774 episodes
Odd Lots Bloomberg
-
- Business
-
-
4.5 • 1.3K Ratings
-
Bloomberg's Joe Weisenthal and Tracy Alloway explore the most interesting topics in finance, markets and economics. Join the conversation every Monday and Thursday.
-
Josh Wolfe: The ChatGPT of Robotics is Coming
Over the last year or so, probably every venture capitalist has become interested in artificial intelligence. So people are still figuring out what types of business models actually work, and who will end up making money in the space. Josh Wolfe has been at it for a long time. As a co-founder and managing partner at Lux Capital, he's been involved in a number of deals in the space, and is already looking at what's next after the wave of excitement for chatbots since ChatGPT was released. On this episode, we talk to Josh about what he's excited about right now, including robotics, biotech, and maintenance. He tells us that just as ChatGPT opened everyone's eyes to the power of chatbots, a similar moment is coming in the robotics space.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. -
Richmond Fed President Tom Barkin On Getting Inflation Under Control
At the end of 2023, there was a lot of optimism that the US economy was on that glide path to a soft landing. But at least in the first quarter of this year, inflation has come in hotter than expected. So is this just a speedbump on the way back down to 2%? Or is this a new trajectory for inflation that will make the Federal Reserve rethink its existing approach? On this bonus episode of Odd Lots, we caught up with Richmond Fed President Tom Barkin in Mount Airy, North Carolina, to get his assessment of the latest data, and what it means for policy. He explains why he thinks policy is still restrictive, and why he doesn’t see evidence yet of overheating demand.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. -
What AMLO's Legacy Means For Mexico's Upcoming Election
On June 2, 2024, Mexicans will go to the polls to elect a successor to current President Andrés Manuel López Obrador. His chosen successor, former Mexico City Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum, is the odds-on favorite. But what is AMLO’s legacy exactly? In some sense, economic growth under his administration has been robust. On the other hand, there’s been very little progress on domestic security. He also leaves a legacy of massive spending routed through the military, whose fruits are still undetermined. On this episode, we speak with Bloomberg News reporter Andrea Navarro, who has dug deep into how AMLO has conducted economic policy, his approach to industrial and fiscal policy, and whether Mexico is now in a position to ride the ongoing wave of trade with the US and the nearshoring of international supply chains.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. -
How The American Workforce Got Hooked on Adderall
Over the last few years, users of the popular ADHD drug Adderall have been frustrated by regular shortages in getting their prescriptions filled. Various regulatory and supply chain factors have contributed to the inability of producers to keep up with demand. But this raises the question: why is there so much demand in the first place? How did a significant chunk of the labor force -- from tech workers to Wall Streeters -- begin using the drug as an aid for their work and everyday lives? On this episode of the podcast, we speak with Danielle Carr, an assistant professor at the Institute for Society and Genetics at UCLA, who studies the history of politics of neuroscience and psychology. We discuss the history of this medicine and related medicines, what it does for the people who take it, and how market forces opened the drug up to almost anyone.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. -
How Electric Utilities Will Handle Booming AI Datacenter Demand
For years and years, utilities in the US haven't seen much growth in electricity demand. The economy is generally mature and has been able to grow even without needing much more electrical power. But all that's changing now and a big contributing factor is the boom in datacenter demand. It's particularly acute for AI datacenters, which need more power than traditional datacenters, and are growing like crazy ever since ChatGPT brought generative AI to everyone's collective consciousness. So how will utilities handle the sudden surge in load growth? On this episode, we speak with Brian Janous, co-founder and chief strategy officer at Cloverleaf Infrastructure. Brian spent 12 years at Microsoft, where he was the company's first ever energy-focused hire, so he has seen the rise of datacenter electricity consumption first hand, and how AI is kicking it up even further. He now works alongside utilities to figure out how they'll meet this growing demand. We talk about how there's likely to be more gas plants being built, how datacenters and utilities can get more energy out of existing infrastructure, the politics of AI datacenters, and what this all means for the net-zero commitments of major tech companies.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. -
Introducing Money Stuff: The Podcast
The audio companion to Bloomberg Opinion’s beloved Money Stuff column hosted by its author Matt Levine, “whose deadpan style mixes technical elucidation and wit” (NY Times). Once a week, Matt and his friend, Bloomberg News reporter and TV host, Katie Greifeld talk about Wall Street, finance and…other stuff. New episodes every Friday.
Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Customer Reviews
i have the perfect podcast for ya
but seriously much better than it has any right to be. you may not think economic pilpul is your bag baby but these kooks are fascinating a nd somehow evdn fun
Adderall/ADHD Episode
This one really went off the rails. Finding another guest who does preface unchallenged fringe ideas about adhd diagnosis, adderall, and psychiatry with “adderall and adhd diagnosis are not my realm of expertise” would give listeners a clearer picture of these subjects!
Prof Carr claiming the validity of ADHD as a psychiatric diagnosis is “quite contested” (by whom?) and that ADHD is “not a robust disease entity at all” hinges on the idea that psychiatric illness as a concept is illegitimate. The DSM-5 and Prof Carr’s preferred ICD-11 are clear that ADHD is legitimate in so far as psychiatry and medicine are legitimate.
Using the lack of “neurobiological basis” to discredit any illness (as Prof Carr points out, there is no “blood test” for any psychiatric illness) gives license to people in positions of power to question things like workplace accommodations and to suggest as Joe and Tracy did that people prescribed these medications are unfairly advantaged. Longstanding disparities in health, social, and economic outcomes faced by people all over the world (yes, even outside the US) living with ADHD refute this idea.
A clear relationship between standard ADHD treatments and “punding” or other neuro/cardiotoxic side effects does not exist, and theoretical risks can be managed with low-cost monitoring (yearly blood pressure checks, side effect check-ins, etc). Caffeine is also a dopaminergic and sympathomimetic drug, and long-term moderate/heavy use among otherwise physically healthy people is not associated with negative neurologic or cardiac outcomes. It’s very possible the same is true for the doses of stimulant prescribed for ADHD.
Prof Carr mentions risk of amphetamines potentiating addictive behaviors, but substantial evidence people diagnosed with ADHD face elevated risk of substance use disorders at baseline muddies any causal relationship between stimulant use and internet addiction. Sharing literature showing increased risk of internet addiction among people taking stimulants to treat their ADHD vs people diagnosed with ADHD who are not on medication would be a start here.
Prof Carr suggests it is a “clinically documented fact” that stimulant effectiveness is not different between people who have ADHD and those who do not. People without ADHD may find themselves more motivated and focused on stimulants, this should surprise no one. This point of these medications is to help people who are (as determined by clinicians through assessment strategies not mentioned in the podcast that amount to much more than “vibes”) suffering severely from an inability to maintain focus/motivation.
Preventing/treating psychiatric illnesses writ large obviously relies on structural social changes outside of the clinic. However, evidence is very clear that stimulant medications can dramatically improve quality of life with low risk for intolerable short or long term side effects for people living with ADHD. This episode makes the work of tempering longstanding stigmatization people with ADHD and their healthcare providers face all the more challenging.
Perfect hosts
They like to say they “have the perfect guest”, and the secret of the show is that they so often do. The interviews are so insightful, interesting, and varied. I listen to several other interview podcasts, and this is the one that almost never disappoints. I rarely miss an episode, and highly recommend it.