PODCAST · government
The Boiling Frog
by Seth Rosenblatt and Mark Olbert
Reflections on the intersection of economics, history, politics, psychology, and science
Episodes
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Jumping the Line
This podcast is about the psychology and economics around always trying to get ahead – to “beat the system.” It seems pretty obvious that so many of us want to get ahead, but there are many issues about how we think we *can* beat the system and the many reasons why we think we *should* beat the...
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Gasleaping
Ever wonder why the Trump administration keeps repeating debunked claims? Or why it regularly denies objective evidence, and encourages everyone else to do the same? Welcome to the wonderful world of gaslighting! Tune in to the latest from your favorite amphibians to learn more!
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Ribbiting Disparities
This podcast explores the notion of income inequality. Although it’s an oft-discussed subject, it’s not always defined well or only discussed in the narrow band of the moral arguments against it. This discussion is meant to go deeper, including examining both the positive and negative aspects of...
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Frognosis
This episode examines the political debates around public health and public health policy. It is a perfect case study to illustrate so many of the principles covered in earlier podcasts, such as capitalism, externalities, risk, paranoia, and the dumbing down of America.
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Trade Wart
Welcome to The Boiling Frog reboot! The first 26 episodes were examinations of general topics, such as understanding capitalism, how social psychology belies the principles of capitalism, and how this all shapes political dialog. The new podcasts will look at specific policies of the new...
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Jimmy Hoppa
This podcast is all about labor unions – why they exist, their history in the U.S., a brief comparison with unions in other countries, the pros and cons of unions, and the larger political implications of their existence. This is a controversial topic in U.S. politics, with many voters (and most...
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Jump for Joy
Building off the prior podcast on learning from the past, this discussion is all about success and failure. We all know the common wisdom that we all learn more from failure than from success, but of course we don’t strive to fail all of the time!
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The Toad Not Taken
We all spend a lot of time thinking about the past, often when we're trying to make a decision in the present. Sometimes that reflection ends up complicating our decision-making. Why is that? And if we want to avoid repeating past mistakes while also not preventing ourselves from taking new…
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Polliwog Polymath
What makes someone an expert? And how is expertise different from intelligence? This podcast is all about expertise, how we acquire it, how do people view others’ expertise, and the notion of expertise transference from one domain to another. We touch on a number of psychological phenomena,...
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It’s Not Easy Paying Green
This podcast is the sequel to Greenbacks, where we discussed why we have taxes, the different types of taxes, and the pros and cons of each type. In this podcast, we delve into the evolution of the tax system and look at the debates surrounding the level of tax rates, specifically some of the…
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Greenbacks
“In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.” Benjamin Franklin This podcast is the first in a two-part series on taxes. This episode is meant to be an overview of why we have taxes, the landscape of both taxing agencies and taxable agencies, as well as the different...
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Hops and Dreams
For the tenth episode, your favorite pond dwellers decided to take a break from the normal, big-picture, topic-based discussions and instead shared their personal pet peeves, including both important as well as some silly issues. This twentieth episode is also a diversion from the normal format,...
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Toad to the White House
This episode is a deep dive into the foundational requirement of a democracy – having elections and voting. Despite the founding (and often touted) principles of American democracy, it is shockingly inconsistent how we implement it. All U.S. citizens do not have an equal voice, the result of...
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Waste, Frog and Abuse
It’s a fairly common trope – and often an overused campaign line – that government is “wasteful.” But what does it mean to be “wasteful” (or “efficient” for that matter), and is it true that governments aren’t good stewards of our money? As you can imagine, the answer isn’t as straightforward as…
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Leap of Faith
The intersection of religion and politics, particularly in the U.S., has presented a series of issues and challenges. Starting with a very brief overview of the origin and history of religion, and how it has impacted human societies, we then dive into how religion and politics interact in the…
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Frogs and Prayers
In our current political climate, it seems like both policymakers and ordinary citizens are prone to use a label for something that sounds intelligent or interesting on the surface, but often masks a lack of substance or critical thinking. This matters more than you might think! If you'd like to...
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A Frog by Any Other Name
It seems like every public facility – whether it be a building, bridge, airport, school, or park – is named after someone. Naming public things is so common, so accepted as a practice, that we don’t even think about why we do it, let alone debate whether we should or how we should do it. But is…
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Croak and Dagger
This podcast focuses on paranoia, particularly its delusional form – why it exists, why it seems to be becoming a more common affliction, the dangers it poses, and what we can do about it. Paranoia is thinking and feeling like you are being threatened in some way, but delusional paranoia is when...
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I Croak Therefore I Am
In 2011, then presidential candidate Mitt Romney famously remarked “corporations are people, my friend” when confronted by hecklers at the Iowa State Fair. He was mocked and derided in many circles for this comment, which seemed to represent a politician blinded by his own corporate experience…
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Warts and All
While serving as locally elected officials, we’d hear all the time from residents asking us why government didn’t act more like a business. After all, isn’t it capitalism that made this country great, so why doesn’t government operate in the same way? This podcast explores why most of us wouldn't...
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Brain Frog
It feels like America has gotten dumber over the last few decades. Is that indeed true, and if so, why? As that is a bit vague and pejorative, the podcast looks at more specific issues, including ignorance, intellectual stubbornness, and lack of critical thinking.
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Toad You So
For this tenth episode, Seth and Mark decided to have a little fun and stray from the modus operandi of the first nine episodes of The Boiling Frog. Just for fun, our hosts make this episode a series of diatribes, fulfilling the expectations of Seth’s wife who, when first told about our idea for…
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Froggy Skies
Risk is a concept not well understood by many people, particularly in a financial context. In this podcast we explore what it means in depth, why it is often a balancing factor for rewards, and how a better understanding of risk and reward can lead to better community outcomes.
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Toadtalitarian
A follow up from The Changing Lily Pad, this podcast explores why corruption exists, where it comes from and why it appears that there is more corruption in people and organizations that are conservative.
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Toad Rage
“Wokeness” and “Cancel Culture” are popular terms in our modern political and social parlance, but what do they actually mean? How should we think about the concept of “canceling” – is it behavior gone too far, or is it just about accountability?
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Jumping to Conclusions
How Hindsight Bias is not just an academic concept, but rather a critical flaw in human’s ability to think critically and avoid logical fallacies, particularly in issues of crime and gun rights.
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The Amphibian's Dilemma
How a very simple concept in game theory – the Prisoner’s Dilemma – is omnipresent in our economic lives and in almost all social interactions, and the tension between individual incentives and societal good.
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Lord of the Frogs
A discussion of the role of the local elected representative, the nature of political leadership particularly in a group setting, the traps that electeds fall into, and what we have learned from being local officials.
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Makes Me Unhoppy
How understanding externalities is critical for both economics and public policy, but also how the claim of harm is often without merit but used as an argument against change, to protect one’s self-interest, or otherwise for political purposes.
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The Changing Lily Pad
Understanding the conflict between progressivism vs. conservatism, particularly in the context of local communities…and the case that change is both inevitable and desirable. For more information, please visit our website at https://www.theboilingfrog.net.
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Laissez Frog
How social psychology requires us to reframe how we view market capitalism, what makes it successful and the government's role in maximizing its potential.
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
Reflections on the intersection of economics, history, politics, psychology, and science
HOSTED BY
Seth Rosenblatt and Mark Olbert
CATEGORIES
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does The Boiling Frog have?
The Boiling Frog currently has 31 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is The Boiling Frog about?
Reflections on the intersection of economics, history, politics, psychology, and science
How often does The Boiling Frog release new episodes?
The Boiling Frog has 31 episodes. Check the episode list to see recent publication dates and frequency.
Where can I listen to The Boiling Frog?
You can listen to The Boiling Frog on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts The Boiling Frog?
The Boiling Frog is created and hosted by Seth Rosenblatt and Mark Olbert.
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