Why Are Cities (Still) So Expensive? (Ep. 435)

It isn’t just supply and demand. We look at the complicated history and skewed incentives that make “affordable housing” more punch line than reality in cities from New York and San Francisco to Flint, Michigan (!).

Is New York City Over? (Ep. 434)

The pandemic has hit America's biggest city particularly hard. Amidst a deep fiscal hole, rising homicides, and a flight to the suburbs, some people think the city is heading back to the bad old 1970s. We look at the history — and the data — to see why that’s probably not the case.

How Are Psychedelics and Other Party Drugs Changing Psychiatry? (Ep. 433)


When Your Safety Becomes My Danger (Ep. 432)

The families of U.S. troops killed and wounded in Afghanistan are suing several companies that did reconstruction there. Why? These companies, they say, paid the Taliban protection money, which gave them the funding — and opportunity — to attack U.S. soldiers instead. A look at the messy, complicated, and heart-breaking tradeoffs of conflict-zone economies.



Why Can’t Schools Get What the N.F.L. Has? (Ep. 431)


America’s Hidden Duopoly (Ep. 356 Rebroadcast)


Will a Covid-19 Vaccine Change the Future of Medical Research? (Ep. 430)


The Economics of Sports Gambling (Ep. 388 Rebroadcast)


Is Economic Growth the Wrong Goal? (Ep. 429)
