Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has been dragging Saudi Arabia into the modern world over the last decade. Journalist and author Karen Elliott House lays out the Saudi leader’s motivations, hopes, and contradictions. Listen as she and EconTalk’s Russ Roberts explore the crown prince’s mix of cultural liberalization and political dominance and where his balancing […] The post The Man Who Would Be King of Saudi Arabia (with Karen Elliott House) appeared first on Econlib.

How did an industry survive a technology that should have made it obsolete? Aled Maclean-Jones explains to EconTalk’s Russ Roberts how Japanese quartz watches nearly wiped out Swiss watchmaking with cheaper, more accurate alternatives–and how the Swiss redefined the value of a watch to recover market dominance. Maclean-Jones discusses the Japanese innovations that led to […] The post Seiko, Swatch, and the Swiss Watch Industry (with Aled Maclean-Jones) appeared first on Econlib.

What does war look like when fought under the harshest scrutiny? Veteran soldier and military researcher Andrew Fox talks about his first-hand experience in Gaza with EconTalk’s Russ Roberts. He and Roberts explore the challenges of reporting and understanding the war amid the challenges of disinformation, and why Fox believes that the IDF had few […] The post A Military Analysis of Israel’s War in Gaza (with Andrew Fox) appeared first on Econlib.

Author Daniel Coyle talks with EconTalk’s Russ Roberts on the art of flourishing: why it’s a natural phenomenon rather than mechanical; how taking life’s “yellow doors”–or detours from a straight, expected path–is often the key to a flourishing life; and why true flourishing can only occur in the context of relationships. They also discuss how […] The post How to Flourish (with Daniel Coyle) appeared first on Econlib.

What happens when a writer discovers her “boring” great-grandfather was actually a household name across the Russian Empire who helped 10,000 Jews escape to Texas? Rachel Cockerell‘s The Melting Point traces this forgotten history through an audacious technique: she removed herself entirely, letting only primary sources–newspaper articles, diaries, letters–speak across time. Her journey uncovers great-grandfather […] The post Zionism, the Melting Pot, and the Galveston Project (with Rachel Cockerell) appeared first on Econlib.

Are your genes your destiny? Despite famous studies of identical twins that seem to answer in the affirmative, mathematician David Bessis says: Not so fast. He and EconTalk’s Russ Roberts take a deep dive into the “twins reared apart” literature, showing how multiple flaws in those studies undercut their claims about heritability. Bessis demonstrates why […] The post Nature, Nurture, and Identical Twins (with David Bessis) appeared first on Econlib.

Philosopher and author Rebecca Newberger Goldstein discusses her new book, The Mattering Instinct, which argues that our lives are a quest to validate our inherent self-centeredness. Tracing this essential longing from physics and biology through to ethics and politics, she explains to EconTalk’s Russ Roberts why material success alone can never satisfy our deep-seated need […] The post The Mattering Instinct (with Rebecca Newberger Goldstein) appeared first on Econlib.

If technology is ruining the art of conversation, maybe it can save it, too. Anna Gat–poet, screenwriter, playwright, and founder of Interintellect–talks with EconTalk’s Russ Roberts on how she’s reviving the French salon in the digital age. They discuss why authority, moderation, and clear formats make conversation freer, not more constrained. They also explore why one of […] The post Conversation, Interintellect, and Arcadia (with Anna Gát) appeared first on Econlib.

Psychologist Gerd Gigerenzer explains the power of intuition, how intuition became gendered, what he thinks Kahneman and Tversky’s research agenda got wrong, and why it’s a mistake to place intuition and conscious thinking on opposing ends of the cognition spectrum. Topics he discusses in this wide-ranging conversation with EconTalk’s Russ Roberts include what Gigerenzer calls […] The post In Defense of Intuition (with Gerd Gigerenzer) appeared first on Econlib.

A world-class physicist makes a shocking claim: across 2,500 years and every kind of society, there has been a recurring moral exception carved out just for Jews–the idea that hurting Jews is, in some sense, legitimate. Most of the time, this doesn’t erupt into pogroms. Instead, it lives as a background permission: a readiness to excuse, […] The post David Deutsch on the Pattern appeared first on Econlib.