs, Trump and Trade Agreements Jul 20, 2018

Soumaya Keynes is the economics and trade correspondent at The Economist. She writes for the print edition and the Free Exchange blog.

Before joining The Economist Soumaya did research on the public finances and pensions at the Institute for Fiscal Studies, an economic research institute.

Before that Soumaya worked in the Banking and Credit team at Her Majesty’s Treasury in London. Soumaya has an M.Phil. and B.A. in Economics from Trinity College, Cambridge.

She is co-host of a weekly podcast on trade economics called Trade Talks.

Check out the books, links and resources mentioned in this episode at www.economicrockstar.com/soumayakeynes

Support the podcast at www.patreon.com/economicrockstar

148: Tom W. Bell on Special Economic Zones, Copyright and Liberland Jul 15, 2018

Tom W. Bell earned his Juris Doctor degree from the University of Chicago in 1993, then practiced law in Silicon Valley and Washington, D.C. before serving as a policy director at the Cato Institute. In 1998, he joined the faculty of Chapman University, Fowler School of Law, where he teaches all of the first-year common law courses and electives in high-tech and intellectual property law. Professor Bell has published papers on copyright, Internet law, polycentric law, prediction markets, and the Third Amendment (the one about quartering troops).

His books include "Intellectual Privilege: Copyright, Common Law, and the Common Good" (Mercatus 2014) and "Your Next Government? From the Nation State to Stateless Associations" (Cambridge University Press 2017). Through Archimediate LLC, Tom designs, installs, and supports legal systems for special jurisdictions. Most recently, that work has taken him to French Polynesia, where he helped forge a memorandum of understanding to allow seasteading in that island paradise.

Check out the show notes page at www.economicrockstar.com/tomwbell

Support the podcast for as little as $1 per month over at www.patreon.com/economicrockstar

147: Ngaio Hotte on Resource Economics, Externalities and Elinor Ostrom Jul 08, 2018

Ngaio Hotte is a Ph.D candidate at the University of British Columbia. Her research title is ‘How can trust be built among parties engaged in collaborative natural resource governance?’ and she draws influence from the work of the only female Nobel laureate in economics, Elinor Ostrom.

Ngaio’s Research Interests include trust, government-to-government relations, Indigenous communities, collaboration and natural resources and we touch on some of these topics in out conversation in this episode.

Ngaio is co-founder of the consultancy firm Resource Economics Group, which is based in British Columbia in Canada. Resource Economics Group specializes in natural resources policy, planning and management. They do research and support decision-making related to the many values of natural resources and trade-offs associated with managing these values for the benefit of people and the planet.

You can find out more about Ngaio’s work at www.resource-economics.ca.

Check out all the links, resources, papers and books mentioned in this episode over at www.economicrockstar.com/ngaiohotte

Support the show on Patreon for as little as $1 per month. Find out more at www.patreon.com/economicrockstar

146: David Kyle Johnson on Science Fiction as Philosophy and Finding Nietzsche's Übermensch in Economics Jun 30, 2018

Dr. David Kyle Johnson is Associate Professor of Philosophy at King’s College in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. He earned a master’s degree and doctorate in philosophy from the University of Oklahoma.

At Oklahoma, he won the coveted Kenneth Merrill Graduate Teaching Award. In 2011, the American Philosophical Association’s committee on public philosophy gave him an award for his ability to make philosophy accessible to the general public.

Professor Johnson regularly teaches classes on metaphysics, philosophy of religion, philosophy of mind, and logic, as well as courses on critical thinking and scientific reasoning. He has published papers on human freedom, the problem of natural evil, the multiverse, the existence of souls, and many related topics in such journals as Religious Studies, Sophia, Philo, Philosophy and Literature, and Think. He also maintains two blogs for Psychology Today.

Professor Johnson also publishes on the intersection of pop culture and philosophy. One of his books, Inception and Philosophy: Because It’s Never Just a Dream, inspired an authors@Google talk with more than half-a-million YouTube views. He also has written numerous articles that explore the relationship between philosophical questions and such pop cultural phenomena as The Hobbit, Doctor Who, Batman, South Park, Johnny Cash, Quentin Tarantino, and Christmas.

Check out the shownotes page for all the links, books and resources mentioned in this episode at www.economicrockstar.com/davidkylejohnson

Support the show on Patreon at www.patreon.com.economicrockstar

145: Marie Mora on Puerto Rican Socioeconomic Outcomes in the US and the AEA Mentoring Program Jun 24, 2018

Marie Mora is professor of economics at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley.

Professor Mora serves as director of the National Science Foundation-funded American Economic Association Mentoring Program and has served on the board of the American Economic Association’s Committee on the Status of Minority Groups in the Economics Profession.

She also served two terms as a member of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Data Users Advisory Committee, two terms as president of the American Society of Hispanic Economists and was a member of the Dallas Fed’s Texas Border Colonias Study Steering Committee and the Early Education Subcommittee of the San Antonio Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Economic Development Committee.

Her recognitions include the Outstanding Support of Hispanic Issues in Higher Education Award from the American Association of Hispanics in Higher Education and the Cesar Estrada Chavez Award from the American Association for Access, Equity and Diversity.

Marie Mora was appointed to the Board of Directors of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas’ San Antonio Branch in 2018.

She has co-authored a number of books Population, Migration, and Socioeconomic Outcomes of Island and Mainland Puerto Ricans and Hispanic Entrepreneurs in the 2000s.

Check out the links, books and resources over at the shownotes page at www.economicrockstar.com/mariemora

Support the show at www.patreon.com/economicrockstar

144: Donald Boudreaux on International Trade, Tariffs and Protectionism Jun 15, 2018

Donald Boudreaux is an American economist, author, professor, and co-director of the Program on the American Economy and Globalization at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia.

He is the author of the 2007 and 2012 books Globalization and Hypocrites and Half-Wits, respectively.

He contributes a column twice a month to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review and contributes to the Cafe Hayek blog.

Check out the links, books and resources mentioned in this episode at www.economicrockstar.com/donaldboudreaux

143: Mike Melissinos on Launching an Investment Firm Using the Trend Following System Jun 10, 2018

Mike Melissinos began his research into investing philosophy while working as a junior analyst at Bear Stearns and J.P. Morgan. Both the collapse of Bear and the Financial Crisis, in general, were eye-opening experiences and motivated him to launch his own investment firm – namely, to offer a better way to protect capital while still being able to capitalize on major trends.

He graduated from Seton Hall University (2006) with a degree in Accounting. In 2007, Michael worked as a hedge fund auditor for Rothstein Kass; from 2007-2009, he worked as an analyst for Bear Stearns and J.P. Morgan; and from 2009-2010, as an equities trader for SMB Capital.

In January 2011, four partners contributed a total of $300,000 to help Michael launch his investment management career. Today, he manages over $5 million for individuals and institutions.

Check out all the links, books and resources mentioned in this episode over at www.economicrockstar.com/mikemelissinos.

To support the podcast on Patreon, check out www.patreon.com/economicrockstar

142: Niels Kaastrup-Larsen on Time, Diversification and Asset Allocation in Trend Following Strategies Jun 02, 2018

Niels Kaastrup-Larsen is Managing Director (Europe) of Dunn Capital.

He is the founder and host of the podcast Top Traders Unplugged and also hosts the CME Group's podcast Managed Futures.

Check out all the links, books and resources mentioned in this episode at www.economicrockstar.com/niels2

Check out www.patreon.com/economicrockstar for ways in which you can help support the podcast

141: Dan Hamermesh on the Economics of Sleep May 27, 2018

Dan Hamermesh discusses his current work and his forthcoming book 'Spending Time' which explores the allocation and the use of time by gender, by region, by country and by economic factors.

The main focus of this conversation is on the economics of sleep.

Check out the links, resources and books mentioned in this episode over on the show notes page at www.economicrockstar.com/danhamermesh2.

If you enjoyed this episode, check out my other conversation with Dan from Episode 25 on the Economics of Beauty.

To support the show check out the Patreon page over at www.patreon.com/economicrockstar.

140: Michael Covel on the Trend Following Strategy that Beats the Market May 12, 2018

Michael Covel is an entrepreneur and author of five books on Trend Following as well as host of his podcast Trend Following Radio.

His podcast and work on Trend Following can be found on his website www.trendfollowing.com.

Check out the all links to this episode at www.economicrockstar.com/michaelcovel.

To support the show, please leave an honest rating and review on Apple Podcasts and subscribe so that you'll never miss an episode.

Check out other ways in which you can support the show at www.patreon.com/economicrockstar.

139: Loretta Napoleoni on North Korea The Country We Love to Hate May 06, 2018

Loretta Napoleoni returns to the Economic Rockstar podcast to talk about her work and recent book on North Korea.

Loretta is an expert on terrorist financing and money laundering, and advises several governments and international organizations on counter-terrorism.

Check out the show notes page at www.economicrockstar.com/lorettanapoleoni or visit Loretta's own site at www.lorettanapoleoni.net.

138: Rebecca Moryl on Using Economics Podcasts in the Classroom to Connect to the Real World Apr 29, 2018

Rebecca Moryl is Assistant Professor of Economics at Emmanuel College, Boston.

In addition to experience as an economist and public policy analyst, Professor Moryl has professional experience in operations management, fundraising management, efficiency evaluation and improvement, and program marketing.

Rebecca has served as a professional consultant to nonprofit organizations, government agencies, and small businesses.

She integrates her work in nonprofits with teaching through student service projects and community events.

Professor Moryl runs the site www.audioecon.com which provides teaching resources based on economics podcast episodes from EconTalk, Freaknomics, This American Life and Planet Money.

Check out the show notes page for all resources mentioned in this episode at www.economicrockstar.com/rebeccamoryl

137: Rakesh Ramachandran on Crypto Economics and How Knowledge of Austrian Economics Created His Blockchain Company QBRICS Apr 21, 2018

Rakesh Ramachandran in co-founder and CEO of QBRICS, an enterpreise blockchain platform company.

Rakesh is self-thought in economics and created QBRICS based on his readings of Austrian economics.

He is a long-time listener to the podcast and I'm thrilled to to share this conversation with you.

check out the links, books and resources over at the shownotes page at www.economicrockstar.com/rakesh

Support the podcast by subscribing on Apple Podcast or your favorite platform. You can also support it over at Patreon on www.patreon.com/economicrockstar

136: Abby Hall on the Boomerang Effect and the Militarization of the US Domestic Police Force Apr 14, 2018

Abby Hall is an Assistant Professor in Economics at the University of Tampa in Tampa, Florida and a Research Fellow with the Independent Institute.

She earned her PhD in Economics from George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia in 2015.

Her broader research interests include Austrian Economics, Political Economy and Public Choice, and Peace Economics, and Institutions and Economic Development.

Her work includes topics surrounding the U.S. military and national defense, including, domestic police militarization, arm sales, weapons as foreign aid, the cost of military mobilization, and the political economy of military technology.

She is currently researching how foreign intervention adversely impacts domestic political, social, and other institutions.

Check out the show notes page at www.economicrockstar.com/abigailhall

135: David Zetland Bonus Episode Apr 08, 2018

This is a continuation of my conversation with David Zetland which was pre-released on Patreon.

The first part of the conversation can be heard in episode 133.

134: Edward Castronova on the Economy of Virtual Worlds Mar 30, 2018

Edward Castronova is professor of Telecommunication and Cognitive Science at Indiana University Bloomington. He pioneered the study of how money, value, and property flow inside online games like Everquest

Castronova’s paper Virtual Worlds: A First-Hand Account of Market and Society on the Cyberian Frontier became the most downloaded paper in the entire database — beating out works by dozens of Nobel laureates. Today, it’s still in the top three.

Check out the show notes page at www.economicrockstar.com/edwardcastronova

Support the podcast at Patreon at www.patreon.com/economicrockstar

133: David Zetland on Climate Change and Water Civilization Mar 23, 2018

David Zetland is an assistant professor at Leiden University College, where he teaches various classes on economics. He received his PhD in Agricultural and Resource Economics from UC Davis in 2008.

He has previously featured on Episode 39 on the podcast.

Check out the show notes at www.economicrockstar.com/davidzetland2

To support the show for as little as $1 a month, visit www.patreon.com/economicrockstar

Enjoy!

132: Eric Lonergan on the Philosophy of Money Part 2 Mar 19, 2018

This is part 2 of my conversation with Eric Lonergan, hedge fund manager and author of Money.

If you'd like to hear more from Eric, please check out Episode 130 or visit www.economicrockstar.com/podcasts

Eric's work can be found at www.pholosophyofmoney.net

131: Vernon Smith Previously Unreleased Bonus Episode Mar 12, 2018

This episode is about 15 minutes of unreleased material from my conversation with Nobel laureate Professor Vernon Smith.

This was recorded in March 2017 and I had made this material available only to Patreon members.

If you'd like to support the show, please check out my Patreon page at www.patreon.com/economicrockstar and contribute anything from $1 a month.

Thanks for continuing to support the show by listening. This is what matters more.

130: Eric Lonergan on the Philosophy of Money (Part 1) Mar 01, 2018

Eric Lonergan is a macro hedge fund manager, economist, and writer. His most recent book is Money (2nd ed) published by Routledge. He has written for Foreign Affairs, The Financial Times, and The Economist. He also advises governments and policymakers. He first advocated expanding the tools of central banks to including cash transfers to households in the Financial Times in 2002. In December 2008, he advocated the policy as the most efficient way out of recession post-financial crisis, contributing to a growing debate over the need for ‘helicopter money’.

Check out the show notes page at www.economicrockstar.com/ericlonergan

Support the podcast at www.patreon.com/economicrockstar

129: Sarah Skwire on the Sensibility of Literature for Economic Thinking Feb 23, 2018

Sarah Skwire is a Senior Fellow at Liberty Fund, a non-profit educational foundation, and the co-author of the college writing textbook, Writing with a Thesis, which is in its 12th edition.

Sarah has published a range of academic articles on subjects from Shakespeare to zombies and the broken window fallacy, and her work has appeared in journals as varied as Literature and Medicine, The George Herbert Journal, and The Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization.

Sarah writes a regular column for the Freeman Online and blogs for the Fraser Institute and Bleeding Heart Libertarians.

Sarah’s work on literature and economics has also appeared in Newsweek, The Freeman and in Cato Unbound, and she is an occasional lecturer for IHS, SFL, and other organizations. Her poetry has appeared, among other places, in Standpoint, The New Criterion, and The Vocabula Review.

Sarah graduated with honors in English from Wesleyan University, and earned a MA and PhD in English from the University of Chicago.

Show Notes: www.economicrockstar.com

Patreon: www.patreon.com/economicrockstar

128: Sarah Smith on the Economics of Charitable Giving and Gender Roles in Economics Feb 16, 2018

Sarah Smith is Professor of Economics and Head of the Department of Economics at the University of Bristol. Her research interests are in applied micro - specifically consumer behaviour and public economics.

Sarah has worked on pensions, saving and retirement and welfare policy and her main focus now is the economics of not-for-profit organisations.

Professor Smith has been working with a number of charity organisations to understand what motivates individuals to give and how donations respond to different economic and non-economic incentives.

Sarah is a research associate at the Institute for Fiscal Studies, where she started her career and at the Centre for Economic Policy Research.

Sarah has also worked at HM Treasury, the Financial Services Authority and the London School of Economics.

Sarah received her PhD from University College, London and an MSc Economics from the London School of Economics and Political Science.

Check out the show notes page at www.economicrockstar.com/sarahsmith

Support the show for as little as $1 a month on Patreon. For more, visit www.patreon.com/economicrockstar

127: Barry Eichengreen on the Importance of Economic History, the IMF and Reserve Currencies Feb 08, 2018

Barry Eichengreen is Professor of Economics and Professor of Political Science at the University of California, Berkeley, where he has taught since 1987, and Professor of American History and Institutions, University of Cambridge.

Professor Eichengreen is a Research Associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research and Research Fellow of the Centre for Economic Policy Research.

Professor Eichengreen has been a fellow of the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (Palo Alto) and the Institute for Advanced Study (Berlin). He is a regular monthly columnist for Project Syndicate.

Professor Eichengreen is the recipient of a doctor honoris causa from the American University in Paris, and the 2010 recipient of the Schumpeter Prize from the International Schumpeter Society.

Check out all the links, resources and books mentioned in this epsiode at www.economicrockstar.com/barryeichengreen

Become a supporter of the Economic Rockstar podcast and have your name immortalised an a forthcoming episode. Learn more at my Patreon page over at www.patreon.com/economicrockstar

126: Jeffrey Miron on Libertarianism, Drug Legalization and Genghis Khan Feb 01, 2018

Jeffrey Miron is a Senior Lecturer and Director of Undergraduate Studies in the Department of Economics at Harvard University, as well as a senior fellow at the Cato Institute.

His field of expertise is the economics of libertarianism; he has advocated for many libertarian policies, including legalizing all drugs and allowing failing banks to go bankrupt.

He has written four books including "Drug War Crimes: The Consequences of Prohibition" and "Libertarianism, from A to Z."

Check out the show notes page at www.economicrockstar.com/jeffreymiron

Support the Economic Rockstar at www.patreon.com/economicrockstar

125: Eugene Fama on the Efficient Market Hypothesis, the Federal Funds Rate, Bitcoin and Daily Routines Jan 25, 2018

Eugene F. Fama is Professor of Finance at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. Professor Fama was awarded the 2013 Nobel laureate in economic sciences and is widely recognized as the "father of modern finance."

Professor Fama's research is well known in both the academic and investment communities. He is strongly identified with research on markets, particularly the efficient markets hypothesis. He focuses much of his research on the relation between risk and expected return and its implications for portfolio management. His work has transformed the way finance is viewed and conducted.

Check out the show notes page at www.economicrockstar.com/eugenefama

Support the Economic Rockstar podcast on Patreon: www.patreon.com/economicrockstar

124: Emily Oster on Diabetes and Diet, Disease and Vaccinations and Debunking Pregnancy Myths Jan 18, 2018

Emily Oster is Professor of Economics at Brown University. Before joining Brown University Professor Oster was a faculty member of the University of Chicago, Booth School of Business following the completion of her PhD from Harvard. Emily’s research covers development economics, health economics and research design.

Professor Oster is the author of “Expecting Better: Why the Conventional Pregnancy Wisdom Is Wrong — and What You Really Need to Know”. Her book has over 600 customer reviews on Amazon and has over 4400 ratings on Goodreads. Emily has featured in SuperFreakonomics and her Ted talk ‘Flip your thinking on AIDs in Africa’, has almost 1 million views.

Check out the shownotes page to this episode at www.economicrockstar.com/emilyoster

If you'd like to support the show, check out my Patreon page at www.patreon.com/economicrockstar

123: Vernon Smith on Life During the Great Depression and World War II, Overcoming Adversity and Life as an Economist Jan 11, 2018

Dr. Vernon L. Smith was awarded the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences in 2002 for his groundbreaking work in experimental economics.

He has joint appointments with the Argyros School of Business & Economics and the Fowler School of Law, and is part of a team that will create and run the new Economic Science Institute at Chapman.

Dr. Smith has authored or co-authored more than 300 articles and books on capital theory, finance, natural resource economics and experimental economics.

In this episode, Professor Smith discusses:

What life was like growing up in Wichita, Kansas during the Great Depression.
How he was schooled during his early formative years by an immigrant German teacher.
The roles of his parents in influencing Vernon’s beliefs, morals and hard working ethics.
His role during World War II as an employee of Boeing.
A story of overcoming adversity and being exposed to innovation and entrepreneurial activity.
How electrification during the Roosevelt Administration in the 1930s ended the use of the Coleman Lamp for famers but how Coleman Lamps pivoted to deal with this structural shift.
How he found his way in studying economics and his influencers at that time.
We find out about Vernon’s discovery of a competitive equilibrium in an oral outcry auction without participants requiring complete or even prior knowledge resulting in his award of the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences.
His invitation to unveil a statue of Adam Smith in Edinburgh
Who he would like to meet if he could time travel
Books he’d recommend and much more.

Check out the shownotes page at www.economicrockstar.com/vernonsmith

If you'd like to support the show, check out my Patreon page at www.patreon.com/economicrockstar

122: Robin Hanson on The Elephant in the Brain: Hidden Motives in Everyday Life Jan 01, 2018

Firstly, I’d like to apologise to all listeners to the Economic Rockstar podcast for what seemingly appears to be me turning my back on the podcast and on you. I honestly never had planned for this and I had always intended to work hard and deliver great quality episodes to the best of my abilities with the most amazing, thought-provoking and inspiring economists to you every week.

However, personal circumstances changed in my life and this impacted on the podcast. I felt that I couldn’t commit 100% to the time I had allocated to the podcast.

In the meantime I’d like to thank all of you who have contacted me on Facebook, Twitter and by email enquiring about the podcast and wishing me well. I truly appreciate it and it was really nice to have my listeners get in touch and show a desire and hunger for more interviews.

The realisation kicked in when I struggled to feel the natural enthusiasm that I previously had in the lead up to and during each interview process. I honestly felt that it wasn’t fair to my guests and to you by not being fully present.

The last interview that I recorded (prior to this most recent one) was early in 2017 with the distinguished economist and Nobel laureate Professor Vernon Smith and ironically I felt that it was my best interview to date.

I decided that I just wanted to know about the person rather than the discipline and I felt that this approach uncovered great insights into Professor Smith’s thinking and role as an economist.

And perhaps it’s a coincidence that i’m releasing the first episode in almost a year on the day of Professor Smith’s birthday, January 1st. Happy 91st birthday Vernon. I’ll release my interview with Vernon soon.

If you’re a fan of the podcast and would like to show your support in anyway, please check out my Patreon page at patreon.com/economicrockstar where you can sign up for any of the awards for as little as $1 a month or you can simply follow me on the Economic Rockstar Facebook page or on Twitter or simply recommend the show to a friend, especially if they have never had the opportunity to study economics.

So to begin again… In this weeks episode of the economic rockstar podcast I speak to Professor Robin Hanson, associate professor of economics at George Mason University. Professor Hanson has been on the podcast on two previous occasions, episodes 73 and 91 and has kindly joined me again for a hat-trick of episodes. We talk about his new book The Elephant In the Brain: Hidden Motives in everyday life, co-authored with Kevin Simler and available to buy in all good bookstores and, of course, online through Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Book Depository and more. Check Robin and Kevin’s website elephantintheroom.com to explore the book in finer detail as well as some great content such as interviews, reviews and a Ted talk on the subject.

You can download or stream this 122nd episode as well as find all the links mentioned above at economicrockstar.com/robinhanson3

121: Doug McKee and Edward O'Neill on Teach Better and Using Technology in the Classroom Jan 30, 2017

Douglas McKee is a senior lecturer at the Department of Economics at Cornell University. Dr McKee teaches Econometrics, Probability and Statistics and has previously taught at Yale.

Doug’s research interests include Development Economics, Labor Economics, Health Economics and Structural Estimation

Edward O’Neill consults and serves to solve teaching & learning problems for professors, and supports academic and other projects with learning design and technology services.

Both Doug and Edward cohost the ‘Teach Better’ podcast focusing on expert-level university teaching & pedagogy.

You can check out the podcast over at teachbetter.co and on iTunes where there are currently 45 amazing episodes on teaching in the classroom and the education system.

Check out the resources, books and links mentioned by Doug and Edward at www.economicrockstar.com/dougandedward

120: Best of 2016 Part 2 Jan 21, 2017

Check out the links to the podcast episodes that feature in the Best of 2016 Part 2 at www.economicrockstar.com/bestofpart2

119: Best of 2016 Part 1 Jan 05, 2017

During the year I had the absolute honor to converse with some of the brightest minds in the economics. They shared with me their thinking, research and teaching methods and I personally learned a lot from them. I hope that you benefited from these conversations and that you personally felt part of it.

It was difficult to choose who to include, or more accurately who to leave out. I decided on a number of common themes for this 'Best of 2016' episode. So I hope you enjoy these sound bites and if you're new to the show, I hope that this episode will give you a taste of the content in the catalogue of episodes that lie await for you on the Economic Rockstar podcast. Enjoy!

The following are the episodes that I have chosen to include this year:

068: Daron Acemoglu Inequality, Philanthropy, Inclusive Institutions and Creative Destruction.

108 Steve Horowitz on the Micro Foundations of Macroeconomics and What Caused the Great Recession.

088 Denise Cummins Reciprocity and Fairness.

069 Diane Coyle GDP, the Happiness Index, the Human Development Index, The Soulful Science and How Very Human a Science Good Economics is by Being Concerned About Improving the Well-Being of People.

104 Russ Roberts Definition of Economics, Adam Smith and Happiness.

082 Peter Boettke Hayek and Keynes.

085 Michael Roberts Capitalism, Marxism, Protecting Resources and Ecology.

081 Julie Nelson Ecology and Gender.

114 Deirdre McCloskey The change that brought about the equality of liberalism and her gender transformation.

Check out the links to these full episodes at www.economicrockstar.com/bestofpart1

118: Zachary Feinstein on Systemic Risk and Economics in Star Wars and Harry Potter Dec 30, 2016

Zachary Feinstein is Professor joined the Preston M. Green Department of Electrical & Systems Engineering at Washington University in St. Louis in 2014.

While earning a doctorate at Princeton University, Zachary supervised the senior thesis-writing group and assisted in teaching several courses.

Previously, he conducted research at Hunan University in China and was an intern at Millennium Partners LP and Lehman Brothers Inc., both in New York City.

Professor Feinstein works in the broad fields of operations research and financial engineering and he heads The Operations Research and Financial Engineering Laboratory Washington University.

His research focus has been on the applications of set-optimization to financial risk measurement, with projects studying and defining dynamic risk measures in markets with transaction costs and measures of systemic risk.

You can find Professor Feinstein’s work on Star Wars and more by Googling Fictionomics.

You can check out al the links. books and resources mentioned by Professor Feinstein at www.economicrockstar.com/zacharyfeinstein or at www.economicrockstar.com/starwars

117: Courtney Conrad on Broadway Economics and What We Can Learn Through Musicals Dec 23, 2016

Courtney Conrad is a senior undergraduate economics major at Susquehanna University.

At Susquehanna, Courtney serves as a research assistant, teaching assistant for principles of microeconomics, and tutor.

Courtney’s research interests include labor economics, experimental economics, behavioral economics, and the economics of education.

After completing her Bachelor’s degree in economics, Courtney plans on furthering her economics studies and research at the graduate school level with the aspiration of becoming an academic.

Since being hand-picked as a research assistant during her first year at SU, Courtney has actively assisted her mentor, professor and department chair Dr. Matthew Rousu, on a variety of projects over the years.

As a first-year and sophomore, Courtney managed and conducted experimental auctions for a National Institute of Health grant-funded study in which tobacco smokers’ demand for e-cigarettes was assessed.

Additionally, Courtney collaborates with Dr. Rousu in creating the videos and accompanying economics concept call-outs, discussion questions, and video descriptions for BroadwayEconomics.Com.

116: Brian O'Roark on The Economics of Superheroes and The Hunger Games Dec 16, 2016

Brian O’Roark is University Professor of Economics at Robert Morris University in Pittsburgh. He is the Co-Director of the Robert Morris Center for Economics Education and has a Ph.D. from George Mason University.

In 2014, Brian was given the Undergraduate Teaching Innovation Award by the Middle Atlantic Association of Colleges of Business Administration. He teaches the Survey of Economics course, and Principles of Micro and Macro Economics.

Brian is the co-author of The Ultimate Guide to Teaching Essentials of Economics where hundreds of teaching tips is compiled into one essential, thoughtfully designed teaching resource making it easy for new instructors to incorporate best teaching practices into their courses and for veteran teachers to find inspiration to enliven their lectures.

Professor O’Roark has integrated economic content in songs with many topics being covered in the music videos available at http://www.criticalcommons.org/author/oroark.

To me Brian has become synonymous with superheroes and I could be forgiven for calling him Super Econ Man.

Check out the show notes page for all the links, books and resources mentioned by Professor O'Roark at www.economicrockstar.com/brianoroark

115: Edward Conard on the Upside of Inequality: How Good Intentions Undermine the Middle Class Dec 09, 2016

Edward Conard is the author of the New York Times top-ten bestselling book, Unintended Consequences: Why Everything You’ve Been Told About the Economy Is Wrong (2012), and his recent book The Upside of Inequality: How Good Intentions Undermine the Middle Class which reached #7 on the New York Times Bestsellers list and is #1 on the New York Times business book list month. He is a visiting scholar at the American Enterprise Institute. and former Bain Capital partner.

Ed Conard has debated economists, policymakers and journalists on topics related to inequality, the 2008 mortgage crisis, and the U.S. budget. He has appeared on television over 150 times, most notably when he debated Jon Stewart in one of the longest interviews in the Daily Show’s history. Ed has also written opinion pieces for the Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Foreign Affairs and many other respected publications.

Check out all the links, books and resources mentioned by ed conard at www.economicrockstar.com/edwardconard.

114: Deirdre McCloskey on Equality and Greed and How To Be a Very Good Economist Dec 01, 2016

Deirdre McCloskey taught at the University of Illinois at Chicago and was a Distinguished Professor of Economics, History, English, and Communication.

She was also adjunct professor of Philosophy and Classics there, and for five years was a visiting Professor of philosophy at Erasmus University in Rotterdam.

Since October 2007 Deirdre has received six honorary doctorates. In 2013, she received the Julian L. Simon Memorial Award from the Competitive Enterprise Institute for her work examining factors in history that led to advancement in human achievement and prosperity.

Deirdre’s main research interests include the origins of the modern world, the misuse of statistical significance in economics and other sciences, and the study of capitalism, among many others.

Deirdre has written 17 books and around 400 scholarly pieces on topics ranging from technical economics and statistical theory to transgender advocacy and the ethics of the bourgeois virtues.

Her latest book, Bourgeois Equality: How Ideas, Not Capital or Institutions, Enriched the World is part of the Bourgeois Era trilogy described as an "apology" for capitalism.

Deirdre describes herself as a "post-modern, quantitative, free-market, feminist, Episcopalian, Midwestern, gender-crossing, literary woman”.

Deirdre’s website deirdremccloskey.org contains information and links to her books, articles, interviews and much more.

Check out the show notes page at www.economicrockstar.com/deirdremccloskey for all the books, links and resources mentioned by Deirdre in this episode.

113: Jonathan McEvoy on Globalisation, National Autonomy, Capitalism and the Economic Resonance in Timeless Songs Nov 24, 2016

Jonathan McEvoy is currently an undergrad student of economics at Waterford Institute of Technology in Ireland.

He was recently recognised for being in the top 5% of the Business School at W.I.T, earning the honour of being on the Deans List for Academic Achievement.

Jonathan has a unique understanding of the world around us and, together with his love of economics, has a unique perspective on the economics discipline.

Jonathan’s desire to discover and explore the multitude of economic thinking, from Keynesianism to Marxism, has resulted in him creating a blog called Economics - Thoughts of a Student which can be found at jonathanmcevoy888.blogspot.com.

His recent career history has prepared him well to be great public speaker and communicator.

Jonathan is also an athlete and a top soccer player, having spent time with English Premier League clubs Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur.

Jonathan’s interests also include Health, Human Rights, Politics, Civil Rights, Poverty Alleviation and Science and Technology.

You can check out the shownotes page for all the links, books and resources mentioned by Jonathan at www.economicrockstar.com/jonathanmcevoy

112: Stuti Khemani on Making Politics work for Development and Using Creativity and the Arts to Make Better Policy Decisions Nov 17, 2016

Dr. Stuti Khemani is a Senior Economist in the Development Research Group of the World Bank. She joined through the Young Professionals Program after obtaining a PhD in Economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Dr. Khemani's area of research is the political economy of public policy choices, and institutional reforms for development.

Her work is published in leading economics and political science journals, such as the American Economic Journal, Journal of Development Economics and American Political Science Review.

Stuti has studied the impact of electoral politics on fiscal policy and intergovernmental fiscal relations; drawn policy implications for the design of institutions to promote fiscal responsibility; and analyzed political constraints to efficient allocation of resources for health and education services.

She is also the lead author of the forthcoming Policy Research Report ‘Making Politics Work for Development: Harnessing Transparency and Citizen Engagement’.

Her research and advisory work spans a diverse range of countries, including Benin, China, India, the Philippines, Nigeria, Tanzania and Uganda.

Check out the links, books and resources mentioned by Dr. Khemani over at the show notes page at www.economicrockstar.com/stutikhemani

111: Greg Mankiw on Writing, Carbon Tax, Health Care and Education at the Economics Teaching Conference in Florida 2016 Nov 10, 2016

Greg Mankiw is the Robert M. Beren Professor of Economics at Harvard University. His research includes work on price adjustment, consumer behavior, financial markets, monetary and fiscal policy, and economic growth.

He has written two popular textbooks—the intermediate-level textbook Macroeconomics and the introductory textbook Principles of Economics. Principles of Economics has sold over two million copies and has been translated into twenty languages.

In addition to his teaching, research, and writing, Professor Mankiw has been a research associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research, an adviser to the Congressional Budget Office and the Federal Reserve Banks of Boston and New York, and a member of the ETS test development committee for the advanced placement exam in economics. From 2003 to 2005 he served as Chairman of the President's Council of Economic Advisers.

Check out all the links, resources and books mentioned by Professor Mankiw at www.economicrockstar.com/gregmankiw

110: Beatrice Cherrier on the Economics of 'The Wire' and the Beginning of Economics at MIT Nov 04, 2016

Beatrice Cherrier is an assistant professor at the University of Caen, France.

Professor Cherrier's research includes the history of postwar economics and how economists’ individual visions combine in collective “styles” of doing economics.

Her current research project is aimed at understanding the rise of applied economics from the mid-1960s onwards.

Beatrice is affiliated with CREM, the Centre for Research in Economics and Management, where she researches alongside social choice theorists.

She teaches in a urban studies department, and is experimenting on her students to figure out how to get non-economists interested in the “dismal” science.

Professor Cherrier blogs on her personal website beatricecherrier.wordpress.com as well as for the Institute for New Economic Thinking.

Check out the links, books and resources mentioned by Professor Cherrier at www.economicrockstar.com/beatricecherrier

109: Julia Norgaard on the Online Black Market for Drugs and Why Detection Rates are Low Oct 27, 2016

Julia Norgaard is a Ph.D. Candidate in Economics at George Mason University.

Julia is also a Ph.D. Fellow at the Mercatus Center and a Graduate Lecturer at George Mason University.

Her interests include development and institutional economics as well as public choice.

Julia’s teaching include Managerial Economics, Public Choice Economics, Economic Development of Developing Nations and Economies in Transition.

She received her Masters degree in economics from George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia in 2015. Julia graduated with a B.A. in economics with a minor in mathematics from The University of San Diego in 2012.

Check out the show notes for all links mentioned during this episode at economicrockstar.com/julianorgaard

108: Steve Horwitz on Spontaneous Order, the Microfoundations of Macroeconomics and Three Economic Myths Oct 20, 2016

Steven Horwitz is the Charles A. Dana Professor of Economics at St. Lawrence University in Canton, NY and is currently Visiting Scholar at Ball State University, Indiana.

Professor Horwitz is also an Affiliated Senior Scholar at the Mercatus Center Virgina, a Senior Fellow at the Fraser Institute in Canada, and a Distinguished Fellow at the Foundation for Economic Education.

Steve is the author of three books, Monetary Evolution, Free Banking, and Economic Order, Microfoundations and Macroeconomics: An Austrian Perspective, and Hayek's Modern Family: Classical Liberalism and the Evolution of Social Institutions.

He has written extensively on Austrian economics, Hayekian political economy, monetary theory and history, and American economic history.

Steve has a series of popular YouTube videos for the Learn Liberty series from the Institute for Humane Studies and blogs at "Bleeding Heart Libertarians" and writes regularly for FEE.org.

A member of the Mont Pelerin Society, he has a PhD in Economics from George Mason University and an AB in Economics and Philosophy from the University of Michigan.

Check out the show notes page for all the links, books and resources mentioned by Professor Horwitz at www.economicrockstar.com/stevehorwitz

107: Jaclyn Lindo on Hawaii Land-Based Learning as a Method for Teaching Economics and a Flipped Classroom in Practice Oct 13, 2016

Dr. Jaclyn Lindo is an economics instructor at the University of Hawaii’s Kapiolani Community College where she teaches principles-level courses and advise the Economics and Business Club.

Dr. Lindo flipped all of her courses using a combination of publisher-produced videos and her own problem-based, collaborative in-class assignments. She strives to make her course material as relevant to students' experiences and interests by using pop culture as well as integrating local issues.

Jaclyn will be part of the first cohort of faculty to integrate land-based learning into their pedagogy with the aim of promoting learning that is rooted in Native Hawaiin values, place-based research, and community engagement to understand community needs.

Jaclyn previously lectured on health economics at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, continuing with her expertise as the senior health economist at Hawaii Health Information Corporation. While there, Jaclyn researched healthcare policy and outcomes at the national and local levels.

Jaclyn completed her PhD at the University of Hawaii at Manoa in 2011.

For all the links, books and resources mentioned by Jaclyn, visit www.economicrockstar.con/jaclynlindo

106: Michael Kofoed on the Effectiveness of an Economics Major in the Military and How the Pomegranate Defunded the Taliban Oct 06, 2016

Michael Kofoed is an Assistant Professor of Economics at the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York.

Professor Kofoed’s research focuses on the economics of higher education including the effects of financial aid on student outcomes, pricing behavior of for-profit universities, and measuring the effects of randomly assigned peers and mentors.

Michael has numerous published and forthcoming papers and his book chapter “Price Discrimination", co-authored with David Mustard, features in Encyclopedia of Education Economics and Finance.

Michael received his PhD from the University of Georgia with the PhD title Essays on the Economics of Student Financial Aid and a BS in Quantitaive Economics from Weber State University.

All links resources and books mentioned by Michael in this episode can be found at www.economicrockstar.com/michaelkofoed

Thanks for listening!

105: Jana Gallus on the Economics of Non-Financial Awards and How Editor Retention on Wikipedia Can Be Maintained Sep 29, 2016

Jana Gallus is an assistant professor in the strategy group at UCLA Anderson.

Professor Gallus’s research interests lie in behavioral economics and strategy, with a focus on non-financial incentives and their effects on decision-making.

Jana investigates how incentive schemes can be designed to enhance employee motivation and organizational performance in the private and nonprofit sectors.

Jana joined UCLA from Harvard, where she was a postdoctoral fellow. She received her Ph.D. in economics from the University of Zurich, with the distinction summa cum laude, and holds two master’s degrees, from Sciences Po Paris in France and the University of St. Gallen in Switzerland.

Jana describes herself as an economist with a keen interest in studying and designing incentives to motivate human behaviour.

Her research and teaching lie at the intersection of strategy, economics and psychology.

Check out the show notes page for all the links, books and resources mentioned by Professor Gallus at www.economicrockstar.com/janagallus

104: Russ Roberts on How Adam Smith Can Change Your Life and the Theory of Moral Sentiments Sep 22, 2016

Russ Roberts is Associate Editor, founder and host of the popular and much loved podcast EconTalk, and founding advisory board member of the Library of Economics and Liberty.

Russ is the John and Jean De Nault Research Fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution.

His two rap videos on the ideas of John Maynard Keynes and F.A. Hayek, created with filmmaker John Papola, have had more than eight million views on YouTube.

Russ’ latest book How Adam Smith Can Change Your Life: An Unexpected Guide to Human Nature and Happiness takes the lessons from Adam Smith’s The Theory of Moral Sentiments and applies them to modern life.

Russ is also the author of three economic novels teaching economic lessons and ideas through fiction. The Price of Everything: A Parable of Possibility and Prosperity, The Invisible Heart: An Economic Romance and The Choice: A Fable of Free Trade and Protectionism.

Russ blogs at CafeHayek.com and archives his work at russroberts.info.

Check out the links, books and resources mentioned by Russ at www.economicrockstar.com/russroberts

103: Brian Mills on the Labor Market in Baseball, the Umpire Strikes Back and R Sep 15, 2016

Dr. Brian Mills is an Assistant Professor at the University of Florida within the Department of Tourism, Recreation, and Sport Management specializing in Managerial Sports Economics.

Professor Mills is also Associate Research Faculty within the Eric Friedheim Tourism Institute (EFTI).

Brian’s research interests encompass topics such as the sports labor market, industrial organization and sports league policy, public policy and economic development related to sport, and advanced analytics in the sports business. He is especially interested in applying economic lessons and quantitative analysis to problems that sport managers face in their everyday decision making.

Brian’s work and research interests can be found at brianmmills.com and at princeofslides.blogspot.

Brian is now offering a new course called Exploring Pitch Data with R over at Data Camp.

Check out the show notes page for all the links, books and resources mentioned by Brian at www.economicrockstar.com/brianmills

102: Matías Vernengo on John Maynard Keynes and the Evolution of Keynesian Economic Thinking Sep 08, 2016

Matías Vernengo is Professor of Economics at Bucknell University, Pennsylvania, USA.

Dr. Vernengo is co-author of ‘Conta de Juros Grande & Favela’ and has also edited four books including ‘Banking, Monetary Policy and the Political Economy of Financial Regulation - Essays in the Tradition of Jane D’Arista’

He has published over fifty academic and popular articles, and contributes to the blogs Naked Keynesianism and Triple Crisis. He is also the co-editor of the Review of Keynesian Economics (ROKE).

Matías’ methodological view emphasizes the importance of the history of ideas for the development of economic theory, and is based on the surplus approach of the classical political economy authors and Marx and the heterodox followers of Keynes.

Dr. Vernengo has written on the effects of external liberalization in Latin America and alternatives to the Washington Consensus, on the international role of the dollar, on current monetary and fiscal policy, on macroeconomic policy during the 1930s and on the history of economic ideas.

Check out the show notes page for all links, books and resources mentioned in this episode at www.economicrockstar.com/matias

101: Chris Coyne on the Opportunity Cost of War, Exporting Democracy and the Nirvana Fallacy Sep 01, 2016

Christopher Coyne is an Associate Professor of Economics at George Mason University and the Associate Director of the F. A. Hayek Program for Advanced Study in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics at the Mercatus Center.

He also serves as Director of Graduate Studies for the Department of Economics.

Professor Coyne serves as the Co-Editor of The Review of Austrian Economics, the Co-Editor of The Independent Review, the Co-Editor of Advances in Austrian Economics, and the Book Review Editor of Public Choice.

Chris has authored numerous academic articles, book chapters, and policy studies and his research interests include political economy and military intervention.

Professor Coyne is the author or co-author of numerous books including Future: Economic Peril or Prosperity? and After War: The Political Economy of Exporting Democracy.

He is also the co-editor of The Oxford Handbook of Austrian Economics and The Handbook on the Political Economy of War.

In 2016 Chris was selected as a recipient of George Mason University's University Teaching Excellence Award.

Check out all the links, books and resources mentioned by Chris Coyne at www.economicrockstar.com/chriscoyne

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100: Emily Skarbek on the Economics of Natural Disasters and the Samaritan’s Dilemma Aug 25, 2016

Dr. Emily Skarbek is a Lecturer in Political Economy at King's College London.

Emily’s research examines the role of voluntary associations in solving complex public goods problems after natural disasters.

Her empirical approach is three-pronged, drawing on archives, historical sources, and field-work following large-scale natural disasters.

In addition, Emily has a passion for the history of economic thought, which she believes can play a key role in advancing contemporary debates. She is particularly interested in the epistemic arguments of Friedrich Hayek.

In 2014, Emily was awarded the annual Gordon Tullock prize for best article published in Public Choice by a junior scholar. She is also a contributing author to several books including After Katrina: The Political Economy of Disaster and Community Rebound and Hayek and the Modern World.

Dr. Skarbek received her PhD in Economics from George Mason University and was previously an Assistant Professor at San Jose State University and a Fellow at the Center for History of Political Economy at Duke University.

Check out the show notes page for all resources, links and books mentioned by Emily at www.economicrockstar.com/emilyskarbek

099: Rodney Fort on Sport Economics, Big Data in Baseball and the Value of Hosting an Olympic Games Aug 18, 2016

Rodney Fort is Professor of Sport Management at the University of Michigan after spending 23 years in an economics department at various universities.

Professor Fort teaches Sports Economics and Research Methods for Sport Management and research interests include sport economics, regulation and microeconomics.

Rodney is a recognized authority on sports economics and business, both in the U.S. and internationally.

He has written 7 books including the best seller Sports Economics, 63 refereed journal articles, and 56 other publications that cover sports topics as diverse as cross-subsidies in U.S. sports leagues to comparative analysis of North American and world sports leagues.

Rodney also serves on the editorial boards of the Journal of Sports Economics, the International Journal of Sport Finance, and Managerial and Decision Economics. He also currently serves as a vice-president of the International Association of Sports Economists.

Rodney’s work includes being a sports economics consultant, writes for numerous blogs including his own rodsports economics and holds the most complete data on the economics and business of U.S. pro sports leagues in existence at Sports Business Data.

Check out the show notes page for all links, resources and books mentioned by Professor Fort at www.economicrockstar.com/rodneyfort

098: Kirk Du Plessis on Options Trading and Creating on Online Teaching and Trading Platform Aug 11, 2016

Kirk Du Plessis is a full-time options trader, real estate investor, stay-at-home Dad and personal trading coach.

His background and experience includes time on Wall Street as an investment banker, a senior stock analyst and a senior loan officer.

Kirk is the Founder and Fund Manager at Option Alpha, an online education and training platform for options traders with students from 42 different countries around the world.

You can grab his completely FREE 12-Part Video Training Course which will help you discover how to trade options for consistent monthly income over at optionalpha.com.

Kirk was recently featured in Barron’s Magazine as a contributor to their Annual Broker’s Review.

Kirk’s podcast, The Option Alpha Podcast, features great tips, advice and explanations on all things options trading.

Check out the show notes page for all links and resources mentioned in this episode at www.economicrockstar.com/kirk

097: Peita Diamantidis on Being a Finance Action Hero and Gamifying How You Manage Your Finances Aug 04, 2016

Peita Diamantidis is an Author, Financial Adviser and Financial Literacy Advocate.

She combines maths and finance with a passion for communicating leading her on a mission to empower the public to take charge of their finances.

Her easy to understand financial explanations ensure her clients have the tools and information they need to make key financial decisions.

With a background in Actuarial Studies and economics, Peita delivers a deep understanding of the fundamentals of money and finance through the companies that she co-founded: Zaptitude, DeltaPlan Financial Services and Caboodle Financial Services.

With a quirky sense of humour and a deep and abiding love of movies, Peita is in the unique position of being able to use humour and storytelling to communicate the best way to approach an individual’s finances.

Peita is author of Finance Action Hero.

Check out the show notes page at www.economicrockstar.com/peita

096: Cameron Murray on the Robinson Crusoe Economy and Blogging toward your PhD Jul 28, 2016

Dr Cameron K. Murray is an economist with a passion for improving society. Cameron writes under the pseudonym Rumplestatskin.

Cameron has a broad range of interests and a diverse background in property development, environmental economics research and economic regulation.

In his writings, Cameron aims to bring reliable insights from the academic and technical literature into the mainstream economic debate.

Cameron thinks that economics could be much better than it is, which is why he often write about very fine technical points of economic theory, and the nature of the profession.

Dr Murray specialises in property markets, environmental economics and corruption.

Cameron maintains an internationally renowned personal blog called Fresh Economic Thinking and also writes for MacroBusiness, IDEA economics and Evonomics.

He recently completed a PhD at the University of Queensland on the economics of corruption.

You can get all the links, resources and books mentioned by Dr. Murray in the show notes page at www.economicrockstar.com/cameronmurray

095: Scott Burns on Mobile Money Banking in Africa and the Success of M-Pesa Jul 21, 2016

Scott Burns is a Mercatus PhD Dissertation Fellow in the Economics PhD Program at George Mason University.

Scott earned his BS in Economics from Louisiana State University where he was part of the Speech and Debate Club and the Phi Eta Sigma Honors Society.

His current publications include The War on Drugs in Afghanistan: Another Failed Experiment in Interdiction and Old (Chicago) school, new century: the link between Knight and Simons’ Chicago plan to Buchanan’s constitutional money.

Scott’s PhD dissertation topic has to do with one of the most exciting yet under-appreciated miracles of the market going on in the world today, the "mobile money revolution" in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Scott writes for the blog Alt-M, which is a blog run by free banking scholars on the theme Ideas for an Alternative Monetary Future.

Check out the show notes page for all the links, books and resources mentioned by Scott at www.economicrockstar.com/scottburns

094: Daniel Crosby on Stock Market Investment Errors and the Price Earnings Ratio Jul 14, 2016

Dr. Daniel Crosby is a psychologist, behavioral finance expert and asset manager who applies his study of market psychology to everything from financial product design to security selection.

Daniel is author of 2 books - The Laws of Wealth: Psychology and the secret to investing success and You’re not that Great. He is co-author of the New York Times bestseller Personal Benchmark: Integrating Behavioral Finance and Investment Management.

Dr. Crosby is founder of Nocturne Capital. His ideas have appeared in the Huffington Post and Risk Management Magazine, as well as his monthly columns for WealthManagement.com and Investment News.

Daniel was named one of the "12 Thinkers to Watch" by Monster.com, a "Financial Blogger You Should Be Reading" by AARP and in the "Top 40 Under 40" by Investment News.

Daniel was educated at Brigham Young and Emory Universities.

You can check out the show notes for all the links, books and resources mentioned in this episode at www.economicrockstar.com/danielcrosby

093: Arthur Charpentier on Freakonometrics, Machine Learning and Big Data Jul 07, 2016

Arthur Charpentier is currently Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Economics at Université de Rennes I.

Professor Charpentier's teaching activities include Economics of Uncertainty, Modelling Natural Catastrophes, Nonlinear Econometrics, Multivariate Data Analysis, Advanced Techniques in Portfolio Management and Probability and Statistics.

Arthur’s research interests include copula theory, extreme values with applications in finance and insurance, option pricing, actuarial science and statistics of insurance, risk measures, capital allocation and diversification.

Arthur describes his blog ‘freakonometrics’ as an open lab-notebook experiment which can be found at freakonometrics.hypotheses.org/

Arthur completed a PhD Thesis in Mathematics (Statistics) at University of Leuven and a Masters degree in Mathematics applied to economics at University Paris IX Dauphine.

Check out the show notes page to this episode where you can find all the links and resources mentioned by Arthur at: www.economicrockstar.com/freakonometrics

092: Graham Brownlow on Rent Seeking, Cliometrics and the Economics of the DeLorean Jun 30, 2016

Dr Graham Brownlow (PhD, QUB) is a Lecturer in Economics at Queen’s University, Belfast.

Dr Brownlow’s research focuses primarily on economic history and institutions, evolutionary economics, Irish economic and business performance and violence. He also has an interest in methodology in economic and business history.

Graham edits the journal Irish Economic and Social History.

Show notes with all the links, books and resources mentioned in this episode can be found at www.economicrockstar.com/grahambrownlow

091: The Age of Em by Robin Hanson Jun 23, 2016

This is Robin Hanson's second appearance on the Economic Rockstar podcast. I previously spoke to Robin about his work in episode 073. If you find this interview interesting, check out the other episode. You'll love it.

This is the Book Review from Amazon:

"Robots may one day rule the world, but what is a robot-ruled Earth like?

Many think the first truly smart robots will be brain emulations or "ems." Scan a human brain, then run a model with the same connections on a fast computer, and you have a robot brain, but recognizably human.

Train an em to do some job and copy it a million times: an army of workers is at your disposal. When they can be made cheaply, within perhaps a century, ems will displace humans in most jobs. In this new economic era, the world economy may double in size every few weeks.

090: Stefan Szymanski on Soccernomics and How Sabermetrics, Inequality and Finance Rules the Sport Jun 16, 2016

Stefan Szymanski is Professor of Sport Management at the University of Michigan.

Between 2008-2012 he was a Professor of Economics at Cass Business School, City University, London.

Stefan began researching the economics of professional football in 1989, and has since come to spend his entire time researching the economics and business of sport.

He has published 55 scholarly articles, 14 book chapters, six books and four edited volumes on sports related subjects.

Stefan has also acted as consultant to sport governing bodies and national governments, and has appeared in court as an expert witness on the economics of sport. He has become a regular pundit in the media on business related sports issues.

Stefan’s interests include sports management and economics; sport history, culture and society; the internationalization of sport; international sports federations and the governance of sport.

Stefan is co-author of Soccernomics, author of Money and Soccer: A Soccernomics Guide and co-owner of soccernomics agency.

Check out the show notes page for all the resources, links and books mentioned in this episode at www.economicrockstar.com/stefansymanski

089: James Brusseau on Wealth Inequality and the Accursed Share Jun 09, 2016

Dr. James Brusseau is a philosopher specializing in contemporary continental philosophy, history of philosophy and ethics.

In 1994 James joined the faculty of Philosophy and Letters at the Mexican National University in Mexico City teaching graduate courses in Philosophy and Comparative Literature.

He has also taught in Europe and the California State University.

Dr. James Brusseau currently teaches at Pace University in New York City.

James is the author of four books: Isolated Experiences, Decadence of the French Knee Chaa (Nietzsche), Empire of Humiliation and Business Ethics Workshop, Flat World Knowledge, 2011

He is also the host for The Wealth Inequality Workshop at wealthinequalityworkshop.org

Check out the show notes page for all the links, books and resources mentioned in this episode at www.economicrockstar.com/jamesbrusseau

088: Denise Cummins on Fairness in Economics, Altruism and the Prisoners Dilemma Jun 02, 2016

Dr. Denise Cummins is a research psychologist and an author. She has held faculty and research positions at Yale University, the University of California, the University of Illinois, and the Center for Adaptive Behavior at the Max Planck Institute in Berlin.

Dr Cummins is a respected cognitive scientist who has authored numerous scientific articles, and is an elected Fellow of the Association for Psychological Science.

In her Psychology Today blog and PBS NewsHour articles, Denise writes about what she and other cognitive scientists are discovering about the way people think, solve problems, and make decisions.

Denise’s experimental investigations focus on social, moral, and causal decision-making. The aim of her social research is investigating how perceived relative status impacts fairness in economic transactions.

Denise is the author of four books, the most recent being Good Thinking: Seven powerful ideas that influence the way we think

Denise received her PhD in Experimental Psychology from University of Colorado, Boulder and you can find her work at www.denisecummins.com and PsychologyToday.com

Check out the show notes page at www.economicrockstar.com/denisecummins to access the links and resources mentioned in this episode.

087: Asgeir B. Torfason on the Economy of Iceland and Explaining Negative Cashflows in Banks May 26, 2016

Asgeir B. Torfason is Assistant Professor in the School of Business at the University of Iceland where he teaches Finance, Accounting and Financial Statement Analysis.

Asgeir defended his PhD at Gothenburg University in May 2014 with dissertation: Cash Flow Accounting in Banks - A study of practice.

His research combines bank management, finance theory, monetary economics and accounting studies.

Previous research has focused on asset values and long-term investment in real estate, a field where Asgeir has extensive practical experience, covering the Nordics as VP for a REIT listed on NYSE.

Prior to that he worked in university management after getting an MBA from Norwegian Business School in Oslo, and studied earlier Philosophy and Economics in Iceland.

Check out the links, resources and books mentioned in this episode at www.economicrockstar.com/asgeir

086: Philip Pilkington on Determinism and the Reformation in Economics May 19, 2016

Philip Pilkington works in investment and has contributed to numerous online and print media outlets as a freelance economic journalist.

Philip ran a popular economics blog called www.fixingtheeconomists.wordpress.com and will be releasing his book The Reformation in Economics soon.

Philip earned his B.A. in Journalism from the Independent Colleges, as well as his M.A. in Economics from Kingston University.

All views expressed by Philip are his own and are not representative of the firm in which he works.

Visit www.economicrockstar.com/philippilkington to access the links, resources and books mentioned in this episode.

085: Michael Roberts on Understanding Karl Marx and His Thinking on Capitalism May 12, 2016

Michael Roberts has worked as an economist for over 30 years in the City of London. Michael is a Marxist economist and he has written on the causes of the recession of 2008 from a Marxist perspective. He is the author of The Great Recession: Profit cycles, economic crisis A Marxist view and The Long Depression: Marxism and the Global Crisis of Capitalism. You can view all the links mentioned in this episode at www.economicrockstar.com/michaelroberts

084: Mises v Marx: A Discussion with Peter Boettke May 05, 2016

Peter Boettke is Professor of Economics and Philosophy at George Mason University, the BB&T Professor for the Study of Capitalism, and the Director of the F.A. Hayek Program for Advanced Study in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University.

This is Professor Boettke's second time being featured on the Economic Rockstar podcast. You can listen to Peter's first interview in episode 82 at www.economicrockstar.com/peterboettke

Professor Boettke is also the author of 'Living Economics', a book in which he decided to hand over all his royalties from its sale to help sponsor scholarships for students to attend Universidad Francisco Marroquin Guatemala City, Guatemala. According to Milton Friedman, it is "one of the leading universities in Latin America.”

083: Stephen Kinsella on Stock Flow Models, Rent Controls and Being the Green Lantern of Economics Apr 28, 2016

Stephen Kinsella is a Senior Lecturer in Economics at the Kemmy Business School, University of Limerick in Ireland and a Research Fellow at the Geary Institute at University College Dublin. He is currently visiting Professor of Economics at Université Paris.

Stephen has 2 PhD’s, is well published in many Economics Journals and has won several grants worth around 1.5 million Euro.

Stephen’s area of expertise is in the study of the Irish and European economies.

He has written 4 books: Ireland in 2050: How we will be Living, Understanding Ireland's Economic Crisis: Prospects for Recovery, QuickWin Economics, and Computable Economics.

Stephen is a weekly columnist for the Sunday Business Post newspaper. He also has his own website stephenkinsella.net which is amazingly rich in content, covering issues on the Irish and European economy as well as material he covers in his lectures.

Check out the show notes page to this episode at www.economicrockstar.com/stephenkinsella

082: Peter Boettke on Smith and Keynes and Why We Should Be 'Living Economics' Apr 21, 2016

Peter Boettke is Professor of Economics and Philosophy at George Mason University, the BB&T Professor for the Study of Capitalism, and the Director of the F.A. Hayek Program for Advanced Study in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University.

Peter is now the co-author, along with David Prychitko, of the classic principles of economics texts of Paul Heyne's The Economic Way of Thinking.

Professor Boettke’s most recent book, Living Economics, provides a resource for how teachers and students can engage in many fascinating questions in economics and illuminates the core principles that should guide our thinking.

Peter’s efforts in the classroom have earned him a number of distinctions including the Golden Dozen Award for Excellence in Teaching from the College of Arts and Sciences at New York University and the George Mason University Alumni Association's 2009 Faculty Member of the Year award.

Peter’s research has primarily been in the area of comparative political and economic systems and the consequences with regard to material progress and political freedom.

Check out the show notes page for all the links, books and resources mentioned by Peter at www.economicrockstar.com/peterboettke

081: Julie Nelson on the Importance of Ecology in Economics and the Misconception of Gender Roles in the Economy Apr 14, 2016

Julie Nelson is Professor of Economics at University of Massachusetts Boston and Senior Research Fellow at Global Development and Environment Institute, Tufts University, also in the USA.

Julie’s research areas include feminist economics, ecological economics, the philosophy and methodology of economics, ethics and economics, the teaching of economics, and the empirical study of individual and household behavior.

Julie is the author of Economics for Humans and author, co-author, or co-editor of several other books including Beyond Economic Man: Feminist Theory and Economics.

Professor Nelson earned a B.A. degree in Economics from St. Olaf College and an M.A. and Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, USA.

Julie, along with Mark Maier, runs the website introducingeconomics.org

Check out the show notes page at www.economicrockstar.com/julienelson for all the links and resources mentioned in this episode.

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080: Will Australia's Property Market and Economy Go Down Under? An Episode Featuring Steve Keen Apr 07, 2016

This weeks episode of the Economic Rockstar podcast features the Australian economy.

There is talk amongst economists, analysts and commentators, be it speculative or not, that the Australian economy or it’s housing market will implode within the next 12 to 18 months.

I am joined with Professor Steve Keen who explains why the property market in Australia will crash, taking down its economy.

Check out the show notes page for a transcript, links and resources mentioned in this episode at www.economicrockstar.com/australia.

079: Bryan Caplan on Parenting, the Case Against Education and the Rational Voter Mar 31, 2016

Bryan Caplan is Professor of Economics at George Mason University and Senior Scholar at the Mercatus Center.

Bryan is the author of The Myth of the Rational Voter: Why Democracies Choose Bad Policies, named "the best political book of the year" by the New York Times, and Selfish Reasons to Have More Kids: Why Being a Great Parent Is Less Work and More Fun Than You Think. He also blogs at EconLog.

He is now working on a new book, The Case Against Education.

Check out the show notes page to this episode at www.economicrockstar.com/bryancaplan where you will find links to all the resources mentioned.

078: Arnold Kling on the Hidden Story of How Markets Work, the Mortgage Crisis and How We Pay for Health Care Mar 24, 2016

Arnold Kling is a Mercatus Center–affiliated senior scholar at George Mason University and a member of the Financial Markets Working Group.

Arnold specializes in housing-finance policy, financial institutions, macroeconomics, and the inside workings of America’s federal financial institutions. He also is an adjunct scholar at the Cato Institute in Washington, DC.

He has authored five books, including Crisis of Abundance: Rethinking How We Pay for Health Care and Invisible Wealth: The Hidden Story of How Markets Work.

Arnold has published articles in the Economist, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, the Atlantic, and Forbes, among others, and he blogs at arnoldkling.com/blog/.

Previously, Arnold served as a senior economist at Freddie Mac and a staff economist on the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System.

He started Homefair, one of the first commercial websites on the Internet.

Arnold Kling received his PhD in economics from Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Check out the show notes page with all links and resources mentioned in this episode at www.economicrockstar.com/arnoldkling

077: The Irish Economy 100 years on from the 1916 Easter Rising Mar 17, 2016

This is a commemorative episode celebrating the 100 year anniversary of Ireland’s 1916 Easter Rising in which the Proclamation of the Republic was read by Padraig Pearse at four minutes past noon on Easter Monday, April 24th, from the steps of the General Post Office on Sackville Street (now known as O’Connell Street). The document proclaimed Ireland’s independence from Great Britain.

How was Ireland’s economy performing in 1916 and how far have we come 100 years on?

In this episode, you will learn of the state of the Irish economy in 1916 and how it compares to today.

Economic themes include:

Population
Life Expectancy
Housing
Employment
Trade
GDP
Inflation

Check out the show notes page at www.economicrockstar.com/ireland to read a transcript of this episode and for the links and resources mentioned.

076: Greg Ip on Foolproofing the Economy and Why Stability is Destabilizing Mar 10, 2016

Greg Ip is one of the best-known economics journalists in the US.

He is currently chief economics commentator of The Wall Street Journal and writes about U.S. and global economic developments and policy each week in the Capital Account column and on Real Time Economics, the Wall Street Journal’s economics blog.

From 2008 to January 2015, he was U.S. Economics Editor of The Economist magazine. Greg is the author of Foolproof: Why Safety Can Be Dangerous and How Danger Makes Us Safe as well as author of The Little Book of Economics: How the Economy Works in the Real World.

In this episode you will learn:

about the theme behind Greg Ip's latest book Foolproof.
when the pursuit of safety lead us into danger?
what forest fires have to do with Wall Street.
the way we publicly and privately try to cope with risk and danger and how those choices can create unintended consequences.
what American Football can teach us about the Fallacy of Composition.

what past economic and financial crises have in common.

how the financial system succeeded too well in making people feel their money was safe.
if savings is actually bad for the economy.
about Keynes’ Paradox of Thrift and how savings forces others to borrow.

whether exchange traded funds (ETFs) will be the next financial catastrophe.
how Paul Volcker's regulation of capital flows caused the growth of shadow banking.
and much much more.
Check out the show notes page at www.economicrockstar.com/gregip

075: Kate Bahn on Monopsony in the Market for Teachers and the Economics of Retirement Mar 03, 2016

Kate Bahn is an economist at the Center for American Progress in Washington, D.C.

Kate is also the co-founder and managing editor of Lady Economist, an amazing blog with rich content on how economics impacts women and girls.

Kate’s economics writing has been featured in the Guardian, the Nation, the Chronicle of Higher Education and Good Magazine among others.

She is also an active member of the International Association for Feminist Economics.

Kate received her PhD in Economics from the New School for Social Research, where she also worked as a researcher for the Schwartz Center for Economic Policy Analysis.

Kate’s scholarly research includes labor economics, gender in the economy, caring labor, and retirement.

In this episode you will learn:

what is a monopsony market

why early-career teachers leave their profession within the first five years.

about the International Association for Feminist Economics.

about the economics of retirement.

whether women are more risk averse than men or whether it is gender-stereotyping.

which US President should be removed from a US bill and what female should replace him.

and much more.

Check out the show notes page where you can get all the links and resources mentioned in this episode at www.economicrockstar.com/katebahn

Subscribe to the Economic Rockstar podcast on iTunes and never miss an episode again.

074: Peter Leeson on The Invisible Hook: The Hidden Economics of Pirates Feb 25, 2016

Peter T. Leeson is Duncan Black Professor of Economics and Law at George Mason University.

He is also a Senior Fellow at the F.A. Hayek Program for the Advanced Study of Philosophy, Politics, and Economics as well as the North American Editor of Public Choice.

Peter is author of The Invisible Hook: The Hidden Economics of Pirates and Anarchy Unbound: Why Self-Governance Works Better Than You Think.

In this episode you will learn:

why Peter decided to study the economics of pirates.

the similarities between The Invisible Hand and The Invisible Hook.

how pirates were rational thinkers and social revolutionaries.

how the Pirate Code created a social order that was economically beneficial to the crew.

why unemployed sailors became buccaneers and pirates.

the signalling effect of the Jolly Roger flag and why pirates used it as they approached a merchant ship.

and much much more.

Check out the show notes page for all resources and links mentioned in this episode at www.economicrockstar.com/peterleeson

073: Robin Hanson on The Age of Em and How Brain Emulations Will Double Economic Growth Every Month Feb 18, 2016

Robin Hanson is associate professor of economics at George Mason University He is also a research associate at Oxford’s Future of Humanity Institute and chief scientist at Consensus Point.

Robin has pioneered prediction markets, also known as information markets and idea futures, since 1988.

Robin has a passion to understand everything, and to save the world. He is addicted to “viewquakes”, loves to argue one on one, and values honesty and passion. He blogs at OvercomingBias.com which has had over eight million visits.

His book The Age of Em: Work, Love and Life When Robots Rule the Earth will be available in May 2016.

Check out the show notes page at www.economicrockstar.com/roberthanson.

072: Friedrich A. Hayek - That Entrepreneurial Knowledge is Situational and Commonsensical, Not Scientific Feb 11, 2016

In this essay, I present a personal essay based on the work of Hayek, most notably concerning his thoughts and discussion on how knowledge cannot be scientifically calculated for use within a centrally planned organisation, which is argued in his own essays 'The Use of Knowledge in Society' (1968) and 'Competition as a Discovery Procedure' (1984).

Check out the show notes page to this episode at economicrockstar.com/hayek where you can receive a transcript of the essay as well as the links to all of the references mentioned during the episode.

071: Darshak Patel on Using Popular Culture to Engage Economics Students in the Classroom and Online Feb 04, 2016

Darshak Patel is currently a Lecturer of economics at the University of Kentucky, USA.

After a one-year Visiting Assistant Professor appointment at Roanoke College, Darshak served three years as an Assistant Professor of Economics at the University of Tennessee Martin.

Darshak’s research and teaching interests include labor economics, microeconomics, industrial organization, the economics of education, and sports economics.

Darshak graduated with a PhD in Economics at the University of Kentucky with his dissertation exploring the use of option value theory to explain student decision-making in post-secondary schooling.

In this episode you will learn:

whether using Twitter to enhance the students’ learning outcomes is effective.

how video scrapbooking can be integrated into the economics curriculum.

the benefits and difficulties of using social media platforms to teach economics.

what option value theory is.

about Milton Friedman’s recommendation to the US government to introduce a tax to finance the US involvement in World War II.

how Bing Crosby helped promote the purchase of war bonds for the US war effort during the Second World War.

about the transition of the Kenyan economy since the 1970s.

about the Chinese influence in Africa.

and much more.

Check out the show notes to this episode at www.economicrockstar.com/darshakpatel

070: Chronis Lalas on Prospect Theory and 'Making a Behavioral Economist' Jan 28, 2016

Chronis Lalas is a recent graduate from the University of Macedonia, Greece with a BA in Economics.

Chronis blogs at The Newbie Economist and aspires to be a behavioral economist that will optimize Fortune 500 corporations’ marketing campaigns through analyzing their existing customers’ behavior.

In this episode you will learn:

about Prospect theory.

about the reciprocity shown by TOMS shoe store in Thessaloniki, Greece.

how playing French music influences the purchase of French wine.

how the names of products and how they are pronounced can change the way consumers think about the product.

and much more.

Check out all the links and resources mentioned in this episode at www.economicrockstar.com/chronis

069: Diane Coyle on GDP, Its Shortcomings and Alternative Measures Jan 21, 2016

Diane Coyle is Professor of Economics at the University of Manchester and runs the consultancy Enlightenment Economics.

Diane specialises in competition analysis and the economics of new technologies and globalisation.

Diane is the author of several books, including GDP: A Brief But Affectionate History, The Economics of Enough, The Soulful Science, Sex, Drugs and Economics and Paradoxes of Prosperity.

Diane has a PhD from Harvard and was awarded the OBE in January 2009.

In this episode you will learn:

what is GDP and how it is measured.

the complications with understanding the meaning of GDP.

the historical origins of GDP and why it is used to measure our economy.

the complications in measuring GDP.

how GDP data is still collected in such an ‘old-fashioned’ way and the new methods to collecting data.

about the uncertainty and margin of error in GDP statistics.

why it is wrong to make fiscal policy, monetary policy and interest rate decisions on GDP statistics.

what proxy variables were used to measure economic activity before GDP was introduced.

why we should re-think the meaning of the economy.

and much more.

Check out the links and resources mentioned in this episode at www.economicrockstar.com/dianecoyle

068: Daron Acemoglu on Why Nations Fail and Why Inequality Exists Between Countries Jan 14, 2016

Daron Acemoglu is the Elizabeth and James Killian Professor of Economics at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Boston.

Daron’s principal interests are political economy, development economics, economic growth, technology, income and wage inequality, human capital and training, and labour economics.

Daron received his M.Sc. in Econometrics and Mathematical Economics and his Ph.D. from the London School of Economics.

Daron is co-author of ‘Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty’ which can be found at whynationsfail.com

In this episode you will learn:

why nations fail and others prosper.

why Daron despises the term capitalism refereeing it as ‘and ugly term’.

why macro variables are second order to the type of institution when explaining the prosperity of a country.

why we should study political systems in an economics course.

how economic decisions get made.

if democracy is good for economic growth.

if the political economy or the type of institution of a country explain inequality.

and much more.

Check out the show notes page at www.economicrockstar.com/daron.

Become a PATRON of the Economic Rockstar podcast: www.patreon.com/EcoomicRockstar

067: Leigh Caldwell on Cognitive Economics and the Mathematics of Behavioral Economics Jan 07, 2016

Leigh Caldwell is a behavioural economist based in London.

Leigh, together with Elina Halonen, runs the Irrational Agency, which takes the latest scientific discoveries in psychology and behavioural economics, blends it with their hands-on experience of marketing and business, and turns them into powerful, incisive market research techniques.

In 2012, Leigh condensed his experience in pricing and the marketing of several of his businesses into a new book The Psychology of Price: How to use price to increase demand, profit and customer satisfaction.

Leigh is co-founder of the London Behavioural Economics Network, writes for the Pricing Revolution and the Knowing and Making blogs, and regularly features as an economics commentator on BBC News, Radio 4, Research Magazine and other media.

In this episode, you will learn:

the importance of academics and practitioners working together to further the discipline of economics.

why finding the sweet-spot between controlled experiments and realism is difficult yet important.

why mathematics is essential for theorising and modelling economics, especially behavioural economics.

why a lack of mathematics is holding back the discipline of behavioral economics.

why we shouldn’t use the current maths of economics to explain human behavior.

about the need to use the mathematics of computer science in behavioral economics.

whether big data could influence an individuals' consumption behaviors.

what cognitive economics is and how different it is the behavioral economics.

about the paradox of self-awareness in cognitive economics when faced with choices.

and much, much more.

Check out the show notes page for all links and resources mentioned by Leigh in this episode at www.economicrockstar.com/leigh

Subscribe on iTunes and never miss an episode and I would love if you could leave an honest rating and review. This helps the show reach a wider audience.

066: Best of 2015 Part 2 Jan 01, 2016

This is the second part of the 'Best of 2015' of the Economic Rockstar podcast.

This episode provides you with a glimpse of what type of guests and conversations I've had on the show this past year.

Previous episodes that feature in this Best of 2015 are:

022 Josh Angrist on Taking the Con Out of Econometrics.

060 Manu Saadia on Trekonomics – The Economics of Star Trek: Scarcity, Productivity and Public Goods

017 Marina Adshade on Understanding Economics the Sexy and 'Hard' Way.

049 Jon Haywood with Jez Groom on How a Cleverly Designed Nudge Can Change People’s Behavior – Including How We Pee.

019 Mark Thornton on the Decriminalization of Marijuana and the Skyscraper Curse.

027 Craig Medico on How Economics Saved My Career, How I’m Embracing Technology in the Classroom and Why I’m off to Wrestling School.

020 George Magnus on The Age of Ageing, China and the EU.

028 Alice Louise Kassens on Nudging Students to Study Economics and Why Mainstream Media Should Publish Research on Mental Health.

030 Kim Holder on Rockonomix and Teaching Economics Through the Lens of Sport, Music and Movies.

045 Jon Manning on the Art of Pricing and How Economic Theory Has Got Pricing All Wrong.

Check out the shownotes at www.economicrockstar.com/sixtysix

065: Best of 2015 Part 1 Dec 31, 2015

In this episode, I've created a 'mix-tape' of the best episodes of the year.

This is Part 1 of a 2 part compilation of episodes that you and I considered to be the highlights of the year.

Although I did my utmost to choose a 'best of' compilation that captured the essence of this podcast, it was extremely difficult to leave out some of my amazing guests.

I loved all my guests and every single one of them gave up their time to speak to me about their career, their research and personal lives.

They exposed themselves to you, my amazing listeners, and answered questions that they had not seen before. It was almost impossible to choose who to leave in and who to leave out.

Both end of year ‘Best of 2015’ episodes gives us a snapshot of some topics that were discussed - like a time capsule for the Economic Rockstar podcast of 2015.

If you’ve been with me all year, then this episode will act as a refresher and take you back to some of the debates that abound the fields of economics.

If you’re new to the show or relatively new, then perhaps these episodes will offer you a window to glimpse into the show and type of guests and topics that we cover.

Hopefully, they will encourage you to explore and listen to previous episodes of the podcast. For a full listing, you can visit economicrockstar.com/podcasts.

Enjoy!

064: Oliver Payne on Transitioning from a Marketing Creative to a Behavioral Scientist Dec 24, 2015

Oliver Payne is Founder and Director of The Hunting Dynasty. He is a behavioural specialist, author, commentator, ex-ad creative, & manager.

Since the late 2000’s Oliver has been working with psychology specifically through The Hunting Dynasty looking to find and build interventions that change behaviour.

Oliver is author of ‘Inspiring Sustainable Behaviour: 19 Ways To Ask For Change’ which wrangles together environmental and social psychology, behavioural economics, and decision theory.

He is an advisor on the Influence Advisory Panel populated by experts from academia, politics, military, government and civil society.

Oliver is a speaker on behaviour at NATO (Latvia), for Government departments (Whitehall), Start-ups (Netherlands), Science Museum (London) and others.

He is the Co-founder of the London Behavioural Economics Network which meets monthly and is a Fellow of The Royal Society of Arts, and an Affiliate of the British Psychological Society.

Oliver’s company The Hunting Dynasty recently won the Gold Retail Nudge Award for 2015 for their ability to increase the comprehension level of a customer-facing product description.

Check out all the links and resources mentioned in this episode at www.economicrockstar.com/oliverpayne

063: Todd Tresidder on Financial Freedom and the 7 Steps to 7 Figures Dec 17, 2015

Todd Tresidder is an entrepreneur and founder of Financial Mentor. Todd educates and supports Business Owners And Investors To Achieve Financial Freedom And Personal Freedom.

As a serial entrepreneur since childhood, Todd built many businesses and retired at age 35 from his position as a Hedge Fund Investment Manager responsible for a 20+ million dollar portfolio.

Todd raised his net worth from less than zero at age 23 to self-made millionaire 12 years later by using the same personal finance and investment strategies taught on this web site.

Todd is an early pioneer and expert in statistical and mathematical risk management systems for investing and became financially independent from age 35 through investing – not marketing.

Todd has a B.A. in Economics from University of California.

Check out the podcast at www.economicrockstar.com.

Subscribe to the podcast on iTunes by clicking here.

062: Stephen Terry on Real Business Cycles, Total Factor Productivity, Short-Termism and Doing a PhD Dec 10, 2015

Stephen Terry is Assistant Professor of Economics at Boston University.

In 2013 he was a Dissertation Intern, Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond and, from 2007 to 2009, Stephen was a Research Associate at the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City.

Stephen received a PhD in Economics from Stanford University in 2015 as well as an MA in Economics in 2011.

Stephen also has an MA in Mathematics from the University of Oklahoma and a BA in Economics from University of Texas at Arlington.

Stephens research interests include short-termism, uncertainty and real business cycles.

In this episode you will learn:

about Stephen's experience with the two-body or joint location problem.

about Stephen’s PhD process and the experience he developed along the way.

of some suggestions if you’re considering undertaking a PhD.

the differences and similarities in the mathematics of economics and the mathematics of other disciplines such as physics and chemistry.

if there is a divergence or a convergence in the branches of macroeconomics and microeconomics.

what really happens during recessions.

and much more.

Check out the shownotes and links mentioned in this episode at www.economicrockstar.com/stephenterry

Visit www.economicrockstar.com and subscribe for updates and more.

061: Roger Whitney on the Myths to Retirement Planning and the Lazy Mans Method to Saving Dec 03, 2015

Roger Whitney began his career as a Financial Advisor in 1991 and witnessed first-hand the rise and fall of the 'New Economy' and the Dot-com bubble that ended in 2000.

This experience made Roger realise that financial management is about people, not money, and that they are served best by advisors that are fiduciaries to their clients and have the heart of a teacher.

In 2003 Roger left, at the time, the largest private bank in the world and co-founded WWK Wealth Advisors. Today, they are a firm of 14 professionals managing over $200 million in assets. Roger is a lifelong learner and holds many degrees and certifications. He has a B.A. in International Relations, is a Certified Investment Management Analyst and a Certified Private Wealth Advisor.

Roger also teaches courses on Wealth Management, Retirement Planning and Employee Benefits. Roger’s blog, The Retirement Answer Man, was recently awarded the 2015 PLUTUS award for the best Retirement focused blog and podcast. You can check it out at rogerwhitney.com.

In this episode you will learn:

the problem with budgeting.

develop one habit to control your budgeting needs and requirements.

lazy man’s method to saving.

four myths that could ruin your retirement and how to avoid them.

the Permanent Income Hypothesis.

how Roger got his cashflow in place when setting up his business.

and much more.

Check out the shownotes and links mentioned by Roger at www.economicrockstar.com/roger-whitney

060: Manu Saadia on Trekonomics - The Economics of Star Trek: Scarcity, Productivity and Public Goods Nov 26, 2015

Manu Saadia fell into science fiction and Star Trek fandom at the age of eight, back in Paris, France, where he was born and raised.

Manu studied history of science and economic history in Paris and Chicago. After many happy years in the Ivory Tower, he yielded to his childhood passion for the future.

Manu embarked on his continuing mission to explore strange new worlds by boldly going where many have gone before: Los Angeles, CA, where he advise and (occasionally) builds tech companies.

Manu received the 2005 Wayne C. Booth Graduate Student Prize for Excellence in Teaching at the University of Chicago.

His book, Trekonomics, is currently available for pre-order at www.inkshares.com and will be released in 2016.

In this episode you will learn:

why Manu Saadia wrote Trekonomics.

about the Star Trek Economics panel at Comic Con.

why economists love Star Trek.

about inkshares and how it can help authors publish their book.

how traditional media rather than social media boosted pre-order sales of Trekonomics - an ironic outcome.

when Manu’s interested in economics and Star Trek collided.

about the work of Isaac Asimov and how his stories are a discourse on economics.

how the stories of robots and the future by Asimov influenced and shaped the storyline in Star Trek.

about the replicators in Star Trek and how they solve the problem of economic scarcity.

about the Ferengi’s and how they represent capitalism and trade.

why The Federation or the humans in Star Trek do not use money but have a foreign account to trade with the Ferengi’s.

and much much more.

Check out the shownotes page and links mentioned in this episode at www.economicrockstar.com/manu-saadia

Subscribe to the Economic Rockstar podcast on iTunes and never miss an episode.

059: Shawn Humphrey on La Ceiba Microfinance, Tribal Teaching and Creating a Culture of Commitment in the Classroom Nov 19, 2015

Shawn Humphrey is currently an Associate Professor of Economics at the University of Mary Washington.

Shawn is the founder of the Two Dollar Challenge, La Ceiba Microfinance, the Month of Microfinance, and the Poverty Action Conference.

Shawn describes himself as a Tribal Teacher, a Diligent Do-Gooder and a Global Grassroots Mobilizer.

In this episode you will learn:

about the social entrepreneurial journey that Shawn found himself pursuing.

about Shawn’s Tribal Teaching pedagogy and if this is the future of education.

why Shawn wanted to help the poor in Honduras and to encourage people to experience poverty.

about Shawn’s family experiencing poverty in the 1970s and how their standing in the community led him to believe that there was a better way to treat and help people out of poverty.

about how La Ceiba are helping the poor in Honduras.

about the importance of building relationships with individuals that seek assistance from La Ceiba.

the problems with micro-finance due to group lending and peer-pressure.

about the Two Dollar Challenge and you can get involved.

why supporting local leaders is the key to ending poverty.

about Shawn’s 7 year journey to finding a common ground in humanity.

why Shawn’s initial desire to feel significant while helping the poor is now a constant battle.

about Tribal Teaching and the pedagogy Shawn has designed and embraced to make a better learning environment and process.

and much more.

Never miss an episode. Subscribe to the Economic Rockstar podcast on iTunes or join the Economic Rockstar community and I'll send you up-dates on new podcast episodes.

058: Morten Jerven on Poor Numbers and Why Economists Get It Wrong With Africa Nov 12, 2015

Morton Jerven is Professor of Economic History and Development at the School for International Studies at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, Canada.

In 2014, Morton was appointed Associate Professor in Global Change and International Relations at Noragrica at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences.

Morton has published widely on African economic development, and particularly on patterns of economic growth and on economic development statistics.

Upon the release of his book, Poor Numbers: How We Are Misled by African Development Statistics and What to Do about It, Morton caused uproar across Africa and had been expelled from two conferences. His latest book Africa: Why Economists Get It Wrong is now available on Amazon.

Morton is an economic historian, with an MSc and PhD from the London School of Economics.

In this episode, you will learn:

why Morten was expelled from two conferences in Africa

about the knowledge problem that exists in economic statistical data.

whether economic data from African countries is intentionally misleading or if it’s a methodology and availability problem.

what is GDP and why is it used.

the problems with measuring GDP.

why the production approach is really the only valid method to measuring GDP.

whether we should allow Google and other companies that store big data to provide economic data.

whether cooperation or conflict between big data and official statistics will emerge.

how observing the brightness of countries from space is now being used to measure economic growth.

what the IMF does to missing data, such as GDP.

and much more.

Subscribe to the Economic Rockstar podcast on iTunes and never miss an episode.

To access the shownotes and links mentioned in this episode, visit www.economicrockstar.com/morten-jerven

057: Alvin Roth on Match-Making, Repugnant Markets and Market Design Nov 05, 2015

Alvin E. Roth is the Craig and Susan McCaw Professor of Economics at Stanford University.

He is also the Gund Professor of Economics and Business Administration Emeritus at Harvard University.

Professor Roth has made significant contributions to the fields of game theory, experimental economics and market design and is known for his emphasis on applying economic theory to solutions for "real-world" problems.

In 2012, Alvin won the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences jointly with Lloyd Shapley "for the theory of stable allocations and the practice of market design”

Alvin has a B.S form Columbia University, and earned his MS and Ph.D. from Stanford University.

Alvin’s latest book Who Gets What and Why: The New Economics of Matchmaking and Market Design is now available on Amazon.

In this episode you will learn:

what economics is and if we need money to allow a market to operate efficiently.

about the price discovery process in economics.

what is match-making markets and how similar the labor market is to the dating market.

what is market design and why it is important.

how entrepreneurs and start-ups, like Airbnb and Uber, use market failure to solve a problem.

what is a repugnant market.

the difference between a thick and a thin market.

what makes a market thick.

about the black market for kidneys.

how kidney exchange works.

and much more.

Subscribe to the Economic Rockstar podcast on iTunes and never miss an episode.

Check out the shownotes and links mentioned in this episode at www.economicrockstar.com/alvin-roth

056: Campbell Harvey on Improving Significance Tests, the Importance of Positive Skew and the Future of Blockchain Oct 29, 2015

Campbell R. Harvey is Professor of Finance at the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University and a Research Associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He served as Editor of The Journal of Finance from 2006-2012 and is President-elect of the American Finance Association.

Campbell’s research interests include statistical methods, risk management, asset allocation, real assets and cryptocurrencies. He is the Investment Strategy Advisor to the Man Group plc, the world’s largest, publicly listed, global hedge fund.

In this episode you will learn:

why it’s important to use t-statistics and significance tests and how it can be improved.

about the very simple idea Professor Campbell Harvey applies to his statistical modelling to improve the robustness of his tests.

why it’s wrong to use 2 standard deviations to have 95% confidence when running many tests.

about ‘Significant’, the XKCD cartoon that illustrates the vulnerability of statistical significance testing.
why the level of skew in a distribution must play more of an important role in risk management and portfolio selection.
why Taleb’s Black Swan only looks at one side of the distribution - the negative side, and why we must also look at the positive side.
and much more.

Subscribe on iTunes and never miss and episode.

Check out the shownotes page and all the links mentioned in this episode at www.economicrockstar.com/harvey-campbell

055: David Skarbek on the Economics of Prison Gangs and The Social Order of the Underworld Oct 22, 2015

Dr David Skarbek is a Senior Lecturer in Political Economy and Undergraduate Exam Board Chair in the Department of Political Economy at Kings College, London.

David’s research interest is to understand how people define and enforce property rights in the absence of strong, effective governments. His work has examined incarceration, gangs, and crime in the United States.

David received a BS in Economics from San Jose State University and a MA and PhD in Economics from George Mason University. He previously taught in the political science department at Duke University.

David’s teaching include 'Research Methods for Politics’, 'Economics of Crime’ and 'Political Economy of Organized Crime’

David's new book is The Social Order of the Underworld: How Prison Gangs Govern the American Penal System (Oxford University Press). It examines how inmates create self-governance institutions to promote economic and social interactions behind bars.

In this episode you will learn:

what makes states stable.

how prisoners trade in a black market economy.

why gang-based governance in prisons looks very different today than 100 years ago.

why big prison systems have serious prison gang problems compared to small prison systems.

how women prisons are better controlled as they are governed in a decentralised way.

about the control that prisoners in adult correctional facilities have control over minors in juvenile correctional facilities.

whether private prisons result in a larger prison population.

diminishing returns to prison years.

and much more.

Subscribe to the Economic Rockstar podcast on iTunes and get access to all previous episodes.

Visit www.economicrockstar.com/david-skarbek for the show notes to this episode, as well as the links to books and papers mentioned.

054: Christine Exley on the Economics of Volunteering, Market Failure in the Homeless Dog Market and Wagaroo Oct 15, 2015

Christine Exley is Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School. Christine is also Co-founder and Chief of Research at Wagaroo - an organisation dedicated in re-housing homeless dogs to responsible and loving families.

Wagaroo was founded to bring a simple principle to life: When it comes to getting a pet, it's time to make it easier for people to do the right thing! No puppy mills. No backyard breeders. Just owners, rescues, responsible breeders, and shelters working together to find great homes for dogs who need them. Find out more at wagaroo.com.

In this episode you will learn:

the use of assumptions in economic models for testing.

how to encourage volunteering and whether monetary incentives work.

how a trip to Honduras changed Christine’s academic path from mathematics to economics.

how a story about an individuals’ plight can be a powerful message to have people react in a charitable manner, while the plight of millions with no media coverage of a personal story of suffering could become less powerful.

about Wagaroo and why Christine set it up to help save dogs from puppy mills.

what are thick and thin markets.

how to spot an irresponsible dog breeder.

about the family2family programme run by Wagaroo.

how localised knowledge is key to separate the responsible dog breeder from the irresponsible breeder.

why more must be done to regulate and protect animals.

how Christine saved a pups life from a dog shelter when she was 17 and became her family pet.

why people put in less effort once they hit a target.

about the motivating benefits of rewarding volunteers with gift cards rather than a cash equivalent.

how virtual rewards, like stickers and badges, can incentivize people to meet targets.

how people’s perceptions of a Pit Bull are an Econ 101 thing!

and much much more.

Check out the shownotes page to this episode at www.economicrockstar.com/christine-exley

Subscribe to the Economic Rockstar podcast on iTunes and never miss an episode.

053: Helena Norberg-Hodge on Localisation, Trade Treaties and the Economics of Happiness Oct 08, 2015

Helena Norberg-Hodge is the founder and director of Local Futures. A pioneer of the ‘new economy’ movement, she has been promoting an economics of personal, social and ecological well-being for more than thirty years.

Helena is the producer and co-director of the award-winning documentary The Economics of Happiness, and is the author of Ancient Futures: Learning from Ladakh, described as “an inspirational classic”.

Helena has given public lectures in seven languages, and has appeared in broadcast, print, and online media worldwide.

She was honored with the Right Livelihood Award (or ‘Alternative Nobel Prize’) for her groundbreaking work in Ladakh, and received the 2012 Goi Peace Prize for contributing to “the revitalization of cultural and biological diversity, and the strengthening of local communities and economies worldwide.

In this episode you will learn:

how and why Helena decided to advocate for and promote localisation.

about Ladakh and how it was removed from the rest of the world.

how the global market was very destructive to the local market in Ladakh.

how globalisation destroyed the livelihood of farms and local businesses and created unemployment.

how the happiness and high self-esteem among the people of Ladakh was destroyed after a decade of economic development.

about Ladakh, where the Dalai Lama is the spiritual head.

about the phenomenal work Helena is doing to highlight the changing lives and economy of Ladakh and other regions.

about the true meaning of the real economy and how cheap money and speculation is destroying it

why the earth is so precious and must be protected before we witness irreversible and horrific damage.

and much, much more.

Subscribe to the Economic Rockstar podcast on iTunes and never miss an episode.

052: Alex Tabarrok on Globalisation, Bounty Hunters and Leveraging Online Education Oct 01, 2015

Alex Tabarrok is Associate Professor of Economics at George Mason University and co-founder (with Tyler Cowen) of Marginal Revolution University, an online platform for learning economics.

Alex is a TED speaker with over 640,000 views of his TED talk, How Ideas Trump Crises.

In this episode, you will learn:

how to ensure that criminals turn up of trial and to reduce the possibility of them becoming a fugitive.

why bounty hunters and bail bondsmen are best for the taxpayer.

why bounty hunters invited Alex Tabarrok to join them in a bounty hunt.

why a mother’s signature on a bail bond is the most effective way of making sure a criminal repays its due.

how the terror alert level results in an increase in police presence and results in a decrease in local crime.

whether the best teachers have a positive impact on the future earnings of their students.

if a country can have a welfare state and open borders.

why immigrants to the United States are the most entrepreneurial.

what Marginal Revolution University is about and who it’s for.

how to leverage the best teachers and leverage their experience.

how artificial intelligence and computer adaptive learning programmes will be the next wave of teaching and learning.

and much more.

Check out the shownotes and all of the books and resources mentioned in this episode at www.economicrockstar.com/alextabarrok

Subscribe to the Economic Rockstar podcast on iTunes and never miss an episode.

051: Eyal Winter on How Excessive Giving Ensures the Survival of the Human Race and on the Beautiful Mind of John Nash Sep 24, 2015

Eyal Winter is the Silverzweig Professor of Economics at the Hebrew University and Economics Professor at Leicester University.

He is a member and a former director of the Center for the Study of Rationality, an elected council member of the International Game Theory Society and an elected fellow of the Economic Theory Society.

Eyal was awarded the Humboldt Prize for excellence in research by the German government in 2010. He has presented his work in more than 120 research institutes in 26 countries around the world including Harvard, Stanford, Princeton, Berkeley, Cambridge, and Oxford.

Eyal's book Feeling Smart: Why our Emotions are More Rational Than We Think was published in January 2015.

Eyal graduated from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in Mathematics, Statistics and Economics before going on to study his doctorate in Game Theory.

In this episode you will learn:

if there is a link between game theory and behavioral economics.

how the perceptions of human behaviour vary greatly across all disciplines.

if there is a need to have divisions in universities regarding the disciplines being taught.

how we can use emotion in a strategic way to make us better off.

why human evolution has not removed emotion if it’s considered a hindrance in economics.

the importance of training your rationality and emotions to work together.

why you should look at something from an outsiders perspective when dealing with an emotional situation.

how anger can be an emotion that can make you financially better off.

why love, empathy and sympathy can make you better-off in the way how other people treat us.

what Eyal Winter means when he says that there is logic in emotion and emotion in logic.

why it was fascinating yet frustrating for Eyal Winter when he met John Nash.

and much much more.

Check out the shownotes page at www.economicrockstar.com/eyalwinter

Subscribe on iTunes and never miss an episode.

050: Dan Ariely on Irrational Behavior and the Importance of Our Environment When Making Decisions Sep 17, 2015

Dan Ariely is Professor of Psychology & Behavioral Economics at Duke University in North Carolina. Dan’s interests span a wide range of behaviors, and his sometimes unusual experiments are consistently interesting, amusing and informative, demonstrating profound ideas that fly in the face of common wisdom.

Dan is the author of the New York Times bestsellers Predictably Irrational, The Upside of Irrationality, and The Honest Truth About Dishonesty and his latest book Irrationally Yours is now available.

Dan received a B.A in Psychology from Tel Aviv University, an M.A and PhD in Cognitive Psychology from University of North Carolina and another PhD in Business Administration from Duke University.

In this episode you will learn:

about Dan Ariely’s traumatic experience resulting in severe burns.

how Dan found his love for psychology and behavioral economics.

why Dan will not be teaching his Irrational Behavior course on Coursera.

the problems with MOOCs like Coursera and why it is making the wrong choice regarding its open platform system.

why Dan was turned down for his first book - a cookbook and what advice he was given by a publisher.

why we as humans make very costly mistakes and what we can do about it.

how people eat more than they realise and how experiments in economics have shown this.

why we are bad at doing things that makes us happy.

the most common mistake companies make when making decisions or processing information.

if anger is a good or bad emotion.

the most surprising finding from Dan Ariely’s research.

the most surprising question put to Dan in his Ask Ariely column.

how your environment matters when making decisions.

and much more.

Check out the shownotes and the links to resources and books mentioned in this podcast at www.economicrockstar.com/danariely

Subscribe on iTunes and never miss an episode.

049: Jez Groom and Jon Haywood on How a Cleverly Designed Nudge Can Change People's Behavior - Including How We Pee Sep 10, 2015

Jez Groom is a behavioral economist and co-founder of the behavioral practice #ogilvychange in the United Kingdom.

Alongside Rory Sutherland, Jez has created the Nudge Awards and Nudgestock, bringing the best in behavioral economics to the mainstream.

Jon Haywood is the founder of Ambassadogs and has been working in the Advertising industry for almost 20 years.

Jon has specialised in taking a more consumer (human) perspective of the marketing challenge, working with the likes of Rory Sutherland of #ogilvychange on understanding how behavioural economics can add a significant competitive advantage to the creative ideation process.

In this episode you will learn:

how Ogilvy Change are bringing Behavioural Economics into the mainstream.

about Nudgestock which brings academics and practitioners together to discuss the theoretical and practical intersection of behavioural economics.

how a ‘Fat Stickman’ pointing to an escalator and a ‘Thin Stickman’ pointing to the stairs can nudge a person to take the stairs.

about the bathroom tip-jar trick that could net you more tips than ever!

how Ogilvy Change gave The Times newspaper a ROI of 250 in incremental sales on a 1 investment.

that offering customers too many choices can affect your bottom-line.

how we can nudge people to take the stairs rather than the elevator by creating 'The Piano Stairs'.

how we can encourage people to bin their litter by simply creating ‘The World’s Deepest Bin’.

how we can reduce the amount of urine that ends up on the floor by putting a sticker of a fly in the urinal.

why businesses and governments are now embracing behavioral economics.

and much more.

Visit www.economicrockstar.com/jezandjon to get access to the shownotes and all the resources, links and videos mentioned in this episode.

Subscribe on iTunes to get access to all previous episode and don't forget to subscribe so that you'll never miss an episode.

Jez Groom: www.ogilvychange.com

Jon Haywood: www.ambassadogs.nl

048: Steve Hanke on Currency Boards, Moral Hazard and the Benefits of Privatization Sep 03, 2015

Steve Hanke is a Professor of Applied Economics, specializing in currency boards. He is Co-Director of the Institute for Applied Economics, Global Health, and the Study of Business Enterprise at The Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.

Steve is a Senior Fellow and Director of the Troubled Currencies Project at the Cato Institute in Washington, D.C. and a member of the Charter Council of the Society of Economic Measurement and the Financial Advisory Council of the United Arab Emirates.

Previously, Professor Hanke was a Senior Economist on President Reagan’s Council of Economic Advisers and was also an Advisor to the Presidents of Bulgaria, Venezuela, and Indonesia.

In 1998, Steve was named one of the twenty-five most influential people in the world by World Trade Magazine.

In this episode, you will learn:

what is a currency board and the reason why a country should resort to one.

about Bulgaria’s currency crisis in 1997, how hyper-inflation hit 142 percent per month and what Steve Hanke did to solve the problem.

why Bulgaria has one of the lowest fiscal deficits of any country.

why Montenegro dumped the Yugolsav Dinar for the Deutschmark during Slobodan Milosevic’s presidency of Yugoslavia.

how Montenegro will join the euro currency without having to do a currency changeover.

if it makes sense to leave a currency board to join a monetary union and giving up fiscal autonomy.

why it’s best for Bulgaria to stay outside the eurozone due to the issue of moral hazard.

why Greece ran up a fiscal deficit of 12.7% of GDP when the Maastricht Treaty stated a strict adherence to a maximum level of 3%.

how a currency board removes the moral hazard of a unified currency area by financing spending with current taxes or the private bond market.

if Greece should abandon the euro and set up a currency board and pegging their currency with the euro.

about Ronald Reagan’s privatisation programme in the US in the early 1980s.

what Hayek was like as a person and what he thought of Ronald Reagan, The Intellectual.

and much more.

Subscribe to the Economic Rockstar podcast on iTunes and get access to all previous episodes.

Prefessor Hanke recommended the book The Essential Hayek by Donald Boudreaux which is currently a Free Kindle download.

047: Victor Ricciardi on The Psychology of Financial Planning and Investing Aug 27, 2015

Victor Ricciardi is Finance Professor at Goucher College, Baltimore, Maryland where he teaches courses in personal financial planning, corporate finance, investments, behavioral finance, and the psychology of money.

Victor is the Coordinator of Behavioral & Experimental Research for the Social Science Research Network also known as SSRN.

Victor is the current Editor for seven SSRN eJournals including Behavioral & Experimental Finance, History of Finance, and Behavioral & Experimental Economics.

He received his PhD from Golden Gate University and his MBA from St. John's University.

Victor’s current book Investor Behavior: The Psychology of Financial Planning and Investing with co-editor Kent Baker is now available and has 30 chapters on emerging research in behavioral finance.

In this episode, you will learn:

the difference between Behavioral Economics and Behavioral Finance.

the rational approach to investing and whether it exists.

what bounded rationality really means.

if companies help you make decisions for their own personal benefit.

how framing can be a powerful tool to help customers make decisions.

the importance of financial literacy at different stages of your life.

the similarities between behavioral economics and marketing.

the future of Behavioral Economics and Behavioral Finance.

and much much more.

Check out the shownotes page to this episode at www.economicrockstar.com/victorricciardi

Subscribe on iTunes and never miss an episode.

Be in with a chance to win a $50 Amazon gift card by taking the Economic Rockstar survey.

046: Shanta Devarajan on The World Bank, Quiet Corruption, Government Failure and Comparative Advantage Aug 20, 2015

Shanta Devarajan is the Chief Economist of the World Bank’s Middle East and North Africa Region. Since joining the World Bank in 1991, he has been a Principal Economist and Research Manager for Public Economics in the Development Research Group, and the Chief Economist of the Human Development Network, South Asia, and Africa Region.

Shanta was the director of the World Development Report 2004, ‘Making Services Work for Poor People’. Before 1991, he was on the faculty of Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government.

Shanta is the author and co-author of over 100 publications, with his research covering public economics, trade policy, natural resources and the environment, and general equilibrium modeling of developing countries.

Born in Sri Lanka, Shanta received his B.A. in Mathematics from Princeton University and his Ph.D. in Economics from University of California, Berkeley.

In this episode, you will learn:

why Shanta decided to take a sabbatical from lecturing and never went back.

about Shanta’s passion to end world poverty.

how experiencing living on a $1 a day with a poor family made Shanta realize that the failure lies with government.

how empowering people in poverty-stricken countries with information could be the catalyst to end poverty.

the huge government failures and market distortions threatening the economy in India.

why teachers and doctors in India are absent from work 25% and 40% of the time respectively and how this is affecting progress.

how the powerful medical union in India are making healthcare inaccessible to the poor.

about how crony capitalism is preventing SMEs from growing in the MENA region.

why Tunisia has failed to develop into an export-oriented economy due the legacy of the Ben Ali family and their connections to firms operating in heavily protected markets.

that the failure for governments to continue with social contracts due to high deficits triggered the Arab Spring.

about Colonel Gaddafi’s regime and how he managed to keep peace between tribes.

how water subsidies and water-intensive crops are depleting water resources in Yemen.

and much much more.

Never miss an episode by subscribing on iTunes and get access to all previous Economic Rockstar podcast episodes.

Join my community of educators - teachers and lecturers - who want to learn how to build a website, launch a podcast and create educational videos.

Take the Economic Rockstar podcast survey and be in with a chance to win a $50 Amazon gift card.

045: Jon Manning on the Art of Pricing and How Economic Theory Has Got Pricing All Wrong Aug 13, 2015

Jon Manning is the Founder and Principal Consultant of Sans Prix and has over two decades of Pricing experience in a wide variety of industries.

Since establishing Sans Prix, Jon (and his associates) have generated millions of dollars in incremental revenue for clients in places such as the UK, USA, India, and Australia.

Increasingly in demand as both a speaker and educator, Jon has spoken at many conferences, workshops, webinars and educational institutions across the Asia-Pacific, the Middle East and the United Kingdom.

In 2011, Jon and Greg Eyres established Pricing Prophets, the world’s first and only online pricing advisory service where clients can ask a panel of global pricing experts and thought-leaders what price to charge for a product or service and why.

Jon holds a Bachelor of Business (Applied Economics) from Deakin University (Australia), a Graduate Diploma of Business (Management) from Monash University (Australia) and a Master of Arts (European Studies), from The University of West London. He is a member of the Australian Institute of Management and the Professional Pricing Society.

In this episode, you will learn:

why Jon believes pricing is more of an a art than a science.

why pricing is based on human behavior that no scientific model can predict.

why there’s no such thing as Adam Smith’s Invisible Hand.

that 70% to 80% of companies use cost-based methods to set prices and few use a value-based method.

why customers don’t care about companies who use cost-based pricing and prefer companies that use value-based pricing methods.

why the best pricing strategy for a company is a value-based method.

the trials and tribulations of the pricing strategy adopted by Netflix and how it affected its share price.

how a $40 fine for returning a DVD late led to the founding of Netflix.

if the best strategy for companies to announce price increases to its customers is to do so a few years in advance.

how behavioral economics is opening up a minefield of exploration in pricing.

how Apple used anchoring techniques to sell their iWatch by offering a $10,000 iWatch. It makes the mainstream iWatch appear to be value for money.

how a $100 omelette was used by a restaurant to act as a decoy so it can influence your decision to pay for high-end or expensive goods.

and much more.

Subscribe on iTunes and never miss an episode.

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Thanks for listening. You are an Economic Rockstar!

044: Nancy Folbre on Feminist Economics and the Care Economy Aug 06, 2015

Nancy Folbre is a recently retired Professor of Economics at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst andcurrently directs a research program of gender and care work at the Political Economy Research Institute.

Professor Folbre's research focuses on the interface between feminist theory and political economy, with a particular focus on the work of caring for others.

Nancy was elected president of the International Association for Feminist Economics (IAFFE) in 2002, has been an associate editor of the Journal Feminist Economics since 1995, and is also an editorial assistant of the Journal of Women, Politics & Policy.

Nancy is recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship, and she has consulted for the United Nations Human Development Office, the World Bank and other organizations.

Professor Folbre has also written extensively on the social organization of time, namely the time allotted to care for children and the elderly and how family policies and social institutions limit the choices people can make between paid and unpaid work.

She is a contributor to the New York Times Economix blog.

Nancy's book 'Saving State U' (New Press, 2010) makes a case for strengthening public support for higher education in the United States.

Other recent books include 'Greed, Lust, and Gender: A History of Economic Ideas' (Oxford University Press, 2009) and 'Valuing Children: Rethinking the Economics of the Family' (Harvard University Press, 2008).

Nancy received a B.A. in philosophy from the University of Texas at Austin in 1971, an M.A. in Latin American studies from UT Austin in 1973, and a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst in 1979.

In this episode, you will learn:

why Nancy Folbre decided to study economics.

how the household is very much like the market economy.

about feminist household economics.

what the underlying principles and foundation to feminist economics.

why we should see unpaid work as part of the economy.

how the state and the market has reinforced the patriarchal system.

why the capitalist system, ironically, has downside effects on women today despite the benefits it provides.

why we should adopt the Scandinavian model of paternal responsibility.

about the unmeasured ‘Care Economy’ where people perform unpaid work.

about the opportunity cost to care work.

why Replacement Cost is a better proxy from a National Accounting perspective for measuring the size of the Care Economy.

why people are intrinsically motivated to care and that money is not an issue.

why Nancy Folbre strongly believes that we should think carefully about how we reward care work.

about the ‘Care Penalty’ and why we shouldn’t take advantage of the care workers motivation to work in the care industry.

and much more.

Join the Economic Rockstar community where you will learn how to bring your content online with your own website, podcast and YouTube channel.

Subscribe to the Economic Rockstar podcast on iTunes and get access to all previous episodes.

Check out the show notes to episode 044 at economicrockstar.com/nancyfolbre

043: Herbert Gintis on Game Theory and the Multidisciplinary Approach to Understanding Human Behavior Jul 30, 2015

Herbert Gintis is Emeritus Professor of Economics at University of Massachusetts and visiting Professor at Central European University.

He is known for his theoretical contributions to sociobiology, especially altruism, cooperation, epistemic game theory and gene-culture co-evolution.

Herbert has a B.A and M.A in Mathematics but switched his PhD program at Harvard from mathematics to economics.

Professor Gintis was part of a group of economists who developed their ideas on a new economics which encompassed issues of alienation of labor, racism, sexism, and imperialism.

Herbert has worked extensively with economist Samuel Bowles, writing their landmark book, Schooling in Capitalist America.

One of Herbert’s latest books The Bounds of Reason emphasises the unification of economic theory with sociobiology and other behavioral sciences which, in the words of Nobel Prize-winning economist, Vernon L. Smith, “is firmly in the revolutionary tradition of David Hume (Convention) and Adam Smith (Sympathy)”.

In the episode you will learn:

about the importance of trans-disciplinary research and collaboration.

why economics is not the only social science that explains human behavior.

how biology, economics and sociology explain the behaviour of humans in different ways and which discipline is correct?

about the Ultimatum Game and how it shows the cooperative and non-cooperative behaviour of humans.

about the morality of humans and how we reciprocate kindness with kindness and unkindness with unkindness.

why reciprocity makes humans so successful as a species.

why some species have a symbiotic relationship with other species, which is not the same as reciprocity.

how we can fit all the human feelings together to form a multi-disciplinary approach to understanding human behavior.

why we always need a system to punish free-riders and non-cooperators.

how the future structure of the University can be seen at Arizona State University today.

why we need a new generation of thinkers and research centres who are trans-disciplinary.

what projects Professor Herbert Gintis is working on right now.

why morality controls politics and your vote will not make a difference.

how Herbert gets things done in terms of writing books and journal articles.

about Herbert’s disagreement with Nassim Nicholas Taleb.

why Herbert believes that macroeconomics is wrong and is in agreement with Taleb on that issue.

and much much more.

Links mentioned in this episode:

economicrockstar.com/herbertgintis
economicrockstar.com/bluehost
audiobooks.com/rockstar Subscribe now on iTunes and get access to the complete list of Economic Rockstar episodes.

042: Parviz Parvizi on Clammr, Coffee, Coase and the Economy of Iran Jul 23, 2015

Parviz Parvizi is co-founder of Clammr, a mobile app and platform making audio more social and viral. Users are calling Clammr, which features snack-sized audio clips of 18 seconds or less, the “Instagram of Audio” and “Audio Twitter”.

Previously, Parviz worked at McKinsey & Company, Goldman Sachs, the Federal Communications Commission, and O’Melveny & Myers.

He has advised top 5 global media companies and mobile carriers on strategy and growth. He was a founder of McKinsey’s iConsumer research initiative on digital consumer behavior, authoring 3 of the Firm’s 10 most-downloaded media sector knowledge documents.

Parviz was a Olin Law & Economics Fellow at Yale Law School. At Cornell he majored in economics and served as President of the Cornell Economics Society while an undergraduate.

Parviz holds a JD from Yale Law School and AB from Cornell.

Find Out:

about Clammr, the amazingly new app that shares an18-secondaudio clip just like an audio tweet.

about Parviz Parvizi’s journey from Iran to the US.

how Parviz Parvizi got his name.

about the motivation behind the creation of Clammr and how Parviz and his co-founder solved a problem.

how Clammr was built up from the beginning at zero cost.

what Clammr found out about podcasting.

the difficulties of growing and monetising a podcast and how Clammr is helping podcasters to solve these challenges.

about the social aspect of Clammr and how you can share audio snippets to your friends, colleagues and audience.

if Clammr will adopt a monetization model similar to YouTube.

how Clammr’s ‘Hear More’ button can potentially lead to a paid transaction for users.

about the opportunities that exist for users of Clammr in the education sector.

how teachers can use Clammr in assessments and how students can collaborate to give their audio response in a mashup-like answer.

how Clammr could be the new route for a musician to become known, just like the way Justin Bieber made it using YouTube.

and much more. Subscribe on iTunes and get access to all episodes of Economic Rockstar.

To find all the links mentioned in this episode with Parviz, visit www.economicrockstar.com/parvizparvizi

041: Dermot Hayes on Comparative Advantage, Feeding the Chinese and the Malthusian Catastrophe Jul 16, 2015

Dermot Hayes is the Pioneer Chair of Agribusiness, professor of economics, and professor of finance at Iowa State University. He heads the Trade and Agricultural Policy Division at CARD, a position he also held from 1990 through 1998.

He is co-director of the Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute, a research center dually administered through the Centre for Agricultural and Rural Development or CARD at Iowa State and at the University of Missouri at Columbia. He is also a leader of the Policy Task Force of the Plant Science Institute at Iowa State.

A native of the Republic of Ireland, Dermot obtained his degree in agriculture science from the University College in Dublin and his Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley with a major in international trade.

Dermot has distinguished himself with many awards at the college and university levels for his work as a teacher and researcher.

In 2006 he received a "Publication of Enduring Quality" award from the American Agricultural Economics Association, who subsequently named him a Fellow in 2007.

Besides his analysis of U.S. farm policy and international agricultural trade, Dermot’s other research interests include food safety, livestock modeling, demand analysis, and commodity markets.

Find out:

how China is finding ways to feed its people and how self-sufficiency no longer works.

about China’s ever-increasing demands for soybeans, sugar, wine, etc and how this is putting demands on the global agricultural industry.

how Ireland lost its comparative advantage in milk production by joining the EU.

about Kerrygold Irish grass-fed butter and Bullet-proof coffee.
why Kerry Group are only ‘scratching the surface’ in the US market.

what high-value, labor-intensive products China should concentrate on producing in order to feed their population and trade with other countries.

about if the Chinese government owns much of the land and property rights in China.

‘terminator seeds’ and how private companies could be incentivised to manufacture them.

about the use of beta agonists, such as ractopomine, in the use of animal food production.

and much, much more.

Subscribe on iTunes and never miss an episode. Check out the shownotes page at www.economicrockstar.com/dermothayes

040: Rebecca Harding on Trade Finance and How Delta Economics Can Help Identify Growth Opportunities World-wide Jul 09, 2015

Dr Rebecca Harding, CEO of Delta Economics, is an independent economist with an extensive background in modelling economic growth, trade, productivity, innovation and enterprise.

Rebecca is the author of nine books and has written over 250 articles on economic issues. She has held senior positions in leading academic, think-tank and corporate organisations, including roles at the London Business School, Deloitte and the Work Foundation.

Rebecca has advised the European Union and regional governments and agencies in the UK and Germany on innovation and enterprise policy.

Rebecca is a Board Member of the Society of Business Economists and a Board Member and Trustee of the German British Forum. In 2013, she was elected as a national representative of the European Movement UK.

Rebecca holds a BA in Economics and German and an MSc and PhD in the economics of Science and Innovation from the University of Sussex and writes on her blog rebeccanomics.com.

Find Out:

about Dr Harding’s company DeltaEconomics.

about the data used by DeltaEconomics and why it has developed its database of statistics.

what is Trade Finance and how it has experienced phenomenal growth in recent years.

how companies bridge the finance gap between the time they export goods to the time they receive payment.

what the challenges are with long-term growth in trade.

if there are inherent risks associated with the trade finance market as more sophisticated derivative and credit markets emerge.

about the inherent risks that may appear in the derivatives markets for trade finance.

if a market collapse could be the outcome of a non-compliant and unregulated trade finance securities market.

if could an implosion in trade finance is possible with large defaults in payments due mainly to the development of a derivatives and securities market.

if sovereign risk will become prominent if trade finance risk increases.

if enough data exists for trade finance to allow it to mature into a fully functioning wholesale and derivatives market.

and much, much more.

Visit the shownotes page for all the links mentioned in this episode:
www.economicrockstar.com/rebeccaharding

Subscribe to the Economic Rockstar podcast on iTunes and never miss an episode.

Thanks for listening!

039: David Zetland on Aguanomics, Water Scarcity, Water Wars and ‘Toilet-to-Tap’ Jul 02, 2015

David Zetland is an assistant professor at Leiden University College, where he teaches various classes on economics.

David was a Postdoctoral Fellow in Natural Resource Economics and Political Economy at UC Berkeley (2008-2010) and a Senior Water Economist at Wageningen University (2011-2013).

David blogs on water, economics and politics at aguanomics.com and gives many talks to public, professional and academic audiences.

David has two books The End of Abundance: economic solutions to water scarcity (2011) and Living with Water Scarcity (2014).

He received his PhD in Agricultural and Resource Economics from UC Davis in 2008.

Find out:

if we should be worried more about a shortage of water or a scarcity of water.

if we should learn from the oil industry and develop the technology-equivalent of extracting oil from oil sands and desalinate the ocean water?

if we can tell whether we know the water footprint of a cow and if it’s different in California than Ireland.

why water is actually free and what you pay is for the delivery.

if there is an opportunity costs to acquiring water?

why people living in the slums of India pay up to 50 times the price for water than those who have cheaper piped water.

if a water monopoly is an effective market structure.

if price competition in the market for water would result in the over-use of water consumption.

about the water-diamond paradox.

why David decided to do a PhD in economics after failing to get rich in the dotcom era.

how David came to get his family name ‘Zetland’.

about the coming ‘Water Wars’ and how it has already started.

about Sao Paulo’s troubled water situation and how it’s creating water gang warfare on the streets.

who we should assign the property rights to water.

what David proposes to be the most effective way of managing water.

how Singapore are becoming independent in creating their supply of water and are no longer depending on imports fro Malaysia.

how Singapore are building technologies to recycle water from waste.

why the ‘toilet-to-tap’ water recycling initiative has failed in the US but is working in Singapore.

and much much more.

Check out the shownotes page at www.economicrockstar.com/davidzetland

Subscribe on iTunes and never miss an episode.

038: Leah Bell on Being an Angry Grad and Setting Yourself Up for a Life of Success Jun 25, 2015

Leah Bell spent tens of thousands of dollars on a college education for a degree in Education with the same hope of getting a job one day. After struggling to find a teaching job as an Elementary school teacher, Leah had to work at a minimum part-time job to supplement her teaching salary. However, the school closed and she lost her job. Leah took on a job related to sales. But after a few years she realized that she wanted nothing more than to stay at home with her son. But with student debt and rising prices, it was extremely difficult on one income.

Leah Bell learned the most about life, not in the classrooms of the colleges she attended, but in the years following. After realizing the struggle in the job market, the difficulty of paying off student loans, and the heartbreak of sacrificing priceless time with family to meet financial needs, she and her husband have devoted their lives to sparing people of this depressing fate through their company Neotrep™, providing entrepreneurs with affordable education and tools to succeed. She recently wrote the book The Angry Grad to help prospective students and recent graduates choose the route of entrepreneurship instead of the unstable job world.

Find Out:

what is the average student debt?

how a college degree is different today than it was just two or three decades ago.

why it’s so difficult for college graduates to find jobs and pay back their student loans.

how the future will look if we continue teaching young people that debt is the only way to afford a house, a car and an education.

what other options are there for people who are considering an education.

how debt is not the only way to get through college.

if we are paying more for college than we can hope to get back.

if it’s still worth taking on so much debt to get a degree.

if we’re living in a school loan debt bubble.

what we can do about all this?

and much, much more.

Never miss an episode and subscribe on iTunes or check out the shownotes to this episode at www.economicrockstar.com/leahbell

037: Noah Smith on Austrian Theory Being a 'Bad Joke', Heterodox Models and Efficient Markets Jun 18, 2015

Noah Smith is Assistant Professor of Finance at Stony Brook University, New York where he is also a member of the Center for Behavioral Finance research team.

Noah’s research Interests include Experimental Finance, Behavioral Finance and Macroeconomics.

Noah was panel discussant for the Institute for New Economic Thinking Task Force and has received numerous research awards and fellowships.

Noah is a regular contributor to Bloomberg View where he writes extensively on economics and finance related topics.

He also writes at his fantastic economics blog Noahpinion.

Noah received his PhD in economics from the University of Michigan, graduating in 2012. His dissertation examined expectation formation in financial markets.

Noah majored in physics as an undergraduate at Stanford University, and spent three years working in Japan, where he still returns from time to time to do research.

Find out:

whether economists suffer from ‘Physics Envy’.

if we should remove mathematics from economics.

how math took over economics.

if there is a connection between economics and physics.

how economics is becoming a more data-driven field.

about the micro foundations to macro theory and why these models don’t work.

why theory and math-focused economics papers are waning in the academic publishing field.

how to approach teaching micro and macro when the theoretical models may not explain much.

about whether Economics is moving away from the orthodox method of teaching toward a heterodox method.

about the difference between Heterodox and Orthodox Teaching in Economics.

why Noah considers Austrian Economics to be a bad joke.

where Noah falls within the economic spectrum.

why Noah believes that heterodox economics is not the future.

Noah’s recommended economics blogs to follow.

why the Efficient Market Hypothesis is a good starting model for finance students to understand.

and much, much more.

Check out the shownotes page and all the links, books and blogs mentioned in this episode at www.economicrockstar.com/noahsmith

036: Jason Shogren on Music and Endogenous Risk and Rationality in the Environmental Goods Market Jun 11, 2015

Jason Shogren is the Stroock Professor of Natural Resource Conservation and Management and Chair of the Department of Economics and Finance at the University of Wyoming.

Professor Shogren’s background and research interests include the economics of environmental and natural resource policy, experimental methods; endangered species; invasive species; climate change; agricultural and forest management; energy; health; regulation; and paleoeconomics.

Jason served as professor to Sweden’s King Carl Gustaf XVI in 2012 and is a 2007 Nobel Peace Prize winner (shared with Al Gore) as a member of the United Nations team working on climate change.

He has also served as a senior economist on the Council of Economic Advisers in the White House under the Clinton Administration.

Jason loves fishing and music. He spends his time composing acoustic roots songs that he describes as catawampus American music, has five albums and will be touring this summer.

Find Out:

about the Cap and Trade Market for carbon emissions is a failure and would only work in a micro-management setting.

why its best to implement a carbon tax.

the difference between luxury emissions and survival emissions and why it maybe difficult for China and India to reduce their carbon.

how Jason’s depiction of a low probability-high severity event influenced Janet Yellen to take action on climate change.

if we are acting rationally or irrationally toward the environment.

how we can exploit rationality ‘for the good’.

how, over the last 30 years, we have become averse to just about everything.

how we can take advantage of peoples’ status quo to increase their contribution of paying a carbon tax.

how designing the right system can nudge people to do the right thing - just like soft paternalism.

how Jason sought inspiration about rationality from other disciplines, such as English literature and music composition, rather than from economics.

how Jason uses music as a form of escapism.

about the concerts that Jason Shogren will be playing at each year.

about Jason’s hitch-hiking experience in Ireland in 1985 from the Giants Causeway and down along the West Coast (now known as the Wild Atlantic Way).

about Jason theoretical thought process regarding endogenous risk and how he applies it to different environmental risks.

and much, much more. To access the shownotes to this episode visit: www.economicrockstar.com/jasonshogren

Subscribe to the Economic Rockstar podcast on iTunes and never miss an episode.

035: Stephen Young on Being Car Free and the Behavioural Economics of Owning A Car Jun 04, 2015

Stephen Young is a Senior Lecturer at Brighton Business School and is subject leader for behavioural economics.

He is also Visiting Lecturer at Brighton and Sussex Medical School, where he teaches Behavioural Economics to health professionals, including commissioners, public health practitioners and GPs.

As an independent consultant and trainer, Stephen also provides client workshops and presentations on behavioural economics and behaviour change.

Stephen is widely published and his research interests include behaviour change, climate change, health, sustainability, and Information and Communications Technology.

Stephen does not own a car and is so passionate about being car free that he writes regularly on his blog livingthecarfreelife.blogspot.com. Other writings from Stephen can be found at www.stephenyoung.org.uk.

In this episode, find out:

why Stephen decided to become an academic.

about the Northern Rock bank run in the UK in 2007.

why universities need to adapt or die when it comes to addressing relevant content.

what Stephen is doing to reduce his carbon footprint in college and how he’s responding to the digital needs of his students.

why health professionals are interested in behavioral economics.

about the Irish government’s fight against obesity.

how Stephen is encouraging a town in the UK to become pedestrian friendly.

about framing car ownership - status and perception of rank.

how by ditching your car you can burn calories.

how the average person is working two days a week to pay for their car.

about the emotional attachment that a car represents.

what major cities across Europe are doing to make them more pedestrian and bike-friendly.

about peak car ownership.

some advice from Stephen on how to give your car.

about the pluralist approach to embracing economics.

Subscribe on iTunes or visit www.economicrockstar.com to access previous episodes.

034: David Simon on Meatonomics and How the Meat and Dairy Industry Impose Substantial Negative Externalities on Society May 28, 2015

David Robinson Simon is a lawyer and advocate for sustainable consumption.

David works as general counsel for a healthcare company and serves on the board of the Animal Protection and Rescue League Fund, a non-profit dedicated to protecting animals.

David runs a website that keeps us up-to-date on matters arising from the farm animal industry as well as informing us of other animal-related causes.

David received his B.A. from U.C. Berkeley and his J.D. from the University of Southern California. He is the author of two books: New Millennium Law Dictionary, a full-length legal dictionary and Meatonomics.

He lives in Southern California with his partner, artist Tania Marie, and their rabbit, tortoise, and two cats.

Find Out:

why David, a lawyer, turned to economics to explain how the meat industry is a cost to society.

about the lack of rights that exist for farm animals.

how the farming community set the standards on how farm animals are treated.

how the Customary Farming Extension was introduced to legally treat farm animals inhumanely.

about the environmental costs associated with producing animal products.

how to control or even reverse climate change by reducing meat consumption.

how taking shorter showers is not going to alleviate the drought in California.

what the true external cost to society is when someone consumes an animal product.

how deferring climate change measures today will impose greater costs on society in the future.

what David, who is a vegan, had for breakfast this morning.

the ingredients to David’s ‘power smoothie’ - a refreshing and nutrient dense meal in a glass!

how companies are being subsidised by government to lower the retail price of meat.

about the heavy subsidies being paid out to the meat industry.

how artificially-low meat and dairy prices are fuelled by out-of-whack farm subsidies.

about Ireland’s removal of milk quotas and what it means for market prices.

and much, much more.

Check out the shownotes page to this episode at www.economicrockstar.com/davidsimon

Subscribe on iTunes and never miss an episode.

033: Abdullah Al-Bahrani on the Economy of Oman and How Racial Discrimination Empowered Him to Succeed in Life and in Economics. May 21, 2015

Dr. Abdullah Al Bahrani is an Assistant Professor of Economics at Northern Kentucky University, where he serves as the Principles of Economics Coordinator.

Abdullah’s research interests are in the fields of Industrial Organization and Education of Economics. Currently, his primary focus is on innovative approaches to teaching Economics. In Industrial Organization, his research examines market structure and competition in the banking and real estate industries.

Prior to joining academia, Dr. Al Bahrani worked in the mortgage industry from 2003-2006. He has also served as outside economic consult to the Ministry of Education, Sultanate of Oman and new business ventures entering Oman.

Abdullah received his Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Kentucky in 2010, where he received an award for Best Economics Graduate Teaching Assistant.

Find Out:

why Abdullah decided to do a Phd in Economics in 2006 and left the mortgage industry just before it imploded.

about Abdullah’s economic consultancy work with the Sultanate of Oman.

about Abdullah’s connection when reviewing labor market studies in Oman (Hint: She is the Director General of the National Centre of Career Guidance and is as maternal to Abdullah as Oman is to him).

how Oman are creating an entrepreneurial spirit to drive is economy in the future.

why Oman is faced with difficulties in transitioning to an entrepreneurial economy.

how Omani culture is preventing it’s people to take on risk and why incentives do not work.

about Abdullah’s suggestion that to create an entrepreneurial spirit in Oman, the labor market must first be liberalised.

why discrimination exists in the Omani labor market and why US and UK ex-pats would be a preferred employee.

how data limitations for Oman make it difficult to conduct an empirical analysis of the labor market.

about Oman’s tourism initiative to create Oman as an eco-friendly destination.

how Abdullah is integrating social media into the classroom, making education a more interactive and conducive learning environment for students.

how to create a sense of community in a classroom.

why Abdullah received an Easter basket of goodies from a student’s mother.

why Abdullah is ‘helping his students to ‘clean’ their social media footprint.

about the research Abdullah is doing on racial discrimination in the labor market.

how Abdullah is identifying how racial discrimination is evident in online markets where, unlike traditional markets, the color of your skin is not a factor.

how Abdullah was racially discriminated against in both the labor market and when selling mortgage loans in the USA.

how Abdullah dealt with racial discrimination and how it gave him his Phd dissertation question.

how online price comparison websites may actually be anti-competitive.

how online stores are eating into the consumer surplus.

and much much more.

Check out the shownotes page to this episode at www.economicrockstar.com/abdullaalbahrani

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032: Joe Gladstone on the 'Pay What You Want' Pricing Model and Using Big Data to Understand You Better May 14, 2015

Joe Gladstone is an academic researcher and consultant based at the University of Cambridge, where he applies insights from behavioural economics and psychological research to better understand consumer behaviour.

Joe partners with some of the world’s largest corporations, such as Twitter, Bupa and Visa, as well as government departments, to tackle challenges that deal with behaviour change.

Joe's views on consumer behaviour have been featured in the BBC, Forbes, The Huffington Post and other media outlets.

Joe is founder of BE-events.org and BE-Recruit.com. He received his Masters from Oxford University and his Phd from Cambridge University, and has been awarded a range of competitive grants and prizes.

Find Out:

about the link between the discipline of psychology and economics.

why Joe decided to do postgraduate research in behavioral economics.

how advances in technology, especially in social media, can help behavioral scientists understand human behaviour better.

why you do not know how much you spend on coffee.

how Joe has identified the relationship between psychology and money.

how Joe has used the ‘My Personality’ app to predict your personality from what you like.

how companies can use ‘Big Data’ to target messages directly to you.

why people are willing to pay for services that they could otherwise get for free.

if TIDAL will disrupt the online music industry by taking control of their own music.

if Spotify risks losing out to TIDAL.

how important is the price of zero?

how the ‘Pay What You Want’ pricing model defies classical economic theory.

why people pay even if they are given the option to take the product for free.

how Radiohead made more in sales when offering their album on a ‘Pay What You Want’ basis.

if the ‘Pay What You Want’ model is sustainable for a business in the long run?

how Jon Bon Jovi has successfully implemented the ‘Pay What You Want’ model in his Soul Kitchen restaurant in New Jersey.

how sitting with strangers to eat in Soul Kitchen can ‘nudge’ diners to pay more than what they were initially willing to pay.

about Joe’s passion for financial literacy and financial empowerment.

if you can become immune to nudging by having a deeper understanding of it.

if knowledge prevents you from being nudged.

about behavioral economics events that could be going on in your area with BE-event.org.

how Joe maximises his time by outsourcing his work on oDesk.

and much, much more.

Check out the shownotes page to this episode at www.economicrockstar.com/joegladstone

Subscribe to the Economic Rockstar podcast on iTunes and never miss an episode.

031: Matt Rousu on Experimental Auctions and the Need for Peer-Reviewed Economic Impact Studies May 07, 2015

Dr. Matthew Rousu is a Professor and Warehime Chair in the Department of Economics at Susquehanna University. His main teaching interests include microeconomics, political economic thought, and game theory.

Matt is an expert on experimental auction design and implementation. He uses his expertise on experimental auctions to study problems in agricultural economics, environmental economics, and public health. He has published over 40 scholarly articles, as well as book chapters, non-technical articles and Opeds.

Matt has been quoted widely on many issues by The Chicago Tribune, Forbes, The NY Daily News, The Philadelphia Inquirer, US News and World Report, The Washington Post, Wikipedia, and Yahoo.com.

He has also been a guest for local radio stations mainly to discuss the local, state, and national economy.

Matt runs his own blog known as paeconomist.blogspot and is founder of the Economic Impact Review. He is the author of Political Trivia.

Matt earned a Bachelor's degree from the University of South Dakota and a Ph.D. in Economics from Iowa State University.

Find Out:

Benefits of lecturing at a liberal arts college - switch up your research interests.
about experimental auction designs.
what is consumer demand for Genetically Modified Products.
how demand for GMOs change due to differences in packaging.
how print advertisement for e-cigarettes increases their demand.
whether e-cigarettes are a ‘healthy’ alternative to traditional cigarettes.
about the impact of plain package cigarettes on consumer demand.
if the Irish government correct in enforcing plain packaged cigarettes.
how much less buyers were willing to pay for plain packaged cigarettes.
how a picture of smoking-related diseases on cigarette packaging decreases demand for cigarettes.
why Matt set up The Economic Impact Review.
why economic impact studies should go through a peer-review process.
and much much more.

Subscribe to the Economic Rockstar podcast on iTunes and never miss an episode.
Check out the shownotes page to this episode at: http://www.economicrockstar.com/matthewrousu

030: Kim Holder on Rockonomix and Teaching Economics Through the Lens of Sport, Music and Movies Apr 30, 2015

Kim Holder is an economics educator from the University of Western Georgia and teaches principles of macro and micro. Kim is passionate about economics, music, media, pop-culture and sports and loves using technology and social media in the classroom to get her students excited about learning. Kim is founder of Rockonomix, an inter-university contest held in the USA that encourages students to compose economic-themed lyrics to a popular song.

Find Out:

how Kim Holder uses music to assess her students taking micro and macro classes.

about Kim's passion for economics and how she uses sports to explain economic concepts.

how you can become an ‘Economic Rockstar’ in the annual Rockonomix contest.

how to motivate students to study economics.

how selfies and memes can make students aware of economics around them.

about Kim’s decision to study economics because of true love.

about Kim's summer course ‘Economics Is Everywhere’ which introduces you to micro and macro, as well as personal finance.

about the Centre for Economic Education at University of West Georgia and how it is for the wider community and not just for students.

how K-12 teachers can avail of the workshops put on by the Centre for Economic Education at University of West Georgia.

about Pop Econ and why more should be done to introduce it to students at a principles of micro and macro level.

why students should be pushed to seek out economic themes in movies.

how to use Twitter for the classroom and the best practices to communicate with students.

what Kim’s top 3 movies are that contain economic themes.

the importance of financial literacy for students who are faced with taking out college loans.

how Kim Holder escaped poverty through education.

and much much more.

To access the shownotes and all the links mentioned in this episode visit www.economicrockstar.com/kimholder

Never miss an episode by subscribing to the Economic Rockstar podcast for free on iTunes.

029: John Cochrane on the Future of Finance, MOOC Education, Regulation and the Case for Free Markets Apr 23, 2015

John Cochrane is the AQR Capital Management Distinguished Service Professor of Finance at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and is currently Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution.

Professor Cochrane is a Research Associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research and past director of its asset pricing program, and an Adjunct Scholar of the CATO institute.

John is past President and Fellow of the American Finance Association, and a Fellow of the Econometric Society. He has been an Editor of the Journal of Political Economy, and associate editor of several journals including the Journal of Monetary Economics.

John’s is the author of 3 books including the book Asset Pricing. Other finance publications include articles on stock and bond markets, exchange rates, interest rates, liquidity premiums and option pricing.

John's monetary economics publications include articles on the relationship between deficits and inflation, the effects of monetary policy, and on the fiscal theory of the price level.

John currently teaches the MBA class Advanced Investments and a variety of PhD classes in Asset Pricing and Monetary Economics.

John earned a Bachelor’s degree in Physics at MIT, and earned his Ph.D. in Economics at the University of California at Berkeley.

In addition to research and teaching, John is a competitive sailplane pilot and windsurfs.

John blogs as 'The Grumpy Economist'.

Find Out:

why Professor Cochrane is known as the Grumpy Economist.

about John’s Proposed New Structure for US Debt.

how to create financial stability with a currency fit for the 21st century.

about the advantages of government debt.

what happened when Ireland guaranteed the bondholders and entered into a bailout.

the limitations to a eurozone country when faced with a bailout.

why countries should be allowed to act like companies and default.

why Greece should have defaulted and why Ireland should not have bailed out the bondholders.

about Professor Cochrane competing in the World Gliding Championship for the USA.

why Professor Cochrane delivered his Asset Pricing PhD course as a MOOC.

the costs and benefits of delivering a MOOC.

how MOOCs will become the textbook of the future.

how to monetize a MOOC and which type of course would have mass market appeal.

Ireland’s aim to become the capital of MOOCs.

how to create a social environment for students using MOOCs.

why Professor Cochrane went from a degree in physics to a PhD in Economics.

why people are stuck in the welfare system.

and much much more.

Visit www.economicrockstar.com/johncochrane to get access to the shownotes page and all the links mentioned inthis interview.

028: Alice Louise Kassens on Nudging Students to Study Economics and Why Mainstream Media Should Publish Research on Mental Health Apr 16, 2015

Dr. Alice Kassens is an economics professor at Roanoke College and has already built a notable reputation in her profession.

Alice is the current recipient of Roanoke’s John S. Shannon Professorship in Economics, which honors and supports a faculty member who is an outstanding teacher and accomplished scholar and who is thoroughly committed to enriching the lives of Roanoke students.

Dr Kassens’ work at Roanoke includes creating and maintaining an economics program blog and a biannual newsletter, Roanomics. She also serves as the faculty advisor for the College's Economics Club.

Alice's areas of expertise include labor and health economics. She has won several awards and fellowships, and her work has been published in numerous academic journals.

Alice is one of three economists who won Cengage Learning’s 2013 Economist Educators Best in Class Award for her method of teaching using Twitter.

Dr Kassens is president of the Virginia Association of Economics, has recently been appointed by Governor McAuliffe to his Joint Advisory Board of Economists, is a senior analyst for the Institute for Policy and Opinion Research and is a Referee for the Journal of Economic Education, the Journal of Economics and Finance Education, and the National Council on Undergraduate Research.

Alice is the author of Changing Perceptions and Waistlines - A Bayesian and Behavioral Approach and is known as the ‘Running Economist’ not because of her busy lifestyle but because she is a competitive runner.

Alice earned her bachelor's degree from the College of William and Mary and her Ph.D. from North Carolina State University.

Find out:

how Alice's secrets to increasing an economics class size.

how Alice uses social media to encourage students to learn economics more effectively.

how Twitter can be used to remove the limitations to classroom-specific learning.

how Dr. Kassens collects data for the Consumer Sentiment Report for Virginia.

how to remove sample selection bias when collecting primary data.

how to analyse unobservables using observed data.

about the benefits of small-class sizes for learning.

which economist Dr. Kassens would love to collaborate with.

how being an athlete helped with a career decision to become a health economist.

why Dr. Kassens wrote a report on gender disparities in health care in Papa New Guinea.

about the gender disparity in depression levels upon losing a job.

whether men or women respond better to losing their jobs by continuing to job search.

if people lose their job because they were depressed or are they depressed because they’re unemployed?

how Dr. Kassens’ research can help people with depression if the media can report her findings to the masses.

if people reduce their expectations to live longer once they are diagnosed with Type II diabetes.

if obese people who are diagnosed with Type II diabetes respond by losing weight.

how writing a blog makes you accountable for what you do and helps you get things done.

the importance of why organisations should make their data freely accessible to academics.

and much much more.

To get access to the shownotes page and all of the links and books mentioned in this episode, please visit www.economicrockstar.com/alicekassens.

Thanks for listening and if you have yet to subscribe click here and never miss an episode.

027: Craig Medico on How Economics Saved My Career, Using Technology in the Classroom and Why I’m off to Wrestling School Apr 09, 2015

Craig Medico is an Economics and History educator in New York with 11 years of classroom experience. Craig is doing amazing things to get young people to understand and become interested in economics.

He is the author of No Bull Review - Macroeconomics and Microeconomics: For use with the AP Macroeconomics and AP Microeconomics Exams (2012) and No Bull Review - Macroeconomics and Microeconomics: Top 10 Guide (2014).

Craig is the developer of several best-selling iPhone test prep apps from Study By App, LLC, including Economics AP (2010), Economics AP Free (2011), and Economics Flashcard Review (2011).

In 2010, he contributed to WNYC Radio/Public Radio International's morning news program The Takeaway.

Craig is the Macroeconomics instructor for the Junior State of America summer school at Princeton University and teaches Advanced Placement Economics at Paul D. Schreiber High School in Port Washington, New York.

He recently completed an economics educator study tour of Peru with the Global Economic Education Alliance in association with the University of Colorado-Colorado Springs and the Peruvian University of Applied Sciences.

In his spare time, Craig records and produces educational music videos for The Social Studs.

Find out:

about Craig Medico’s education trip to Peru.

about the class distinction in Peru and how it is upsetting the quality of education for the poor.

tweet me the answer to this problem @econom_rockstar: 2 + 2 x 2 + 2

how technology can be so beneficial to learning.

how Peruvian kids are excited about the country’s economic future.

how a trip to Peru will become part of Craig’s lessons at High School.

about Craig’s opinions about using technology in education.

why Craig embraces technology in education both for himself and for his students.

if there is a disruptive technology that exists that could compromise the traditional bricks-and-mortar way of education.

what upset Craig when he saw a mother and son at a donut shop.

how economics saved Craig’s career.

how idiot-proofing economics allowed Craig to master the concepts.

about Craig’s philosophy in his teaching methods and how it helps students to learn effectively.

about the Advanced Placement programs in the United States and how to earn college credit.

about Craig’s philosophy which is based on the thoughts of Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius.

who are George Washing-tone and Abrajamz Lincoln and what are they teaching kids?

why Craig Medico transforms into Mr Medi-KO and why he’s off to wrestling school.

about the technological challenges facing all schools today.

about some of the apps you can use to create educational content.

and muc much more.

Check out the shownotes to this great episode with Craig Medico where you can get blog posts and links to everything mentioned by Craig: www.economicrockstar.com/craigmedico

026: Thomas O'Grady on How Writing a PhD on Demographics Revealed an Opportunity in the San Francisco Housing Market Apr 02, 2015

Thomas O’Grady has a PhD in Mathematical and Statistical Economics from the University of California at Berkeley. His professional career has taken him from becoming the top analyst in Soviet intelligence for a U.S. agency and receiving the Meritorious Service Medal, also awarded to Wesley Clark, John McCain and General Schwarzkopf to positions with Fortune 100 companies to building three companies of his own. Thomas has been quoted by the print media over 30,000 times and appeared on TV and radio over 300 times. He currently hosts the popular podcast Life Unsettled.

Economic Themes:

In this interview, Thomas mentions and discusses: Demographics, population, baby boomers, excess demand, shortage, housing market, rent control, employment, causality, permanent income hypothesis, life-cycle hypothesis, savings, dissaving, income inequality, income distribution and incentives.

For more information about Economic Rockstar, please visit www.economicrockstar.com.

There you will find links to other interviews and any resources mentioned in this and previous episodes.

Thanks for listening. Never miss an episode - subscribe on iTunes!

025: Dan Hamermesh on the Economics of Beauty: Attractive People Are More Successful Mar 26, 2015

Dan Hamermesh is Professor in Economics at the Royal Holloway University of London and at the University of Texas at Austin. Dan researches the economics of beauty. He received his Ph.D. from Yale and has since taught at Princeton, at Michigan State, and at Texas. He has held visiting professorships at universities in North America, Europe, Australia and Asia, and lectured at almost 250 universities in 48 states and 33 foreign countries. His research, published in nearly 100 refereed papers in scholarly journals, has concentrated on time use, labor demand, discrimination, academic labor markets and unusual applications of labor economics (to beauty, sleep and suicide).

Professor Hamermesh has received many notable and distinguished honors and awards in recognition for his contribution to the field of economics. These include the Mincer Award and the IZA Prize in Labor Economics, the John R. Commons Award, as well as many teaching of excellence awards.

Daniel’s teaching include Microeconomics; Macroeconomics; Econometrics; Economics of Labor and Economics of Life.

Daniel is the author of many books including Demand for Labor: The Neglected Side of the Market, Beauty Pays: Why Attractive People Are More Successful, The Economics of Time Use and Economics Is Everywhere. He is also a regular contributor to the Freakonomics blog and podcast.

In this interview, Dan mentions and discusses:

Speculation, inter-temporal maximisation, labor economics, incentives, wages, welfare payments, comparative advantage and externalities.

Find out:

how students of economics can inspire their professors in a two-way mutual learning process.

why we should think about economics in things we see or do in the real world.

how economics can be used beyond the theoretical framework we see in textbooks.

how economics is everywhere - we just need to think, see and interpret.

how economics is enjoying a revival in reaching to mass audiences.

the benefits of economics books like Freakonomics, Beauty Pays, Dollars and Sex and Happiness By Design.

why we should read interesting books on economics.

if happiness is related to how beautiful or attractive you are.why better-looking men are happier.

how to recognise if you are beautiful.

what good-looking attorneys, prostitutes, politicians and NFL quarter-backs have in common.

and much, much more.

Visit: www.economicrockstar.com/danhamermesh to access the shownotes to this episode as well as the links to the books mentioned.

024: Greg Davies on Behavioral Finance and Controlling Your Emotions When Making Trading Decisions Mar 19, 2015

Greg Davies is Managing Director and Head of Behavioural Finance at Barclays. He joined the firm in December 2006 to develop and implement commercial applications drawing on behavioural portfolio theory, the psychology of judgment and decision making, and decision sciences.

Today Greg leads a global team of behavioural and quantitative finance specialists, and is responsible for the design and global implementation of Barclays’ Investment Philosophy.

Greg is an Associate Fellow at Oxford University’s Saïd Business School and his first (co-authored) book, ‘Behavioral Investment Management: An Efficient Alternative to Modern Portfolio Theory’, was published in January 2012.

He is co-curator and co-creator of Open Outcry - a reality opera based on the stock market trading floor.

Greg has authored papers in multiple academic disciplines, presents at academic and industry conferences, and is a frequent media commentator on Behavioural Finance. He is an Editorial Board Member of the Journal of Behavioural and Experimental Finance.

Greg studied at the University of Cape Town and obtained a degree in Economics, Philosophy and Finance. He followed this with an MPhil in Economics and a PhD in Decision Theory and Behavioural Finance from the University of Cambridge.

Find out:

what is Behavioral Economics/Finance

the disconnection between economics and psychology.

how Kahneman and Tversky were ‘swimming up-stream’ to bring common sense to economics.

why viewing the world through biases is harmful to behavioral finance.

why the ever-increasing list of biases may not be good for the behavioral finance field.

about System 1 and System 2 as popularised by Daniel Kahneman.

why it’s good to allow emotions to part of the portfolio decision-making process.

how to acquire the emotional comfort you need for your long-term financial objectives.

how to buy emotional insurance for your long-term investment portfolio.

how to avoid costly short-term emotional mistakes.

how psychometric tests can extract measures of financial personality.

why a set of nudges are designed to help high net-worth individuals to make better decisions.

how to build a tailored portfolio to meet your clients needs.

why you should consider including expected anxiety into your portfolio building along with risk and return.

what an opera experiment has to do with replicating the open outcry system of a trading floor.

how music can control your emotions while trading markets.

how Barclays Capital are improving the understanding of their clients by turning the lens on themselves.

To access the links mentioned in this episode, visit www.economicrockstar.com/gregdavies

To be in with a chance to win this weeks prize, visit www.economicrockstar.com/giveaway

023: Loretta Napoleoni on Financing Terrorism and the Creation of the Islamic State Mar 12, 2015

Loretta Napoleoni is an expert on terrorist financing, and advises several governments and international organizations on counter-terrorism and money laundering.

As Chairman of the countering terrorism financing group for the Club de Madrid, Loretta brought heads of state from around the world together to create a new strategy for combating the financing of terror networks.

Loretta is a regular media commentator for CNN, Sky and the BBC and advises several banks on strategies to counter the current ongoing crisis. She lectures regularly around the world on economics, terrorism and money laundering.

Loretta is also a columnist and writes about terrorism, money laundering and the economy for several European financial papers including El Pais, The Guardian and Le Monde.

Loretta began her career as an economist, working for several banks and international organizations in Europe and the US. She has a Phd in economics and a Masters of Philosophy in International Relations and one in terrorism.

She is the bestselling author of numerous books including The Islamist Phoenix, Maoanomics, Rogue Economics, Terror Incorporated and Insurgent Iraq.

Her books are translated into 18 languages including Chinese and Arabic.

“I studied economics because I thought that economics was the way to change the world” - Loretta Napoleoni.

Economic Themes:

In this interview, Loretta mentions and discusses: Islamic Finance, gold, barter, quantitative easing, reserve currency, consumerism, the Marshall Plan, labor, wages, sex trade, slavery, demand, profit, trade unions, capitalism and growth.

Find out:

about Loretta’s involvement in the feminist revolution in the 1970s in Italy where she was one of the founding members of the Italian Feminist Movement.

why she studied economics and the subsequent irony of working for a Russian bank.

why Loretta sold her company to do a PhD in terrorism at the London School of Economics.

about Loretta’s contact with the Italian Marxist organisation, The Red Brigade.

how terrorists fund their activities.

who initially sponsored ISIS or the Islamic State initially and how they may regret this.

why Jihadi John and others were attracted to the Islamic State.

how Saudi Arabia’s sponsor of a war by proxy against the Assad regime in Syria resulted in the creation of IS.

about The Caliphate and why IS wants to re-create a modern version of this region.

about the functioning economy of the Islamic State.

if the Islamic State has a functioning banking system.

if the Islamic State is using gold coins, dollars or a bartering system.

about the how women are treated in the Islamic State.

and much much more. To access the shownotes page and links mentioned in this episode visit http://www.economicrockstar.com/loretta

022: Josh Angrist on Taking the Con Out of Econometrics - Kung Fu Style Mar 05, 2015

Master Joshway, better known as Josh Angrist, is the Ford Professor of Economics at MIT and a Research Associate in the NBER's programs on Children, Education, and Labor Studies. Josh received his B.A. from Oberlin College, spent time as an undergraduate studying at the London School of Economics and as a Masters student at Hebrew University. He completed his Ph.D. in Economics at Princeton.

Angrist's research interests include the effects of school inputs and school organization on student achievement; the impact of education and social programs on the labor market; the effects of immigration, labor market regulation and institutions; and econometric methods for program and policy evaluation.

Josh is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, The Econometric Society, and has served on many editorial boards and as a Co-editor of the Journal of Labor Economics.

Josh is the author (with Steve Pischke) of Mostly Harmless Economics as well as Mastering 'Metrics.

Find out in this episode how Josh went from High School drop-out to Professor of Economics at MIT.

Find out:

about Master Joshway and Master Steveway - the Kung Fu Economists.

how Josh went from working in a mental hospital to working in MIT.

where the names Master Joshway and Master SteveFu came from.

why Josh is a critic of macroeconomics.

the difference between traditional applied micro and applied micro today.

Josh’s views on using assumptions in microeconomics.

how to design an microeconomics experiment using randomized trials.

why Freakonomics is a must read for students or potential students of economics.

why being born later in the year is good for your educational attainment.

about Josh’s lucky breaks in life.

why Josh dropped out of school at 16 and about his army sergeant stripes.

about Josh’s hyper Jim Kramer-like teaching style.

about an amazing list of economists that have personally influenced Josh.

what helps Josh clear his head and keep in shape.

and much much more.

Visit www.economicrockstar.com/joshangrist to read the shownotes page and to find all the images and links mentioned in this episode.

021: Paul Dolan on the Economics of Happiness Feb 26, 2015

Paul Dolan is an internationally renowned expert on happiness, behaviour and public policy. He is currently a Professor of Behavioural Science in the Department of Social Policy at the London School of Economics and Political Science.

Paul has previously held academic posts at York, Newcastle, Sheffield and Imperial and he has been a visiting scholar at Princeton University, working with Daniel Kahneman.

Professor Dolan has over 100 peer-reviewed publications which cover many topics including behavioural science, subjective wellbeing, equity in health and health valuation.

Paul is currently a Member of the World Economic Forum Panel on Behavioural Science, the Chief Academic Advisor on Economic Appraisal for the UK Government's Economic Service. He is also a member of National Academy of Sciences Panel on Wellbeing and of the Measuring National Wellbeing Advisory Forum for the Office for National Statistics in the UK.

Paul is the author of ‘Happiness by Design’.

Find Out:

How Paul evolved from a health economist to a behavioral economist.

How many years of your life would you be willing to give up to avoid being anxious or being down.

if Aristotle and other philosophers are right in saying that happiness can only be defined on a death-bed when reflecting upon your life.

how to create a pleasure-purpose balance that’s right for you.

how you can use the production function process to produce happiness.

what is this production process that makes us happy.

if money makes you happier.

how happiness studies influence policy decision-making.

about the limitations to happiness research and what can be done to make better research.

what nudging is.

how nudging by policy-makers can make you happier.

about the morality of nudging.

how supermarkets can nudge you into buying their breads and cakes.

why self-help books are a waste of money as they try to change your mindset.

why Paul’s book, ‘Happiness By Design’ will help you to change what you do.

about Paul’s ‘3 Pillars of Happiness’ - Deciding, Designing and Doing.

how designing your life to make things simple and easy can help you achieve your goals.

about the essence of mindfulness.

why people who are easily distracted are more likely to be less happy.

if your phone can make you unhappy and what you should do about it.

why Paul is a ‘Happy Hammer’ (West Ham fan) despite never winning the league.

how the power of ‘hope’ can make you happy by allowing your imagination run freely.

For the shownotes visit www.economicrockstar.com/pauldolan

020: George Magnus on The Age of Ageing, China and the EU Feb 19, 2015

George Magnus is an independent economist, consultant and commentator. He has a distinguished career that started with some teaching assignments but was spent mostly in the financial services industry.

Before going solo in 2012, George was the Senior Economic Adviser at UBS Investment Bank having previously been the Chief Economist for 10 years. In almost 30 years of working experience in the City, he has held senior positions at SG Warburg, Chase Manhattan Bank and Bank of America. He is a well-known and highly regarded economist in the financial community and has won many accolades in professional surveys as one of the top global economists.

George is well known for his commentaries and interviews in newspapers, journals, TV and radio, most notably for the Financial Times, CNBC and Bloomberg.

George, gained widespread acclaim for declaring in early 2007 that we would face a Minsky Moment - or systemic banking crisis - and a decade of slow growth, has extensive experience of writing on, explaining and speaking about the global economy.

His first book, The Age of Ageing: How Demographics Are Changing The Global Economy And Our World was published in 2008. His latest book, Uprising: Will Emerging Markets Shape or Shake the Global Economy was published at the end of 2010, and assesses, in particular, whether China is set to dominate the world system.

Find Out:

about bubbles and why we never learn from them.

how demographics are changing the world economy through declining fertility and rising life expectancy.

about the need for a policy agenda to cope with an ageing society.

why age-related commitments and promises such as pensions and health care schemes are unaffordable.

why there is a pension crisis to come and how it mimics a Ponzi-scheme.

about the fastest ageing country - China - and what problems will exist in the future.

if economies can experience positive growth rates if population declines by relying on robotics.

how the second machine age may bring problems to those whose jobs have been automated.

if there will be a strong Luddite presence in the future given the pace of technological change.

about the failure of the BRIC emerging countries to live up to their expectations.

if China is all hype.

what the real problem is in Europe in terms of its monetary union.

why the EU should have started with a fiscal and political union first and then build a monetary union on top.

about George Magnus’ band ‘Prisom’ and his love of Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd.

Visit www.economicrockstar.com/georgemagnus to view all the links mentioned in this episode.

You Are An Economic Rockstar!

019: Mark Thornton on the Decriminalization of Marijuana and the Skyscraper Curse Feb 11, 2015

Dr. Thornton has withdrawn himself from politics and concentrates now on education, primarily of the general public because the Austrian perspective says:

"the world works according to the ideology of the masses so we have to change that mindset of the masses before we’re ever going to get political reform of the type Austrians would like to see" - Dr. Mark Thornton.

This is the part 2 of an interview with Mark. Part 1 can be found as episode 18 on iTunes, Stitcher Radio or at www.economicrockstar.com/markthornton

Check out the competition to win a 1-year online course at the Mises Institute at www.economicrockstar.com/mises (Closing date is February 20th, 2015).

In the episode find out:

a little about Dr. Mark Thornton’s ancestral history.

Mark’s views on why Ron Paul should be the next US President or even the Speaker of the House of Representatives.

the Skyscraper Index and how a correlation exists between a record-setting height and a global economic crisis.

how Mark predicted the economic crises from 2007/08.

how the ending of the alcohol prohibition in 1933 cut homicides by 50% and how the countries can learn from this with the drugs industry.

the social-economic benefits of the decriminalization of drugs in Portugal.

the benefits of marijuana and why it should be legalized.

To read the shownotes to this episode, please visit www.economicrockstar.com/markthornton2.

Don't forget to 'Like' Economic Rockstar on Facebook.

You Are An Economic Rockstar!

018: Mark Thornton on Austrian Economics and Why the Nazi's and the KGB Wanted Mises Papers Feb 05, 2015

Dr. Mark Thornton is an economist who lives in Auburn, Alabama. Mark is Senior Fellow at the Ludwig von Mises Institute and serves as the Book Review Editor of the Quarterly Journal of Austrian Economics.

Mark’s publications include The Economics of Prohibition; Tariffs, Blockades, and Inflation: The Economics of the Civil War (2004), The Quotable Mises (2005),The Bastiat Collection (2007), An Essay on Economic Theory (2010), and The Bastiat Reader (2014).

Dr. Thornton served as the editor of the Austrian Economics Newsletter and as a member of the Editorial Board of the Journal of Libertarian Studies. He has served as a member of the graduate faculties of Auburn University and Columbus State University. He has also taught economics at Auburn University at Montgomery and Trinity University in Texas.

Mark served as Assistant Superintendent of Banking and economic adviser to Governor Fob James of Alabama (1997-1999), and he was awarded the University Research Award at Columbus State University in 2002. Mark is a graduate of St. Bonaventure University and received his PhD in economics from Auburn University.

Economics Themes:

In this interview, Mark mentions and discusses: Competition, Entrepreneurship, comparative economic systems, economic history, business cycles, value theory, population policy, purchasing power, deflation, monetary policy and bitcoins.

Economists and Economic Schools:

In this interview, Marina mentions: Ludwig von Miss, Friedrich Hayek, David Hume, Israel Kirzner, Carl Menger, Richard Cantillon, Friedrich von Wieser, Eugen von Böhm-Bawerk, Joseph Schumpeter, Fritz Machlup, Adam Smith, Anne-Robert-Jacques Turgot, Irving Fischer, Milton Friedman, Ben Bernanke, Scott Sumner, George Soros, Nassim Nicholas Taleb, Jim Rogers, Paul Krugman, Austrian Economics, Merchantilists, Physiocrats, French Liberals and Classical Economists.

Find out:

about the Greek and Roman philosophical roots of Austrian Economics.

about the importance of deduction and logic in Austrian thinking.

the limitations to Austrian Economic thinking.

about Irish economist Richard Cantillon, who remains quite elusive in economics.

who Richard Cantillon influenced through his writings.

why the Austrian School of Economics is given its name.

how von Mises' papers got in the hands of Nazi Germany and then the Soviets.

whether von Mises or Irving Fischer was right about the 1929 Stock Market Crash and the subsequent Great Depression.
who would support Bitcoins - von Mises or Fischer?

why bitcoins were created.

how similar bitcoins are with gold and the Gold Standard.To access the shownotes to this epsiode, visit www.economicrockstar.com/markthornton

017: Marina Adshade on Understanding Economics the Sexy and 'Hard' Way Jan 29, 2015

Dr. Marina Adshade engages in original economic research in the area of women in the economy. She has a Ph.D. from Queen’s University in Ontario Canada and currently teaches economics at the Vancouver School of Economics at the University of British Columbia.

In 2008, Marina developed a unique specialization in the economics of sex and love and launched an undergraduate course titled ‘Economics of Sex and Love’, which invited her students to approach questions of sex and love through an economist’s lens. The class was an immediate hit with students and, by the time the first term started, had generated international media attention.

This culminated in the publication of her first book in 2013, ‘Dollars and Sex: How Economics Influences Sex and Love’. Marina converts economic theory into a sexy science by applying the principles of supply and demand and other market forces to matters of love, courtship, sex, intimacy, and marriage.

Find out:

why we should use sex and love in economics.

why Dr. Adshade decided to use the topic of sex in teaching economics.

why international media attention from Korea and Russia brought a spotlight to Marina's Module.

why Malthus called economics a dismal science.

how sci-fi novels are better at predicting new technologies more so than social change.

about the future of sex with androids.

how the male contraceptive can increase the bargaining of power of men over women.

how economic growth results in liberal attitudes.

if there is a causal relationship between economic growth and gay marriage.
who makes a better saver: men or women?
how Orgasms can be used to explain Game Theory.
how the market for sex and love is like a barter economy.
the similarities between Economics and Biology.
if you met somebody that had a variety of qualities that you valued but didn’t love, would you still marry that person?
about the Big Mac Index and the Blow Job Index.
For shownotes and links to all books and resources mentioned in this episode visit: www.economicrockstar.com/marinaadshade

016: Jack Schwager on How You Can Become a Market Wizard with Fundseeder.com Jan 22, 2015

Jack Schwager, author of Market Wizards,is a recognized expert in the futures and hedge fund industry. He is the co-portfolio manager for the ADM Investor Services Diversified Strategies Fund and is a Co-Founder and Director of Trader Development at FundSeeder.

Jack has previously spent 22 years as a director of futures research at some of Wall Street’s leading firms and 10 years as a partner in a hedge fund advisory firm.

Jack’s name is synonymous with futures and trading, due to his compelling books that are frequently cited by the trading community. Perhaps Jack is best known for his Market Wizards series books in which he interviews some of the greatest hedge-fund managers. Altogether, his books have sold nearly 2 million copies worldwide. He is credited by many traders as being instrumental in the launch of their trading career.

Jack is a frequent seminar speaker and has lectured on a range of analytical topics including the characteristics of great traders, investment fallacies, hedge fund portfolios and technical analysis.

Jack holds a BA in Economics from Brooklyn College and an MA in Economics from Brown University.

Economic and Finance Themes:

In this interview, Jack mentions and discusses: chartists, technical analysis, fundamentals, futures, normal distribution curve, options, Black-Scholes Options Pricing Model, option warrant trading, efficient market hypothesis, probability, negative externalities, fiscal responsibility, Keynesianism, deficits and demand.

Find out:

why Jack chose economics at University.

about the similarities between Physics and Economics and why they are so different as a science.

if there is a certain personality that is required in trading financial markets.

if there is a holy grail to trading the markets.

about the importance of discipline.

how an $18 'Job Wanted' ad in the New York Times landed Jack a position as a key analyst.

the one trader that particularly impressed Jack.

about the different strategies of some of Jack's Market Wizards.

why normal distribution tail events can have a higher probability of occurrence than is lead to believe.

about the tragic ending of Market Wizard John Bender and the current case against his wife by the Costa Rican authorities for his 'murder'.

about Fundseeder - the world's first search engine for undiscovered trading talent.

about Jack's forthcoming book with the working title 'Undiscovered Market Wizards' and how you could possibly feature it.

about the Market Wizards Roadshow coming soon in 2015.

why Jack wrote his book 'Market Sense and Nonsense'.

about the debunking of the efficient market hypothesis.

what a negative externality is in the context of economic theory.

015: Niels Kaastrup-Larsen on Trend Following Strategies and Stock Market Turmoil Ahead Jan 15, 2015

Niels Kaastrup-Larsen is Managing Director of Dunn Capital (Europe). He is a trend follower with more than 20 years experience in the hedge fund industry, working for some of the largest CTAs or Commodity Trading Advisors in the world, including Chesapeake Capital. Niels co-founded, built and managed three businesses within the alternative investment space, including Rho Asset Management.

Niels trades futures markets in a systematic and highly-automated way. He is the founder and host of the popular podcast 'Top Traders Unplugged', where he uses his experience and contacts in the industry to deliver insightful, engaging and passionate interviews with the most successful hedge fund managers and traders.

Economic and Finance Themes:

In this interview, Niels mentions and discusses: Trend following, futures markets, gold, anomalies, confirmation bias, efficient market hypothesis, fixed-income securities, treasuries, bonds, the Great Depression, stock market portfolio, diversification, equities, systematic trading, stop-losses, technical analysis.

Find out:

about trend following and how to spot a trend.

what is a trend following strategy.

two ways in which we can take on market risk - one good and the other not so good.

how emotions can lead to losses.

why trend followers use computers with built-in trend following rules to make trades.

why we are more likely to buy a bar of soap that is reduced by 50% in a retail store than buy a stock that has fallen 50%.

how you should diversify a portfolio.

why Niels believes that global markets will be in turmoil within the next 5 years.

why Niels believes the economic cycle will turn by October 2015.

why events will unfold just like 1929.

if the Swiss and Germans should take back their gold reserves from the United States.

about whether there are job opportunities in the trading industry today.

and much more.

You can find all the links and book recommendations by Niels at www.economicrockstar/niels

Support the show by subscribing to the podcast or by becoming a patron of Economic Rockstar at www.patreon.com/economicrockstar.

014: Shoshana Grossbard on Why Dry Cleaners Charge Women More, on the Economics of Love & Marriage and on Polygamy Jan 08, 2015

Shoshana Grossbard is Professor of Economics at San Diego State University and founding editor of the Review of Economics of the Household.

Shoshana obtained her Phd from the University of Chicago where she developed an interest in the New Home Economics from its founders, the late Nobel Laureate Gary Becker and the late Jacob Mincer. The main focus of Shoshana’s research is household economics, family economics and the economics of marriage.

Shoshana has published 5 books and more than 50 articles on the determinants of marriage, consumption and labor supply and on the law and economics of household decisions. She is fluent in English, French, Hebrew, Spanish, and Dutch and has presented her work at many universities in more than 13 countries.

Economic Themes:

In this interview, Shoshana mentions and discusses: household economics, family economics, economics of the household, household decision-making, sex-ratios, the economic and social impact of polygamy, determinants of marriage, opportunity cost, consumption and labor supply, immigration, population, marriage, price discrimination, government intervention and elasticity.

Find out:

about Shoshana being a 1970s hippie and her demonstrations against King Constantine of Greece.

about the differences in female educational participation between the 1960s and present day.

about the sexist advertisements that existed which placed the wife in the household.

about the origins of the New Home Economics.

how Shoshana transitioned herself from an interest in the economics of education to the economics of polygamy while a student of Gary Becker.

if there is an opportunity cost to marriage.

the implication on labor force participation as a result of marriage.

about the importance of the sex-ratio in determining labor force participation.

how women's participation in the labor force can be a direct result of fluctuations in the sex-ratio.

if Hilary Clinton's year of birth allowed her to be the successful and educated person she is today due to the low sex ratio in the US between 1946 and 1950.

about the marriage-squeeze hypothesis (in which there is a shortage of men or women for marriage).

how polygamy can be harmful for young men and why they are known as the lost boys.

about the Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints in British Columbia.

who pays more for dry-cleaning services - males or females - based on their elasticity of demand.

if we should trust our spouse given the ideology behind economics that all market participants are self-interested and seek to gain wealth without any consideration of others.

if spousal love diminishes once you have children and that the love you have toward your child compensates for the lack of love from your spouse.

and much more.

To get the shownotes to this episode and all the books and links mentioned by Shoshana, please visit www.economicrockstar.com

013: Frank Conway Reviews the Personal Habits and Advice of the Economic Rockstar Guests of 2014 Jan 01, 2015

The personal habits and advice of the Economic Rockstar guests of 2014 are highlighted in this epic and exciting episode. I explore each episode and find, what I believe, are invaluable nuggets of information. These may not necessarily be related to economics and finance, but given that it's a New Year, I'd like to share with you their habits and advice. I'll be personally adopting most of these for 2015. I hope that at least one will resonate with you.

Thanks for listening and enjoy.

The Personal Habits and Advice of the Economic Rockstar Guests of 2014

1) The Importance of Being Mentored

2) Help Others

3) Talk to People

4) Network and Build Your Community

5) Create a Vision and Take Risks

6) Take Responsibilty For Your Actions

7) Give Yourself Permission to Fail and Challenge Yourself

8) Work Hard and Be Disciplined

9) Don't Settle, Choose Adventure and Fulfill Your Potential

10) Be Careful Who You Listen To

11) Read - Education Is Important

12) Laughter Can Help You Learn

13) Pay Yourself First and Clear Your Debts

To find out more, visit http://www.economicrockstar.com/review2014

012: Yoram Bauman on Cartoons, Being a Stand-Up Economist & His Passion to Save the Environment Dec 25, 2014

Yoram Bauman is considered the world's first and only stand-up economist and uses cartoons to explain economic concepts and theories. He has a PhD from the University of Washington and a BA in Mathematics from Reed College. Yoram lectured environmental and health economics at both Whitman College and University of Washington and was a visiting research scholar at the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing. Yoram has swapped the lecture hall for the comedy club and is on a mission to spread joy to the world and to reform economics education. Every year Yoram organizes the Humor Session at the American Economic Association annual meeting.

Yoram is an advocate for carbon pricing and other economic approaches to protecting the environment. Yoram has written extensively on these issues but has also published numerous micro and macro books with comedy and entertainment as its central theme. They include The Cartoon Introduction to Economics, The Cartoon Introduction to Climate Change and Stand-Up Economics: The Micro Textbook. Some of these books have been translated into over 10 languages.

In this interview, Yoram mentions and discusses: adverse selection, portfolio selection theory, the invisible hand, environmental economics, environmental taxes, market power, monopoly, corruption, opportunity cost, free market, revenue-neutral carbon taxes, consumption tax, tragedy of the commons, externalities, correlation, hyperinflation, population growth, economic growth, monetary base and rational expectations.

In this interview, Yoram mentions: George Akerlof, James Tobin, Adam Smith, Gregory Mankiw and Paul Krugman.

Find out:

about revenue-neutral carbon taxing

if we should keep economics serious or is there room for comedy?

why it's important to motivate people to open a textbook and how humor and comedy can do this.

how cartoons and humor can bring so much detail and understanding to economic concepts.

where it all began for Yoram when writing a cartoon economics textbook.

about the cartoon books written by Yoram that document the annals of economic theory.

how Yoram humorously depicts why some economists have won the Nobel Prize in Economics in a simplified and memorable manner.

how Adam Smith calls the winners of the Nobel Prize in Economics to interview them. Spooked? Find out how.

how Yoram found his true calling while reading Mankiw's economics textbook.

how Yoram uses cartoons and comedy to teach us economics and to inform us of the need for environmental taxes, something he is passionate about.

and much much more.

You can find more content and all the books and links mentioned on this podcast episode at www.economicrockstar/yorambauman

011: Steve Keen on Debunking Economics and the Misinterpretation of Keynes Dec 18, 2014

Steve Keen is Professor of Economics and Head of Department of Economics, History and Politics at Kingston University, London. Steve's interpretative analysis is quite different to the norm. Steve likes to be known socially as an anti-economist and has spent 40 years fighting delusion in economics. That delusion has led us into a crisis and Steve may have finally won his battle... or has he? Steve is the winner of the Revere Award for being the economist who most convincingly warned of the economic crisis and whose work is most likely to prevent another one. He topped the poll beating Roubini, Shiller, Soros, Stiglitz and Krugman.

Economic Themes:

In this interview, Steve mentions and discusses: Keynesian economics, supply, demand and equilibrium,demand curves, Debt/GDP ratio, financial crisis, housing market bubble, IS-LM model,

Economists and Economic Schools:

In this interview, Steve mentions: Frank Stilwell, John Maynard Keynes, Hyman Minsky, John Hicks, Paul Krugman, Paul Samuelson, Marshallian economics (Alfred Marshall), Walrasian Economics (Leon Walrasian)

Find Out:

how Steve saw the 2008 financial crisis coming when he investigated Debt/GDP levels.

Steve's views on current economic teachings in many school, colleges and universities around the world.

what should be done at these colleges and how a pluralist approach to teaching economics is best.

about Steve's thoughts on the treatment of Keynesian economics.

about Steve's involvement in a Marvel-style comic book dedicated to teaching economics.

and much more.

You can find all the links and books mentioned by Steve at http://www.economicrockstar.com/stevekeen

010: Douglas Goldstein on How Chess Can Teach Us Lessons on Strategic Financial Planning Dec 11, 2014

Doug Goldstein has over 20 years in the financial planning and services industry, beginning his career on Wall Street in 1992 at Dean Witter. Doug is a Certified Financial Planner, registered Investment Advisor, Trust and Estate Practitioner, and a licensed investment professional. Doug is the founder and director of Profile Investment Services, Ltd and hosts two podcasts on iTunes called Goldstein on Gelt and Rich As A King. Doug has authored numerous books on financial planning and building wealth and is co-author of Rich As A King: How the Wisdom of Chess Can Make You The Grandmaster of Investing. Doug is quoted in many publications such as The Wall Street Journal and Forbes, as well as guest lecturing on investment in colleges.

Economic Themes:

In this interview, Doug mentions and discusses: investment planning, stock markets, over-confidence, behavioral finance, loss aversion, prospect theory, personal finance, strategic finance, interest rates, bonds, risk, liquidity risk, hedge funds,

Economists and Economic Schools:

In this interview, Doug mentions: Terence Odean, Daniel Kahneman and Kenneth Rogoff.

Find Out:

about two women in Doug's life who smashed the glass ceiling in their respective careers.

about the financial planning lessons Doug learned from his mother and grandmother.

if women make better financial planners or investors than men.

if trading markets more frequently leads to better returns.

how the patience of chess playing is similar to the patience needed when planning your stock market trades.

why the fear of losing results in investors making bad decisions.

what you should do if you have a question about your business.

how the concepts of improving your game in chess is the same as that of investment and financial planning.

about the difference between short-term and long-term financial planning.

how a game of chess is bounded unlike the uncertainties of a stock market and what you can do to manage these uncertainties.

'how the News causes you to Lose'.

how goal-setting can get you out of the bottom of the socio-economic ladder.

who Doug would be if he was a chess piece.

and much much more.

Visit www.economicrockstar.com to get access to the show notes and all the links referred to by Doug in this episode.

009: Naomi Brockwell (Bitcoin Girl) on Bitcoins, Liberty, Government and Fiat Currency Dec 04, 2014

Naomi Brockwell is an opera singer, film-maker and actress, and studied commerce at the University of Western Australia. Currently residing in New York, Naomi also runs her own company Rainsworth Productions and is a fellow at The Moving Picture Institute. Naomi speaks five languages, plays six musical instruments and, of course, is a gold medal-winning Irish dancer. Naomi is on the Advisory Council of the Mannkal Economic Education Foundation and is the always effervescent face of Bitcoin Girl.

Economic Themes:

In this interview, Naomi mentions and discusses: bitcoins, crypto-currencies, monetary policy, inflation, fiat currency, fractional reserve banking, central banks, living standards, international trade, negative externalities, unintended consequences,equilibrium, supply and demand.

Economists and Economic Schools:

In this interview, Naomi mentions: Victor Niederhoffer, Gene Epstein, Murray Rothbard, Jean-Baptiste Say, Ludwig von Mises, Friedrich Hayek, Carl Menger, Erik Voorheese, Paul Krugman, Austrian economics, Libertarianism, Keynesian economics and Hunter Lewis.

Find Out:

what Naomi's two favorite drinks are - they're Irish by the way!

and watch Naomi's video 'Bitcoin Girl' (see below), made with The Moving Picture Institute, in which she is featured.

what began Naomi's passion for economics after staying in New York City to study and train with other great opera singers.

how a discussion on the housing crisis and the housing bubble at Junto in New York City inspired Naomi to read economics.

how a chance email to Gene Epstein of Barron's developed a passion for Austrian and Libertarian economics.

Naomi's shared views with Gene on educating people in economics even if they disagree on some of the thinking.

why Naomi questions the foundation of fiat money after reading Rothbard.

why Naomi believes that the private sector can manage money better than the government.

why bitcoin is used voluntarily with no coercion.

what is a virtual or crypto-currency and how does it work when there is no physical coin to use.

what excites Naomi about Bitcoin and why, as Bitcoin Girl, she is becoming synonymous with Bitcoin.

what cryptography is and what it has to do with Bitcoin.

the difference between fractional reserve banking and how bitcoin operates.

what scares Naomi when she requested her Australian bank to transfer her own money into a Bitstamp account.

and much, much more.

You cna find all the links mentioned in this episode on the shownoates page at Economic Rockstar

008: Robbie Butler on Using Sports to Teach Entry-Level Economics Nov 26, 2014

Robbie Butler is a lecturer of economics at University College Cork in Ireland, where he lectures on a multitude of modules, such as Microeconomics, Macroeconomics, Growth Economics and Corporate Strategy. Robbie received his PhD from University of Hertfordshire in England, is published in a number of internationally renowned academic journals and is a regular economics contributor on media. Robbie's primary passion is in sports, namely football (soccer) and he has a Junior International cap for Ireland. Robbie managed to bridge his passion for sports with his career in economics and, along with his brother David and other colleagues, created and runs the popular website www.sportseconomics.org.

Find Out:

who lectured Robbie as an undergrad. Hint: He's the host of this show!

how Robbie's use of sports in explaining economics grew from fun and a personal interest into something that has grown and evolved into something quite serious.

how playing football at a highly competitive level has allowed Robbie view economics in quite a unique way.

how this unique view has given Robbie an ability to delve into economics with many sports analogies and examples in which students can relate.

how having played sports competitively has given Robbie a level of respect and credibility when using sports-related themes in economics.

the importance of working with like-minded people and how it makes life so much easier.

why a coffee break with colleagues can have the most intellectually-stimulating conversations bursting with ideas.

a great tip before publishing a blog post when working with others who share the same website - it cuts out the use of Google Docs, Dropbox, etc.

how working with a sibling makes the feedback on your work more critical and raw - something that could help with perfecting the right article.

about the Theory of Multiple Intelligence by Harvard educationalist Howard Gardner - we have 8 ways of learning.

how sports can be used as "a lens to the economic world" that empowers the student when learning and understanding economic theory.

how a change to the rules of a football/soccer game in the Caribbean between Barbados and Granada created incentives that reflects the behaviour of rational economic agent.

how a penalty shoot-out between Manchester United and Chelsea in the Champions League Final showcases the Volunteers Dilemma in economic game theory (Chelsea are instructed to take all penalties to Manchester United keeper's left but he finds out Chelsea's strategy when faced with the last penalty-taker by pointing to his own left - game theory demonstrated in football).

how watching the Simpsons can expose us to economic theory with its many parodies.

why Robbie believes that the English Premier League is in trouble and has all the hallmarks of a bubble.
how the different economic structures of the US (free market) and Europe (socialist) are reversed when it comes to the economic model of sports.

how the debt/GDP ratio imposed on EU countries is similar to the debt/income rules imposed on football clubs.

why big clubs may be willing to break the spending rules of the game despite the imposition of monetary fines.

about the use of metrics by Billy Bean's Oakland A's and how a 'mediocre' team could beat the cash-rich New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox.

Get the shownotes to this episode and all the links mentioned at www.economicrockstar.com/robbiebutler

007: Ryan Blair- Gangster turned Millionaire on Decision-Making, Game Theory and Incentives Nov 21, 2014

Ryan Blair is a serial entrepreneur but his path to becoming a millionaire is both unique and fascinating. From a middle-class family who lost it all, Ryan became a gang member and, at times, carried an AK-47. life changed for Ryan due to a strong work ethic and a will to succeed. He overcame great obstacles to achieve extraordinary success. With six multi-million dollar companies by age 30, Ryan vowed to make his current company, ViSalus Sciences, be the first billion dollar company to come out of the Great Recession and to help many people along the way. He is a philanthropist and New York Times best selling author.

In this interview, Ryan mentions and discusses: decision-making, incentives, rewards, compensation, leveraging, poverty, entrepreneurialism, economic systems, philanthropy, venture capitalists, investors, Game Theory, complementary goods and capital markets.

How being a gang member is similar to being a business person:

"A gang is an economic system. Similarities exist between being an entrepreneur and a legitimate businessman and doing business as a gang member on the street".

"A gang is simply illegal entrepreneurship. It has a management hierarchy. Generally a gang will have various revenue streams. It has a compensation system. There are incentives and rewards as a recruiting system to recruit new members. There's replication that occurs as a business model. The gang will have different hubs and different cities and countries it operates in. There are so many similarities".

"Game theory is simply the idea of a game of chicken. Sometimes you have to be willing to risk it all and a lot of the time you have to be willing to walk away from a deal".

Find out:

what life was like for Ryan growing up with a violent, drug-addicted father and how his family lost everything.

how Ryan overcame this to teach people how to overcome their poor decisions or the decisions of their family or the environment they were born into.

what skeletons Ryan takes out of the closet (revealed in his book) giving us some insight in this podcast.

why people are shocked that he was in a gang but how people that he knew in the past are even more shocked by his appearance, level of education and his ability to articulate on subjects that he is passionate about.

how over-leveraging and keeping-up with the Jones' fuelled by credit in the economic 'good times' can be destructive for some families.

how Ryan went from middle-class to poverty to multi-millionaire.

how Ryan went from earning minimum wage at 18 to earning 6 figures within 2 years.

how staring at a 60-year old prisoner became the defining moment that changed Ryan's life-path.

how Ryan overcame dyslexia and ADD to create his own auditory learning system, something which the current educational system failed to do.

why Ryan believes that 'vision' is so important in your life.

how Ryan helps people facing life in adversity: Clue? - The creation of foundations and philanthropic work.

about Ryan's work with autism.

about the importance of having mentors and having a life purpose.

and much, much more.

You can find the shownotes to this episode'along with all the links mentioned, at www.economicrockstar.com/ryanblair

006: Andrew Heaton on Using Comedy to Explain Economic Concepts Nov 20, 2014

Andrew Heaton is a comedian, writer and political satirist. He is the presenter of the witty and entertaining economics podcast, EconPop and has a Masters degree in International Politics. Andrew has been featured in a Bollywood movie, plays a lead role in the sitcom Cap South and has been voted best new comedian of 2013 in New York. Andrew hails from Oklahoma, is an Officer to a Prince and plays the Ukelele to enhance the mood of his friends’ amorous endeavors.

In this interview, Andrew mentions and discusses: wheat quotas, comparative advantage, protectionism, relative and actual growth, free markets and limited government, Austrian Theory of Monetary Creation, supply and demand, signalling, subjective value, negative externalities, tariffs and import duty, protectionism, corporation tax, scarce resources, population, abundance of resources, the Great Depression, US deficit, unintended consequences, behavioral economics and risk aversion.

Find Out:

how Andrew became interested in economics while studying abroad in Scotland.

what parallels Andrew draws between politics, economics and comedy.

what economists and school of thought Andrew draws inspiration from to carve out his own views.

where and from whom Andrew gets his inspiration for his anecdotal writings on economics concepts.

how economic concepts is in abundance in life and can be found in the many movies we may have watched.

what qualities Andrew believes makes a successful person.

about Andrew being an Officer to Prince Leonard of Hutt River.

what comparative advantage is and how Andrew explains it in an unusual but light-hearted way.

why Andrew believes we will never run out of resources and why we should not worry about scarcity.

For more information on this podcast episode and others, please visit www.economicrockstar.com

005: Hector Avellaneda on Buying Gold to Protect Your Wealth from a Dollar Crisis Nov 19, 2014

Hector Avellaneda is from Houston, Texas and has a passion for entrepreneurship, economics, finance and gold. This, however, only materialized after Hector came face to face with a untold truth and one of the harshest lessons that only a life experience can teach you, as long as you are willing to dig deep in search for answers. Hector, the son of Mexican immigrants to the US, grew up in poverty and was statistically destined to a life of poverty in adulthood. However, Hector wanted to defy this probability and worked extremely hard in school. In typical fashion, Hector accumulated college debt and was ironically facing a poorer life than his own parents despite a larger mean income. Hector questioned the college debt system and deeply explored how US citizens have grown accustomed to taking on such debt. Further research led him to realise that middle-class America could see their wealth wiped out due to an impending dollar crisis. Subsequently, Hector wrote an economics and finance-related book to share his findings and to suggest what you can do to protect your wealth.

Find out:

how Hector had all the hallmarks of continuing to live a life of poverty in America.

about Hector being bullied in school because of the charitable clothes he wore .

how Hectors' father and mother's sense of hard-work and money management became naturally ingrained in him.

how Hector defied and beat the statistical odds of remaining poor for life due to a strong work ethic and a desire to succeed.

how hard work in school can open up many opportunities in life including an internship with NASA.

the importance of being mentored.

how easy credit for college education made Hector 's financial position worse off than his parents.

what triggered Hector into discovering the truth about the American economy and the college debt system.

the risks in the US economy.

why the US could be faced with a massive default on student loans and what is triggering this today.

how it became acceptable to borrow to pay for college.

why Hector's $50,000 student debt became a blessing in disguise.

and much more.

Check out the show notes page to this eye-popping episode on www.economicrockstar.com/hectoravellaneda

004: Jadrian Wooten on Using Sports to Carve Out a Career in Economics - Sports Economics Nov 18, 2014

Jadrian Wooten is an Economics lecturer at Pennsylvania State University. Jadrian’s research focuses primarily on sports economics. He has a PhD from Washington State University and an MBA from Sam Houston State University. He analyses various economic concepts that otherwise would not be evident by a typical sports fan or analyst. Jadrian shares his passion for teaching economics and believes that an interactive classroom is the best learning environment.

In this interview, Jadrian mentions and discusses: economics in sports, price discrimination, market structures, decision-making, some of his academic papers, over-confidence, Billy Bean, John Nash, Jim Cramer, stock markets, behavioral psychology, herding, contrarian investors, unemployment, labor economics and loss-aversion.

Find Out:

how Jadrian found a love for economics and the moment he wanted to teach it.

which academic paper made Jadrian realise that you can combine sports with economics and have the 'dream job'.

about Jadrian's unique teaching style and how it culminated from the collective influences of past professors.

how Jadrian used billions of tweets on Twitter to identify over-confidence in a sport pundits' predictions of outcomes in games.

and much more.

You can find the show notes to this interview at

http://www.economicrockstar.com/jadrianwooten

003: Erin Lowry on Millennials, College Debt and Asking for the Order Nov 13, 2014

Erin Lowry is a double major in journalism and theatre and writes on finance and money related matters for the millennial generation. She lives in New York and is founder of brokemillennial.com where she is on a mission to explain financial concepts and money saving tips to her fellow Millennials using a little humor along the way. Erin is also a freelance writer for both Daily Finance and US News and World Report. Erin has deservedly been recognized for her astounding contribution to the finance and money industry, being voted ‘Top Finance Blog’ and winner of the ‘Best Personal Finance Blog for Young Adults’. Erin has also been featured on Forbes and Reuters, as well making appearances on TV, radio and other podcasts for her advice.

In this interview, Erin mentions and discusses: millennials, Generation Y,student loan debt, credit card debt, savings, habits, business startups, money, returns, net profit, incentives and perfect competition.

Find out:

how a Krispee Kreme gave Erin her biggest lesson in understanding finance, money and net profit at the tender age of seven.

how living in Japan and China during her childhood developed a different money mindset to her fellow consumer-led American peers.

how Erin left college debt-free.

who are millennials, if you are one and, if so, are you narcissistic and lazy?

about the massive student loan and credit card debt taken on by this generation and what you can do about it.

the money-saving tips that you can use in college or at work.

how saving a little, even $2, from a paycheck now will develop into a powerful life habit.

and much more.

You can find the show notes to this interview at

http://www.economicrockstar.com/erinlowry

002: Jason Stapleton on Trading Psychology and Why You Shouldn't Listen to Financial News Nov 13, 2014

In the second part of this interview, Jason Stapleton shares with us:

his thoughts on Richard Dennis' Turtle Trader Program

why you shouldn’t trade and instead give your money to somebody else.

why you shouldn’t listen to financial news and what you can do instead to gain a competitive edge.

why the markets are not fundamentally driven and what drives the markets instead.

why he believes that there is an inherent beauty in price patterns.

how being in the Marine Corp provided the discipline required to survive in the markets.

You can check out the shownotes page at:

http://www.economicrockstar.com/jasonstapleton2

to find links to the books and resources mentioned by Jason, as well as the links to where you can find him.

Jason Stapleton is one of the founders of Trade Empowered and a managing partner of Harborsite Capital. Jason hosts the podcast The Live Show. Jason’s heavy focus on trader psychology, along with his in-depth knowledge of advanced technical analysis, gives him the unique opportunity to work with traders of all skills and levels, helping them to achieve a higher level of success and understanding in the foreign exchange market.

001: Jason Stapleton on Technical Trading Systems and Losing Everything on Penny Stocks Nov 13, 2014

Jason Stapleton is one of the founders of Trade Empowered and a managing partner of Harborsite Capital. Jason hosts the podcast The Live Show. Jason’s heavy focus on trader psychology, along with his in-depth knowledge of advanced technical analysis, gives him the unique opportunity to work with traders of all skills and levels, helping them to achieve a higher level of success and understanding in the foreign exchange market.

Economics and Finance Themes:

In parts 1 and 2 of the Economic Rockstar interview with Jason Stapleton, Jason mentions and discusses: technical analysis, trading strategies, stock market psychology, behavioral economics, herding behavior, Gartley patterns, harmonic price patterns, Fibonacci numbers, fundamental analysis, probability, the Turtle Trader story, rational and irrational behavior.

Jason's Influencers:

His business partner Todd Browne, options trader John Carter, systems trader Larry Hite and trader Mike Bellafiore.

Find out:

In this first part of the Economic Rockstar interview with Jason Stapleton, Jason shares with us some thoughts on technical analysis:

how Jason lost all his money when he first started out trading in penny stocks.

the number one reason why people become traders.

how to create a competitive edge in the financial markets.

about systems trading and the Gartley pattern.

how working on probabilities is better than certainties in trading.

and much more.

To check out the show notes page visit:

http://www.economicrockstar.com/jasonstapleton1

000: About Economic Rockstar Nov 13, 2014

This introductory episode is about the Economic Rockstar podcast, why it was launched and who it is for. My name is Frank Conway and I will also tell you a little bit about me personally and where you can find me (http://www.economicrockstar.com).

In this episode, I share with you my journey into podcasting and why I chose an economics and finance educational podcast. I also share with you the influencers in my life recently who help make this a reality for me: John Lee Dumas of Entrepreneur on Fire, Pat Flynn of Smart Passive Income and AskPat, Jaime Tardy of Eventual Millionaire, Elaine Watt of Holiday Let Success and Mike and Izabela Russell of Music Radio Creative.

I also share the thinking behind my tagline 'Connecting Brilliant Minds in Economics and Finance' with inspiration coming from Mark Twain and Seth Godin.

This episode breaks down what other episodes are going to be like. We will have great guests - economists, financial analysts and inspirational business leaders - share their work, ideas and beliefs about what interests them in the world of economics and finance.

We get to know a little about each guest who shares with us the mentors, economists, stock market traders, investors, money managers and others that inspired them, as well as the economics and finance books that inspired them.

Economic Rockstar is created for you, the economist, financial analyst, teacher or student. If you are looking to expand your knowledge or awareness, Frank Conway delivers the information you just don't want to miss.

Economic Rockstar brings to you each week an economist, financial analyst or business leader who shares their experiences, research interests or ideas. Hear their views on different schools of economic thinking - Chicago, Austrian, Keynesian and Classical, behavioral economics, stock markets, and how economics and finance can be used in our lives.

Economic Rockstar interviews top-level lecturers and academics from highly renowned universities, best-selling authors and bloggers, inspirational CEOs and business leaders, as well as amazing and thought-provoking people who have recently discovered economics and finance and are carving out a career in their new-found passion.

Guests in each episode gives us wonderful advice, takeaways and insights that will help you become part of the Economic Rockstar community that will be 'Connecting Brilliant Minds in Economics and Finance'.

Who Will Feature on the Economic Rockstar Podcast?

Economists
Teachers, Lecturers and Academics
Financial Analysts
Inspirational Business Leaders and CEOs
Authors
Bloggers

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