The Arby's Test: Why America Feels Divided But Isn't (Quite)

If you want to figure out someone votes Republican or Democrat, one of the best questions you can ask is: Do you eat at Arby's?Many of us feel as if America is fracturing - liberals and conservatives living in completely different worlds. But economist Emir Kamenica's research reveals something counterintuitive: we're not actually drifting apart culturally.We may feel divided and often, we are - but not in the ways we think.This episode covers:Why Arby's predicts votingBaby names: Kurt vs. LiamGrey Poupon, iPhones, and consumer markers of identityIncome inequality is up, but cultural distance between rich and poor is stableCan we rebuild? Reasons for hopeAbout Professor Emir Kamenica: Emir Kamenica is the Douglas G. Baird Distinguished Service Professor of Economics at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. His research with Marianne Bertrand on cultural distance and political polarization uses decades of consumer behavior data to measure how American culture has - and hasn't - fractured along political lines.Find us: analoginadigitalworld.net | @analoginadigitalworld (IG)