Chicago Booth Review Podcast

Sometimes information is freely available and would be useful, but we choose to avoid it. Why do we do that, and does it make any sense? Chicago Booth's Jane Risen talks about her research on willful ignorance. As small children most of us are permanently curious and never stop asking why, but older children are more likely to avoid certain information. Why is that, and is our ignorance helping or harming us?

Vulnerability is typically perceived as a weakness in professional settings. Chicago Booth's Christine Carpenter wants us to think of it as a strength when it comes to leadership. So when is it appropriate to be vulnerable? And how can you show vulnerability without coming across as out of your depth or incompetent?

Software as a Service has boomed in recent decades, but now it faces an existential threat from AI. Chicago Booth's Marc Knez gives us his take on the SaaS Apocalypse. Which companies will survive? Are businesses really going to stop subscribing to software applications housed in the cloud to run their businesses, and what will they do instead?

The value of the US economy is increasingly accounted for by intangibles – things like intellectual property, brands and customer relationships. How is that changing finance and business? Chicago Booth's Amir Sufi talks to us about the rise of the intangible economy. Should advance economies abandon the idea of reviving manufacturing, and instead continue to chase intangible value?

Many US cities are highly racially segregated. Explicit segregation is illegal today, but some patterns of settlement haven't fundamentally changed. So why does housing segregation persist? Chicago Booth's Milena Almagro tells us about her research on racial housing covenants. What do the racist housing rules of the 1940s tell us about housing policy today?

Much of the world's economy is informal, with transactions taking place in street markets. How does business credit operate in that environment? Chicago Booth's Rimmy Tomy talks about her research on the huge Iewduh bazaar in Shillong, the largest and oldest market in northeast India. Tomy finds that vendors often prefer not to share business metrics with lenders. So how do they get credit?

Do you ever find yourself scrolling through videos on your phone? If so, does watching the same video on repeat change the way you think about it? Chicago Booth's Kristin Donnelly talks about her research on the "replay illusion." Why does seeing video of spontaneous events more than once make them seem rehearsed or premeditated?

College-educated mothers spend about 300 more hours a year in intensive childcare than mothers with only a high school diploma, yet they enjoy it less. So what's prompting them to spend so much time with their kids? Ariel Kalil of the University of Chicago's Harris School of Public Policy talks about her research on the parenting time gap. All parents say that childcare is emotionally rewarding, so how can we reduce the gap in how they spend their time?

Do you trust your bank? What would it take for you to lose that trust? Chicago Booth's Rimmy Tomy talks about her research on trust in the financial system. It turns out that you might lose trust in your bank even if it hasn't done anything wrong. So how should banks, regulators and customers think about the role of trust?

Private credit is in the news, with Wall St. titans including JP Morgan chief Jamie Dimon and Goldman Sachs president John Waldron among those expressing concerns about the sector. How worried should we be? Chicago Booth's Amir Sufi about his views on where private credit is going. Many investors want their money back, and some funds are limiting withdrawals. Are the worries justified or overblown?

We've all been in a conversation in which our goal is to prove ourselves right and someone else wrong. But even if you win the argument, how much is the other person really won over? Chicago Booth's Jane Risen about her research on dialogue and debate. When does it make sense to hear people out rather than explicitly try to win them over, and if you find yourself in a debate, how can you steer the conversation more towards dialogue?

How can we have deeper conversations, connect more with others and ultimately, be happier? This is the second episode about the book "A Little More Social: How Small Choices Create Unexpected Happiness, Health, and Connection" by Chicago Booth's Nick Epley. What can we do to be more social, and what effects could it have on our happiness, wellbeing and perhaps, on society at large?

Trust in American institutions is at an all-time low. But nowhere has trust eroded more than in political institutions. Sixty years ago, 75 percent of Americans trusted the government to do what is right. Today, it's just 20 percent. What happened? Chicago Booth's Sam Peltzman discusses his research on American attitudes towards government. When did we lose faith in our political leaders, and which parts of the population are driving the decline?

Do you ever find yourself on a crowded train, surrounded by people all looking at their phones? What do you think would happen if you tried to strike up a conversation with the person next to you? Chicago Booth's Nick Epley tells us about his book, "A Little More Social: How Small Choices Create Unexpected Happiness, Health, and Connection." This is the first of two podcast episodes about the book. Epley says if we chose to have that conversation, it'd be more pleasant than we expect. So why do we set up our lives to avoid talking to others?

Most of want to be seen as moral, likeable and smart. But beyond that, how does our identity share the way we interact with, manage and lead others? Chicago Booth's Chris Collins tells us about his approach to identity and leadership. What is that connection, why does it sometimes hold us back, and how can we use it to improve our work?

The Marshmallow Test famously gauges children's ability to wait for a bigger reward. A body of research suggests that the happier we are, the more likely we are to be patient. But many of those studies were undertaken in the US and Europe. So how universal is that conclusion? Chicago Booth's Oleg Urminsky, whose research examines the connection between emotions and economic decisions around the world.

Have you ever pushed so hard to make a change in your organization that you ended up damaging your own ability to make that very change? Chicago Booth's Lisa Stefanac tells us how to think about effecting change. How hard should you push, and when can you know if you've gone too far?

You can earn a fortune in private equity. But how do you get started in the PE world? Chicago Booth's Scott Meadow explains how to plan for a lucrative career as a PE professional.

Most of us have been trained to keep our emotions out of the workplace. We think emotions can cloud decision-making, lead to irrational behavior, and make others uncomfortable. But can getting in touch with your emotions actually make you a better leader? Chicago Booth's Chris Collins tells us how treating your emotions as data can help you to manage people and situations better.

Parent companies of supermarket chains often delegate the authority to set prices down to the local level. Is that a good idea, and what does it mean for shoppers? Chicago Booth's Pradeep Chintagunta about his research on organizational structure and retail prices.

Do consumers care about corporate social responsibility? And what kind of CSR do consumers think companies should be doing? Chicago Booth's Abigail Sussman talks about her research on corporate social responsibility. What kinds of actions can companies take to make consumers more willing to spend money with them?

When things get challenging at work, how you change your behavior? Does the stress show, or do you remain cool, focused and productive? Chicago Booth's Lisa Stefanac tells us how to handle high-stakes situations.

When you search the internet or use AI, do you want it to agree with you, or are you open to having your mind changed? Chicago Booth's Oleg Urminsky tells us about his research, which suggests that we often search in a narrow way that ends up giving us results that confirm our views. Should search engines instead aim to open us up to opposing opinions?

Is our increasing obsession with numerical data a bad thing? Chicago Booth's Erika Kirgios and her coauthors came up with the term "quantification fixation" to describe how we tend to overweight numbers compared to qualitative evidence. What are the risks to that tendency? And how can you use quantification fixation to your advantage?

Doom-scrolling, social media cat videos and Youtube rabbit holes – you might well think that technology is more mind-numbing than mind-boosting. But could tech actually make us smarter? Chicago Booth's Pradeep Chintagunta tells us about his research on the effect of technology on small business owners. Could using apps help us to think in new ways and make better decisions?

Do you have both a credit-card balance and a savings account? Would you use your savings to pay down your credit-card balance if it would save you money on fees? Chicago Booth's Abigail Sussman talks about her research that suggests that about one in five people holds a credit-card balance and a savings account, which effectively means they are paying to borrow their own money. What would it take to change their behavior?

Getting into the venture-capital industry is hard. So how can you plan to break in if you don't have the relevant experience? Chicago Booth's Scott Meadow shares his advice for becoming a venture capitalist.

The stereotypical good negotiator is tough, assertive and dominant. When we think of those traits, we may well think of certain stereotypical kind of people who we think fit with that—and who doesn't fit. So how do people respond differently depending on who they think they're negotiating with? Chicago Booth's Erika Kirgios tells us about her research on stereotypes and negotiation in the used-car market. 

In recent decades, US pension and endowment funds have increasingly allocated funds to alternative investments such as private equity and venture capital. Will those investments pay off? Chicago Booth's Joe Pagliari tells us about his research on real-estate private-equity funds, and explains his concerns that they may not generate the returns that they expected to earn.

The US supermarket business is cut-throat, but amid it all Trader Joe's has been able to carve a distinct role. Chicago Booth's Ram Shivakumar explains how it has thrived, and what it tells us about business strategy in a highly competitive market.

Schools are trying to restrict or at least identify the use of AI, and colleges are attempting to catch students who cut and paste generated text to use in their assignments. How effective are the tools they're using? Chicago Booth's Brian Jabarian about his research on AI detection tools. Jabarian points out that it's not just education that's affected, but also the reviews that drive consumer purchases. So can online tools help you detect if that restaurant review was written by ChatGPT?

New York, LA, Chicago, Boston and other big US cities have traditionally been a good bet for real-estate investors. But that view is changing. Chicago Booth's Joe Pagliari explains why those traditional markets are riskier investments, and why more and more real-estate investors are looking at cities such as Atlanta, Dallas, Denver and Houston.

For the 30 years leading up to the COVID pandemic, productivity in US restaurants was essentially flat. Since the pandemic, restaurant productivity has soared—because of the rise of take-out and delivery. Chicago Booth's Chad Syverson about his research into the restaurant productivity boom. How has take-out and delivery transformed the economics of the food industry?

Critics of social welfare programs often talk about how payments can disincentivize work. But is that always the case? Chicago Booth's Rebecca Dizon Ross talks about her research on how parents of disabled children think about the social safety net and investing in their kids' human capital. Could giving them better information help shape their thinking and behavior?

It's a cliché for organizations to say that their people are their most important asset, but how important is the person at the top? Can we measure the impact of a CEO or a manager? Chicago Booth's Mike Gibbs gives us a survey of economic research on leadership and management. How much of a difference does a good leader make? And why do "manager-types" so often struggle when they get promoted to leadership roles?

Economics is all around us. At least, that's what Chicago Booth's Ram Shivakumar believes, and he's on a mission to demonstrate that economics is not about numbers or theoretical models, but is at play in many everyday decisions, like whether to order a pizza, where to buy it from and what toppings to get. If economics isn't about numbers, what is it about?

A warmer world is here. Now what? Listen to Shocked, from the University of Chicago's Institute for Climate and Sustainable Growth, and hear journalist Amy Harder and economist Michael Greenstone share new ways of thinking about climate change and cutting-edge solutions: https://lnk.to/shockedpodcast!boothreview

In the west, we are more likely to choose our friends and dropping them is relatively easily done. In other cultures, people tend to stick with the same social network for their whole lives. But does the ability to choose and to drop your friends make you happier? Chicago Booth's Thomas Talhelm tells us about his research on social circles and happiness. Why do friendships endure more in Japan than in the US? Who's happier? And how important is happiness anyway?

Most companies talks about the importance of innovation and collaboration, but the connection tends to be more of a hunch than a demonstrable fact. So can we measure whether collaboration really produces better ideas? Chicago Booth's Mike Gibbs talks about his research on social networks and innovation. Does having a bigger network make you more likely to come up with new and better ideas? And how has remote work affected networking and innovation?

Would you work if you weren't being paid for it? Social media is full of people criticizing companies for exploiting interns and prospective hires by underpaying or not paying them. Is that a universal feeling, or does it reflect western values and attitudes that aren't replicated elsewhere in the world? Chicago Booth's Thomas Talhelm talks about his research on what motivates people around the world to work.

The median home price in the US in 1970 was approximately $23,400, less than 2.5 times the median family income at the time of about $9,870. By last year, the median home price was more than $400,000, about 5 times the median family income of about $80,000. No surprise that people are warning about a housing affordability crisis. To what extent is that driven by the increasing cost of building homes? Chicago Booth's Chad Syverson talks about his research on the weak link between building costs and home prices. What's really behind the price increases in residential real estate?

Have you had an AI job interview? Would you prefer to be interviewed by AI than by a human? And how would you expect AI interviewers to perform compared to their human counterparts? Chicago Booth's Brian Jabarian talks about his research on AI interviews. Will they make human-to-human job interviews a thing of the past?

One way health policymakers can get people to exercise more is to pay them. But should we pay greater amounts to people who exercise more, and smaller sums to those who do less? Rebecca Dizon Ross tells us about her research on personalizing incentive payments to try to encourage exercise. Does getting people to choose their own exercise targets and financial compensation encourage them to walk more?

AI is untrustworthy. It hallucinates, making up information or extrapolating by itself. That might make it frustrating to use, but could it prove more of a feature than a bug? Chicago Booth's Veronika Ročková uses statistical methods that exploit the randomness in AI responses to improve medical diagnoses, and even to classify galaxies more efficiently.

Technology is typically thought of as driving humans apart. But could it be used to promote a sense of empathy with others? Chicago Booth's Alex Imas tells us about an experiment he ran using an immersive virtual-reality installation. Virtual reality, Imas reckons, could be used to help us relate to other people in real life.

We typically think of self-awareness as being a good thing. But if someone behaves badly and is aware that they're behaving badly, is that worse than if they're blissfully unaware? Chicago Booth's Shereen Chaudhry has conducted research into the effects of self-awareness. When should we express self-awareness, and when should we convey that we weren't as self-aware as we should have been?

Almost all companies borrow money – some of secured by assets they own, other debts unsecured. But is that distinction meaningful in the real world? Chicago Booth's Raghuram Rajan talks about his research into corporate debt. In the past century, the amount of unsecured debt has soared. What's the significance of that, and is it really unsecured?

What do startup founders need to do to get venture capitalists to invest? Do VCs invest in the right team, or the right idea? Do they invest where they can add value, or do they try to pick new businesses that are going to be winners from the start? Chicago Booth's Steve Kaplan has surveyed venture capitalists to find out what they look for in startups, and he has a framework he uses to advise both founders and funders on how to pick winning companies.

When students are asked if they use AI to do their work, many say they don't. But when they're asked if other students re using AI, many more say that they do. Should we conclude that they're not being honest about their own AI use? Chicago Booth's Alex Imas has conducted research on students and AI. Why is using AI such a taboo? And how should schools and colleges respond to its inevitable creep?

It's hard to say sorry, and it can be even harder to say sorry without following it up with whatever the other person did wrong. Why are apologies so hard? Chicago Booth's Shereen Chaudhry has conducted research into the strategy of apologizing and blaming. Why do we care so much about others accepting their share of the blame? And when we know that we've done wrong, what's holding us back from apologizing?