With a population of 1.4 billion, India is the world’s biggest democracy and already one of the world’s leading economies, but it still has huge potential to grow its economy. So how should India grow? And what does the country need to realize the potential of its human capital? In this episode, we speak to Chicago Booth’s Raghuram Rajan, who served as Governor of the Reserve Bank of India from 2013 to 2016, about his new book, Breaking the Mold: India’s Untraveled Path to Prosperity. This...

Political folk wisdom tells us that people become more conservative as they get older. But does the evidence back that up? And is the political divide between older and younger voters getting bigger? In this episode, we speak with Chicago Booth’s Sam Peltzman about his research on political ideology.

For the past 20 years, the growth in US productivity has been sluggish at about 1.2%, compared to the 3% pace at which it grew from the mid-1990s to the mid-2000s. Chicago Booth’s Chad Syverson says that if US productivity hadn’t slowed, the US economy would be bigger to the tune of $25,000 per person. So what’s happening to productivity, and is it finally about to turn the corner?

Climate change is a global problem, so it can’t be solved by a limited number of countries acting alone. But can we develop and enforce global rules? In this episode, we hear from Chicago Booth’s Christian Leuz, an accounting professor who advocates for companies to report their carbon emissions. This is our second podcast with Leuz about emissions reporting and climate change. We released the first in March under the title, “Could reporting carbon emissions help cut them?”

The ancient Greeks thought a lot about strategy, which is why strategists in business, politics, and the military still draw on their wisdom today. So what business lessons can we learn from the heroes of the Iliad and the Odyssey? In this episode, we hear from Chicago Booth’s Greg Bunch, who teaches new venture strategy to MBA students and executives. When he’s advising entrepreneurs, when does he urge them to be more like Agamemnon, who was able to bring people together for a common cause,...

If you want to lose weight, you first need to know how much you weigh, how many calories you’re eating a day, and how many minutes of exercise you’re getting. Now imagine you post all that information on your social media page and ask your contacts to hold you accountable. Could that same idea help us tackle global warming? In this episode, Chicago Booth’s Christian Leuz says the same transparency that helps regulators and investors understand what businesses are doing financially could help...

Most workers in the US say they are feeling angry, anxious, and disengaged from their jobs. Why is that, and what can be done? In this episode, we hear from one of the world’s leading researchers on motivation, Chicago Booth’s Ayelet Fishbach, who calls this “a crisis of motivation” whose roots lie in how we work, and how we think about work. The motivation crisis has consequences for both employees and employers. So how can we get ourselves and our teams excited about work again?

Some people say that you don’t help the poor by giving them money, but by giving them opportunities to earn money. This is behind the periodic campaigns to limit welfare benefits in order to encourage work. But is a handout necessarily different from a hand-up? In this episode of the Chicago Booth Review podcast, Chicago Booth’s John Paul Rollert reflects on how we think about helping the poor and charitable giving. https://www.chicagobooth.edu/review/whats-matter-handouts

Would you speak up at work if one colleague said something that unintentionally discriminated against another? And if you did, what would you actually say, and when and how would you say it? In this episode, we continue our Business Practice miniseries, where we ask people to script what they would say in a challenging workplace scenario. Chicago Booth behavioral science professor George Wu analyzes the results.

The movie “Gone with the Wind” depicts a genteel, harmonious world torn apart as the old way of life comes to an end. Behind that gentility was the inhumanity of slavery, whose end transformed the economy of the American South. Morally, that was a good thing, but, contrary to the depiction in the movie, was it also positive for the economy? In this episode, we talk to Chicago Booth’s Rick Hornbeck, whose research with Trevon Logan, a professor of economics at The Ohio State University,...

Inflation in the US has proved remarkably stubborn. The most recent figures show it fell less than expected in January, to 3.1 percent, well above the Federal Reserve’s target rate of 2 percent. In response, the futures markets slashed their expectations that the Fed will lower interest rates any time soon from its current level of 5.25-5.5 percent. The labor market is still relatively tight, and consumers keep spending. Many observers think a recession is increasingly unlikely, but a soft...

We are used to paying different prices for airline tickets, Uber rides, and hotel rooms, but can you imagine a time when all sorts of retailers use data to tailor their marketing and pricing for each individual customer? Does fairness require prices to be equal for everyone, or do certain groups and individuals deserve discounts? In this episode, Chicago Booth’s Jean-Pierre Dubé and EngineBI’s Jon Morris discuss the ethics and practicalities of personalizing pricing.

More than 90 percent of business leaders say their organizations use AI to help manage people, money, or both. But how many companies are using AI to develop strategy? In this episode of the Chicago Booth Review podcast, Chicago Booth’s Greg Bunch discusses how founders and companies could be making better use of AI to develop, test and operationalize their strategies.

How would you tell one of your direct reports that their work isn’t good enough? Especially if that person seems blissfully unaware that they are underperforming? In this episode of the Chicago Booth Review podcast, we’re launching a new podcast miniseries, the audio version of our popular Business Practice column, where we asked people to script what they would say in a challenging workplace scenario, and Chicago Booth behavioral science professor George Wu analyzes the responses.

Many of us have seen bullying behavior at work. And though we might not like to admit it, many of us have failed to do anything about it. That can reflect the difficult trade-offs that come with calling out bullying: subjecting ourselves and others to scrutiny, completely changing the dynamic between colleagues, and potentially damaging your own career. In this episode, Chicago Booth’s John Paul Rollert reflects on “the precarious relationship between ethics and expediency” when it comes to...

In recent years, there’s been a strong push to elevate the use of data in public decision-making by using evidence-based policymaking. Not everyone is enamored of the idea. In a 2019 essay for Chicago Booth Review, Lars Peter Hansen, of Chicago Booth and the University of Chicago, said the notion of evidence-based policymaking was “a misleading portrayal of academic discourse and the advancement of understanding.” In this episode, Hansen and his Chicago Booth and University of Chicago...

What’s so scary about uncertainty and ambiguity? Could it be that they’re unnerving because they threaten to upend our understanding of the world? And might letting go of your assumptions help you to navigate through uncertain times? In this episode of the Chicago Booth Review podcast, Chicago Booth’s Linda Ginzel offers her insights and advice on these critical topics for leaders.

Imagine trying to land a jet on the deck of an aircraft carrier in the middle of a raging storm. That’s how Chicago Booth’s Raghuram Rajan describes the main task this year for the US Federal Reserve as it attempts a soft landing for the US economy. Is it doable? This episode of the Chicago Booth Review podcast features the second of our two conversations with Rajan about his recent book, Monetary Policy and Its Unintended Consequences.

How long do you stick to your New Year’s resolutions? Why is it so hard to keep them going? How can you make 2024 that exceptional year when you actually keep your New Year’s resolutions? In this episode, we get advice from Chicago Booth’s Ayelet Fishbach, a professor of behavioral science, and author of the book, Get it Done: Surprising Lessons from the Science of Motivation.

Streaming services love a good tech startup business story, preferably one featuring a quirky CEO devoid of self-awareness, with an oversized ego and grandiose sense of ambition and purpose, and one finger always resting on the self-destruct button. Hence Super Pumped, the story of Travis Kalanick and Uber, The Dropout, about Elizabeth Holmes and Theranos, and WeCrashed, the tale of Adam Neumann and WeWork. In this episode of the Chicago Booth Review podcast, Chicago Booth’s John Paul Rollert...

In response to the COVID pandemic, the normally sober US Federal Reserve cut interest rates, issued forward guidance, resumed quantitative easing, and lent trillions of dollars to Wall St, Main St, states and cities. So is the Fed to blame for causing the inflation of recent years? In this episode of the Chicago Booth Review podcast, Chicago Booth’s Raghuram Rajan, former Governor of the Reserve Bank of India, discusses the Fed’s role in the US economy and analyzes its response to the pandemic.

*This episode was originally released with the incorrect audio. We’ve now updated it with the correct audio.* COVID 19, the rise of AI, and climate change have made the world more unpredictable. So how should we respond to a VUCA world – one characterized by volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity? In this episode of the Chicago Booth Review, Hal Weitzman talks to Chicago Booth’s Greg Bunch about how to take advantage of the opportunities VUCA offers.

Are you good at identifying the core essence of things? Clearing your head, rising above the day-to-day, and abstracting things to their critical elements could make you a better leader. In this episode of the Chicago Booth Review Podcast, Chicago Booth’s Linda E. Ginzel, a leadership expert and the author of the book Choosing Leadership, reads her essay “To Lead Effectively, Find Your Core Essence.”

What makes successful entrepreneurs different from the rest of us? Are they more risk-seeking? Do they have better ideas? Or are they just lucky? How do you know if it’s the right time to take the leap into starting a business? What does it really take to launch your own venture? In this episode, we bring you a conversation between three experts on entrepreneurship: Chicago Booth’s Lindsey Lyman, Sean Bisceglia, former CEO of Curion and operating partner at Sterling Partners, and Liz Tilatti,...