[Annual Listener Survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/CQX28T6. Vote for your 2021 favorites!] Can Israeli society survive the loss of universal military service? Will the deregulation of Israel’s kosher supervision spell the end of its Jewish character? And, speaking of Israel, what is it that makes its television dramas so good? Tyler Cowen discusses these and other subjects with […] The post Tyler Cowen and Russ Roberts on Nation, Immigration, and Israel appeared first on Econlib.

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In the race for a COVID vaccine, how did a couple of companies who had never produced a successful vaccine make it to the finish line so quickly? Gregory Zuckerman talks about his book, A Shot to Save the World, with EconTalk’s Russ Roberts about the daring, deranged, and damaged visionaries behind one of science […] The post Gregory Zuckerman on the Crazy Race to Create the COVID Vaccine appeared first on Econlib.

When we see Michaelangelo’s David or the design of the Apple Store, we assume a genius with a predetermined vision was the key to the outcome. Yet as Lorne Buchman, author of Make to Know, tells EconTalk’s Russ Roberts, great art is more about embracing the process of exploration and the results that emerge in the process […] The post Lorne Buchman on Creativity, Leadership, and Art appeared first on Econlib.

After being stranded with a bunch of Brits for eight hours at a German airport in 2016, journalist Megan McArdle felt that Brexit was going to happen. The giveaway? Not the concerns over economics or politics. Rather, it was about something far more elemental: in whom they could place their trust. Join the journalist and […] The post Megan McArdle on Belonging, Home, and National Identity appeared first on Econlib.

More than we need rules, argues Michael Munger, we need rules about the rules. So does the United States need a new Constitution? Listen as the Duke University economist and political scientist talks to host Russ Roberts about public choice, consenting to coercion, and whether constitutions matter. The post Michael Munger on Constitutions appeared first on Econlib.

Once it was The Shadow radio show; now it’s the podcast Serial. Is every old storytelling medium new again? Frank Rose, author of The Sea We Swim In, concedes that some things remain sacred–from the power of a great hook to the hope that great stories never end. But he also thinks the Internet has […] The post Frank Rose on Internet Narratives appeared first on Econlib.

Economic theory teaches that people make choices that provide them with the greatest benefit. So why not extend this idea to the realm of charity? Economists and social entrepreneurs Michael Faye and Paul Niehaus of GiveDirectly argue that giving people cash with no strings attached is the most cost-effective means of helping the poorest people in […] The post Michael Faye and Paul Niehaus on GiveDirectly appeared first on Econlib.

We undervalue our sense of hearing and we under-appreciate the impact sweet sounds and disturbing noises have on our well-being. Neuroscientist Nina Kraus of Northwestern University talks about her book, Of Sound Mind. Kraus argues that our listening affects our minds and brains in ways we ignore at our peril. The post Nina Kraus on Hearing, Noise, and Of Sound Mind appeared first on Econlib.

Stuntman and action designer Eric Jacobus joins EconTalk host Russ Roberts for a no-holds-barred discussion of the biological basis for violence and how to avoid the worst of it, the value of violence as spectator sport, and the vast superiority of duels to feuds–Alexander Hamilton notwithstanding. The post Eric Jacobus on the Art and Science of Violence appeared first on Econlib.