Our mission: Find the world’s best economic ideas (Summer School World Tour)Come along as we travel the world in search of the best economic ideas to bring home! From […]

How to win a penalty shootout (with game theory)Lionel Messi is arguably the greatest soccer scorer of all time. But when it comes to penalty kicks, Messi is merely […]

Can the Trump administration make college cheaper?Will limiting how much students can borrow force schools to lower their prices?  The Department of Education […]

We almost had a smartphone in the 90s. Why did it fail?In the early 90’s, a company called General Magic began working on a portable device that would allow p […]

Before Kalshi and Polymarket there was the Iowa Electronic MarketsPrediction markets aren’t new. Election betting was common until the 1940s, then mysteriously f […]

The real horror of ‘Alien’ and how it explains why we’re not paid enoughMaybe the real monster in the Alien franchise isn’t actually the killer alien. Because b […]

Can computer hackers get inside your mind?The cyber weapon that might have prevented nuclear war. The U.S. and Israel have long been in conflict with Iran over […]

It’s my tree. Why can’t I cut it down?Can the government stop you from cutting down your own tree? In many towns and cities these days, removing a tree now requires a […]

Two indicators for lowering the rentOne specific type of affordable housing used to be popular in American cities, kept rents low, then nearly vanished. Is it […]

Why is there a supplement craze if they don’t even work?One reason the $70 billion supplement industry is set to double in the next seven years? Lax regulation. On […]

There’s no business like dough businessHave you ever walked around a street, mall, or airport and noticed two or three of the same franchise restaurant within […]

The sneaky way companies get new chemicals into our food99% of chemicals in our food right now were added without FDA approval. Many were added in secret, through […]

The leaked tapes that show how the rich avoid taxesTax avoidance — that is, legally reducing your tax bill — is as American as apple pie. But the line between tax […]

The giant factory town that might be a giant mistakeHow does a poor country become a rich country? There’s a simple blueprint — or at least, that’s what many […]

Vacation and why Americans take so littleDo you work more for more money? Or work less for more time? For some, this is the ultimate economic choice.  Every […]

Jerome Powell and the Future of Fed IndependenceIf you have a credit card, hope to buy a house, or just want stable grocery prices – let’s talk about the fut […]

The secret meeting that launched OPECRecently, a listener wrote in with a question about OPEC and oil prices. She was prepping for a camping trip… thinking a […]

Diary of a WNBA negotiatorToday the WNBA season tips off, but Dallas Wings veteran forward Alysha Clark has already won a high-stakes competition. She – and a N […]

How we got free agents in baseballCurt Flood was the best center fielder in baseball and one of the game’s highest paid players. He took the St. Louis Cardinals t […]

How to make a BOOK into a bestsellerIn the world of commercial publishing, there are few crowning achievements more coveted than a place on the New York Times […]