Economic Rockstar

Connecting Brilliant Minds in Economics and Finance

065: Best of 2015 Part 1: A Look Back at the Economic Rockstar Podcast

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2015 Part 1

I’m Frank Conway and I am the host of the Economic Rockstar podcast. I do my best to bring on the brightest and most meaningful guests onto the show. Thank you so much listening and thank you for subscribing to the show on iTunes.

For those of you who have subscribed to the Economic Rockstar community at economicrockstar.com, I thank you for your feedback, interaction and shared insights and views. Let’s build this community bigger, both in size and knowledge.

I’m so grateful to have been in a position to bring to you a wide variety personalities to the show. While reflecting on the year 2015 for the podcast, I was amazed by the diversity and caliber of my guests and the incredible conversations we’ve had.

Their research, books, opinions, outlook, personal stories and teaching pedagogies is, to say the least, quite inspiring and has personally opened my eyes to the boundless capabilities in economics and finance. I truly hope that you found it to be likewise.

Both the end of year ‘Best of 2015’ episodes gives us a snapshot of some topics that were discussed – like a time capsule for the Economic Rockstar podcast of 2015. If you’ve been with me all year, then this episode will act as a refresher and take you back to some of the debates that abound the fields of economics.

If you’re new to the show or relatively new, then perhaps these episodes will offer you a window to glimpse into the show and type of guests and topics that we cover. Hopefully, they will encourage you to explore and listen to previous episodes of the podcast. For a full listing, you can visit economicrockstar.com/podcasts.

Although I did my utmost to choose a best of compilation that captured the essence of this podcast, it was extremely difficult to leave out some of my amazing guests.

I loved all my guests and every single one of them gave up their time to speak to me about their career, their research and personal lives. They exposed themselves to you, my amazing listeners, and answered questions that they had not seen before.

It was almost impossible to choose who to leave in and that’s why I reached to my Community on my email list for their favorites. Thanks for a great response. If I left out one of your favorites, then I apologize as I know how you feel. I’ve provided all the links to the show notes at the economic rockstar website at economicrockstar.com/65.

This is my mix-tape, my compilation of Economic Rockstars, so press play and do what you love doing while you listen – crosswords, chess, darts, exercise, walking the dog or cleaning the house.

What’s compelling about the guests on my show is how much of the work that they do is for the betterment of society as a whole.

The teaching innovations adopted and applied by John Cochrane, Kim Holder, Shawn Humphrey, Marina Adshade, Abdullah Al-Bahrani, Matt Rousu, Alice Lousie Kassens and Craig Medico have created an active rather than a passive economics classroom, helping their students to better understand concepts and how to apply them in a meaningful way.

Others guests, such as Jason Shogren, Alvin Roth, Dan Ariely, Helena Norberg-Hodge, David Simon, David Zetland, Stephen Young, Shanta Deverajan, Shawn Humphrey and Christine Exley have used their knowledge as a platform to help those in need – be it humans, animals or our environment.

The Economic Rockstar podcast also invites guests with a career in finance and it was such a pleasure to have spoken to Jack Schwager and Campbell Harvey.

Guests who feature in the Best of 2015 Part 1:

050 Dan Ariely -Professor of Psychology & Behavioral Economics at Duke University in North Carolina. 

057 Alvin Roth – Craig and Susan McCaw Professor of Economics at Stanford University.

043 Herbert Gintis – Emeritus Professor of Economics at University of Massachusetts.

036 Jason Shogren – the Stroock Professor of Natural Resource Conservation and Management and Chair of the Department of Economics and Finance at the University of Wyoming.

034 David Simon – lawyer and advocate for sustainable consumption. 

023 Loretta Napoleoni – expert on terrorist financing and the Islamic State.

048 Steve Hanke – Professor of Applied Economics, specializing in currency boards. He is Co-Director of the Institute for Applied Economics, Global Health, and the Study of Business Enterprise at The Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.

051 Eyal Winter – the Silverzweig Professor of Economics at the Hebrew University and Economics Professor at Leicester University.

054 Christine Exley – Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School. Christine is also Co-founder and Chief of Research at Wagaroo an organization dedicated to re-house homeless dogs to responsible and loving families.

046 Shanta Devarajan – Chief Economist of the World Bank’s Middle-East and North Africa Region.

059 Shawn Humphrey – Associate Professor of Economics at the University of Mary Washington. Shawn is the founder of La Ceiba Microfinance,the Two Dollar Challenge, the Month of Microfinance, and the Poverty Action Conference. 

016 Jack Schwager – industry expert in futures and hedge funds and the author of a number of widely acclaimed financial books. Jack is one of the founders of Fund Seeder.

037 Noah Smith – Assistant Professor of Finance at Stony Brook University, New York where he is also a member of the Center for Behavioral Finance research team.

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051: Eyal Winter on How Excessive Giving Ensures the Survival of the Human Race and on the Beautiful Mind of John Nash

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051: Eyal Winter on How Excessive Giving Ensures the Survival of the Human Race and on the Beautiful Mind of John Nash

eyal winter

Eyal Winter is the Silverzweig Professor of Economics at the Hebrew University and Economics Professor at Leicester University.

He is a member and a former director of the Center for the Study of Rationality, an elected council member of the International Game Theory Society and an elected fellow of the Economic Theory Society.

Eyal was awarded the Humboldt Prize for excellence in research by the German government in 2010. He has presented his work in more than 120 research institutes in 26 countries around the world including Harvard, Stanford, Princeton, Berkeley, Cambridge, and Oxford.

Eyal’s book Feeling Smart: Why our Emotions are More Rational Than We Think was published in January 2015.

Eyal graduated from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in Mathematics, Statistics and Economics before going on to study his doctorate in Game Theory.

In this episode you will learn:

  • if there is a link between game theory and behavioral economics.
  • how the perceptions of human behaviour vary greatly across all disciplines.
  • if there is a need to have divisions in universities regarding the disciplines being taught.
  • how we can use emotion in a strategic way to make us better off.
  • why human evolution has not removed emotion if it’s considered a hindrance in economics.
  • the importance of training your rationality and emotions to work together.
  • why you should look at something from an outsiders perspective when dealing with an emotional situation.
  • how anger can be an emotion that can make you financially better off.
  • why love, empathy and sympathy can make you better-off in the way how other people treat us.
  • what Eyal Winter means when he says that there is logic in emotion and emotion in logic.
  • how subjective information is more powerful than evidence-based information.
  • why intuition should be taken into consideration in the decision-making process rather than using evidence alone.
  • why you should invoke your rationality into the decision-making process rather than rely on your gut instinct.
  • how game theory is not always about choosing the most optimal outcome for an individual.
  • how we can learn why humans give excessively by observing the behavior of ants and bees.
  • about the incentives of suicide bombers and why their behavior is not irrational if you think about their community.
  • why we treat each other much better than we treat animals.
  • about the incentive to donate and how mixed ethnic communities donate less than more homogenous communities.
  • why the Scandinavian countries are willing to pay the highest taxes and yet have the lowest tax evasion in the world.
  • why it was fascinating yet frustrating for Eyal Winter when he met John Nash.
  • why John Nash developed the Nash Equilibrium to reflect his own way of dealing with people and situations.
  • if we can change people’s behaviour with incentives or social pressure.
  • whether children have a higher emotional intelligence than adults.
  • if seeing a comedian live would be better than seeing your doctor if you feel sad.
  • whether employees should be subjected to ‘Emotional Labor’ by their employers.

Influencers:

Nobel Laureate Bob Aumann

Economics:

In this interview, Eyal mentions: game theory, rationality, irrationality, human behavior, donations, incentives,

Economists:

In this interview, Eyal mentions: Herbert Gintis, Bob Aumann and John Nash.

Personal Habits:

Play Guitar – Traditional Israeli songs and rock, listens to classical music and travel.

“The human race has only one effective weapon, and that is laughter.” -Mark Twain

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