Episodios

  • The War in Iran: Oil, Cyber Warfare, and Alliances

    The War in Iran: Oil, Cyber Warfare, and Alliances
    Mar 31 2026
    On February 28, the US and Israel launched airstrikes against Iran. Four weeks later, the conflict shows no signs of ending. Iran has blocked the Strait of Hormuz, taking roughly 10% of global oil supply off the market. Energy prices have spiked to levels not seen since the 1970s, and Iran continues to strike US allies using drones, cyber attacks, and other tactics. In this panel recorded at the Harris School of Public Policy, three University of Chicago experts, Ryan Kellogg on energy markets, Paul Poast on military alliances, and Jake Braun on cyber policy, discuss why the US struck now, why European allies have been reluctant to join, and why there's no clear exit from the conflict. For more on the event: https://harris.uchicago.edu/news-events/news/operation-epic-fury-and-problem-undefined-war
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    43 m
  • The Geography of Human Capital: Why Rich Regions Stay Rich

    The Geography of Human Capital: Why Rich Regions Stay Rich
    Mar 17 2026
    People in the Netherlands average nearly 11 years of schooling, compared to about 2.5 for those in the Central African Republic. Why don't these gaps close? In this episode, Esteban Rossi-Hansberg of the University of Chicago explains recent research that divides the entire globe into more than 16,000 grid cells to study the costs of acquiring human capital, and how these valuable skills drive economic development.
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    49 m
  • Eugene Fama on 60 Years of Finance Research, Index Funds, and Market Efficiency

    Eugene Fama on 60 Years of Finance Research, Index Funds, and Market Efficiency
    Mar 12 2026
    If you have money in an index fund, you are benefiting from Eugene Fama's work. In this Extra Slice of The Pie, the Nobel laureate and "father of modern finance" reflects on a career that reshaped how trillions of dollars are invested, including his development of the Efficient Market Hypothesis, which provides the theoretical foundation for passive investing.
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    48 m
  • The Transformation of Capitalism: 250 Years After Adam Smith

    The Transformation of Capitalism: 250 Years After Adam Smith
    Mar 3 2026
    Two hundred fifty years after The Wealth of Nations, capitalism looks nothing like Adam Smith imagined (and nothing like Karl Marx predicted, either). Smith envisioned small, decentralized producers, while Marx foresaw concentration dominated by the rich. In this lecture, Yueran Ma of Chicago Booth draws on centuries of global data to show how production concentrated while ownership diffused, and the giants at the top keep getting toppled.
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    47 m
  • Laboratories of Autocracy: What Happens When China Shuts Down Its Policy Experiments

    Laboratories of Autocracy: What Happens When China Shuts Down Its Policy Experiments
    Feb 17 2026
    The common perception of Chinese governance is a strong, centralized state. For decades, however, the vast majority of the country's policies originated with local governments, as officials experimented, competed, and copied each other's successes. In this episode, Shaoda Wang of Harris Public Policy describes his research analyzing 3.7 million government documents to trace the origin and diffusion of Chinese policies, revealing the economic costs of the country's shift toward centralized policymaking.
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    21 m
  • Who Really Paid for the Tariffs? Brent Neiman on Liberation Day's Economic Aftermath

    Who Really Paid for the Tariffs? Brent Neiman on Liberation Day's Economic Aftermath
    Feb 3 2026
    Who bore the cost of 2025's sweeping tariffs? UChicago economist Brent Neiman returns to The Pie to discuss his new research with co-author Gita Gopinath examining the effects of last year's tariffs. Neiman reveals a gap between statutory rates and what was actually collected, explains why US importers absorbed the vast majority of costs, and discusses China's dramatic collapse as a US trading partner. He also explores the longer-term implications, including potential retaliation, shifting global alliances, and diplomatic costs that may outlast any short-term revenue gains.
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    30 m
  • Venezuela After Maduro: What Comes Next?

    Venezuela After Maduro: What Comes Next?
    Jan 20 2026
    Days after the Trump administration's surprise military operation captured Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro, a panel of UChicago scholars gathered to make sense of what it means for Venezuela, the United States, and the region. Professor Christopher Blattman, Deputy Dean Ryan Kellogg, and Associate Professor Paul Poast join moderator Rebecca Wolfe to discuss Venezuela's decline from one of the hemisphere's wealthiest nations, the regional migration crisis that followed, and the uncertain road ahead.
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    44 m
  • Why Banks Exist and Why They Fail: Douglas Diamond on Runs, Regulation, and the Risks of Short-Term Debt

    Why Banks Exist and Why They Fail: Douglas Diamond on Runs, Regulation, and the Risks of Short-Term Debt
    Jan 13 2026
    Financial crises are "everywhere and always" a problem of short-term debt. In this Extra Slice of The Pie, Nobel laureate Douglas Diamond explains his groundbreaking research on why banks exist in the first place, and why they're vulnerable to runs. Diamond discusses his role advising policymakers during the 2008 crisis, reflects on predicting the savings and loan disaster as a graduate student in the 1970s, and explains why the 30-year mortgage is like Michael Corleone: something good that went bad when it hung around with the wrong crowd.
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    1 h y 6 m