Paper Trail

This episode explores a provocative paper that challenges the conventional wisdom regarding the Federal Reserve's role in anchoring inflation expectations. It discusses the concept of the "illusion of the anchor,"...

This episode explores provocative research suggesting a link between the iPhone's launch and declining birth rates, utilizing a "natural experiment" based on AT&T's initial exclusive rights. Listeners will discover how...

This episode explores a new study revealing that remote employees face a "hidden wage penalty," experiencing 31% slower promotions than in-office counterparts over two years, despite demonstrating equal productivity...

This episode explores how the widely reported monthly jobs report often presents an incomplete or misleading picture of the economy, especially around turning points, due to its preliminary nature. It highlights that...

This episode explores a study uncovering "compensatory spillovers," where anti-poverty programs inadvertently disadvantage neighboring communities not receiving aid. It discusses how traditional intervention evaluations...

This episode discusses California's new $20 minimum wage for fast-food workers (AB 1228), contrasting initial dire predictions of mass layoffs with early data indicating a more subtle impact, primarily a slowdown in...

This episode explores why AI, despite its impressive ability to generate code, is not yet capable of designing entire software systems from scratch. It highlights that AI lacks the abstract requirements understanding...

This episode challenges the common perception that the pace of innovation is slowing, arguing instead that the effort required to generate new ideas has increased exponentially. Listeners will learn that while...

This episode explores the counterproductive effects of government attempts to ban or control social media platforms, using Australia's "social media experiment" as a case study. Listeners will learn how such bans can...

This episode explores a new paper revealing two significant biases in AI systems when consuming news. It details how AI inherently trusts government sources more than traditional media and is highly susceptible to...

This episode discusses research revealing that early retirement, particularly from cognitively demanding professions, can lead to a measurable decline in cognitive function, affecting areas like verbal fluency and...

This episode explores groundbreaking research from Tinshemet Cave in Israel, which dramatically redefines the interaction between early *Homo sapiens* and Neanderthals in the Middle Palaeolithic Levant. It challenges...

This episode explores the long-standing mystery of Uranus and Neptune's wildly tilted and off-center magnetic fields, which have baffled planetary scientists since Voyager 2's flybys. It discusses how previous models...

This episode explores China's "war on pollution," which successfully reduced fine particulate matter (PM2.5) but inadvertently led to a significant surge in ground-level ozone, an equally dangerous pollutant. A new NBER...

This episode discusses the landmark SCORE study, which revealed that nearly half of social science findings fail to replicate and their reported impact is often significantly overstated. It explores why DARPA funded...