Few things inspire as much passion as how the government raises its money, and this was as true for our ancestors as it is today. The hosts talk about the history of tax rebellions with Joel Slemrod on what lessons we have to learn from the social and political history of rulers who had to design tax systems, the subject of Professor Slemrod's co-authored book with Michael Keen on Rebellion, Rascals, and Revenue.

Case Mulligan was Chief Economist in the Council of Economic Advisers during the Trump Administration. He joins the hosts to discuss his experiences and observations documented in his book, You're Hired: Untold Successes and Failures of a Populist...

The hosts talk with David Skarbek, Associate Professor of Political Science at Brown University, about his new book The Puzzle of Prison Order: Why Life Behind Bars Varies Around the World.  Skarbek investigates life in a wide array of prisons—in...

2020 was so wild that it was easy to overlook the news that the US military is taking the possibility of our being visited by advanced extraterrestrials very seriously.  Simultaneously, a prominent Harvard astrophysicist has released a new book arguing...

Now that vaccinations are on the way, what is the best way to distribute them?

Kevin Brown, the Richard S. Melvin Professor of Law at Indiana University, speaks with the hosts about the history of using election law to suppress voter turnout among racial minorities. 

The hosts meet with Distinguished Professor George Krause to better understand exactly what "The Deep State" is that has animated so much political attention and what scholars know about it.ResourcesDavid Lee's SPSA Presidential Address "Deconstructing...

In this episode the hosts discuss personal strategies for enjoying, or at least finding less painful, the 2020 election. 

2020 has been a year like no other. What movies capture the themes of 2020? Hosts Coady Wing, Denvil Duncan, and Justin Ross each discuss some of their choices on favorite movies that, with hindsight, inform the trials and tribulations of 2020. 

It is August 2020 and time to send children back to school. Or is it? The hosts, each with school age children, discuss their respective thinking processes and considerations as to whether to return their kids to school. 

The hosts discuss whether scholars should pursue activism. Is it good for their work? Is it good for the public's trust? 

In public policy, scholars like to measure “welfare losses” and that is what we teach to students. Welfare losses are deeply rooted in trying to measure ways in which events or policies distort peoples preferences. But what if people's behaviors...

The pandemic seems to have brought forth an array of conspiracy theories. Jennifer Silva, author of We're Still Here: Pain and Politics in the Heart of America, join the hosts to discuss how the different social sciences have investigated conspiracy...

In this episode we discuss Germany’s Novel-Corona virus experience with Andreas Peichl. Andreas is the Director of the Ifo Center for Macroeconomics and Surveys & a Professor of Macroeconomics and Public Finance at the University of Munich. He has...

Some are saying the COVID-19 recession will be as bad as the Great Depression, others are predicting a quick rebound. What should we expect and why would reasonable people come to such different predictions? 

Liberal societies are characterized by reliance on self-governance, heightened barriers to violating individual rights, voluntary compliance with law, and competing centers of political power. Government responses to pandemics stress these values in an...

What do recessions do to people? What do people do during recessions? Discussing what we've learned from history and discussing how the COVID-19 pandemic recession may be different from our previous experiences.

Indiana University Professors Denvil Duncan and Coady Wing (Paul H. O’Neill School of Public & Environmental Affairs) discuss Federal policy proposals targeting the economic fallout caused by the Novel Coronavirus. How has the pandemic affected the...

Economics professors Denvil Duncan, Justin Ross, and Coady Wing of Indiana University's Paul H. O’Neill School of Public & Environmental Affairs weigh in on the controversy of states bidding against each other for the suddenly scarce medical...

Lunchtime Social Science hosts preview the podcast.