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EconTalk. Early in my career, I was a regular listener to three tech podcasts: Java Posse, StackOverflow podcast, and Software Engineering Radio. All three wer
by jkingsbery 8y ago
EconTalk.
Early in my career, I was a regular listener to three tech podcasts: Java Posse, StackOverflow podcast, and Software Engineering Radio. All three were valuable to my career in different ways, but EconTalk has most affected the way I think.
For those who aren't familiar, the host of EconTalk is a professor of economics, so many of his conversations revolve around the world of economics, but since economics touches a lot of things, he ends up talking to a diverse group of people. He is very good at admitting his own bias on the one hand, and then argue against it on the other hand.
Also, I found History of Rome valuable - it's an interesting story, but it also helps cure the chronological snobbery of assuming that our times are vastly different from others.
- maxxxxx 8y agoI tried to get into EconTalk but I found most guests mindnumbingly oblivious to real world concerns. It felt to me that they were just sitting in their offices making up things about the world but never bothered to check their theories.
- p_roz 8y agoNot every episode is like that. Take [0], where John Allison of BB&T discusses his business philosophy, and as an aside mentions that his bank doesn’t issue negative amortization mortgages (a cause of the recession) in 2007. Or [1], where Michael Lewis discusses Moneyball and The Blind Side. Or [2], where Christopher Hitchens discusses George Orwell. Or [3], where Paul Graham talks about Hackers and Painters. EconTalk has something for everyone. [0] http://www.econtalk.org/allison-on-strategy-profits-and-self-interest/ http://www.econtalk.org/allison-on-strategy-profits-and-self... [1] http://www.econtalk.org/michael-lewis-on-the-hidden-economics-of-baseball-and-football/ http://www.econtalk.org/michael-lewis-on-the-hidden-economic... [2] http://www.econtalk.org/hitchens-on-orwell/ http://www.econtalk.org/hitchens-on-orwell/ [3] http://www.econtalk.org/graham-on-start-ups-innovation-and-creativity/ http://www.econtalk.org/graham-on-start-ups-innovation-and-c...
- FeloniousHam 8y agoAlso the Frito Lay executive talks about the snack food industry: http://www.econtalk.org/archives/2011/08/odonohoe_on_pot.html http://www.econtalk.org/archives/2011/08/odonohoe_on_pot.htm... Here's a list of one guy's ranked favorites: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1TejVbFNWkAaqRYQ4UaZfwNDKaGGgbUNeGYKJLa7dQ5I/edit https://docs.google.com/document/d/1TejVbFNWkAaqRYQ4UaZfwNDK...
- jkingsbery 8y agoI can see where you're coming from, but particularly for episodes the past year or two, the host has emphasized two themes worth noting: (1) the inability for models to really explain actual reality (as in how things really are for people), and (2) the importance of understanding that even if economic theory says on the whole things might be better, that they are often worse off for particular people. Even to the extent that guest are oblivious to real world concerns (or alternate Ivory tower theories, which also happens sometimes), Russ Roberts is pretty good at respectfully challenging guests, and I feel like I at least understand where the guest is coming from.
- maxxxxx 8y agoMaybe I should give it another try. What turned me off was one episode about health care where they talked about free markets, the evils of regulation and socialized health care but couldn’t acknowledge how f...ed up the US systems is versus other developed countries. They seemed more interested in the purity of their ideology vs actually making life better for real people.