Tuesday, November 2, 2021

Economics and History Podcasts That I Like

Podcasts for people who want to hear economists talk about their work

The Economic History Podcast Sean Kenny interviews economic historians. He usually begins with a question about how they got into economic history and the topics that they focus on. They then discuss specific books or papers that the guest has authored.

Some favorites: Jane Humphries on women in the workforce, Cormac O’Grada on the Industrial revolution and the Irish famine, Lisa Cook on the costs of racial discrimination and violence, Stephen Broadberry on the Great Divergence, and a couple of episodes with Nicholas Crafts on economic growth

AEA Research Highlights podcast by the American Economic Association interviews authors of forthcoming papers in the Association’s journals.

Some Favorites: Tianyi Wang on the political impact of Father Coughlin’s radio broadcasts during the Great Depression, Natalie Bau on pension reform and cultural change in Indonesia and Ghana; Dean Yang on the large and lasting impact of temporary farming subsidies in Mozambique

 

Vox Dev Talks

As the name suggests the podcast focuses on economic development. I started to list some favorites, but then realized they are all so good. They are relatively short, and everyone is worth listening to.

Vox Talks Economics

Like Vox Dev there are may good ones and they are relatively short. Search for topics that you are interested in, but definitely listen to Joel Mokyr on the mechanics of the industrial revolution

Probable Causation Jennnifer Doleac’s podcast focuses on economic issues related to crime, the hosts specialty, but it is a great podcast for anyone interested empirical research focusing on causality. Whereas some shows tend to focus on the well established (old) economists, the guests on Probable Causation tend to be younger, and their discussions get into the details of the research process.

Some Favorites: Ellora Derenoncourt on the Great Migration, and Minasha Shah on criminalizing sex work.

 

Rocking Our Priors Alice Evans is not an economist or historian, but she is passionately interested in both, and many of her interviews are with economists. More than any other podcast, Evans challenges her guests to defend their claims.

Some Favorites: Suresh Naidu, David Stasavage, and Nathan Lane

 

Macro Musings Some people will see the connection to the Mercatus Center and think they are going to get Koch Bros. propaganda. Don’t. Whether you are mainstream, Austrian or MMT David Beckworth is interested in what you have to say you. The focus is, as the name suggests, on macroeconomics, but it is a pretty broad interpretation of macro. In addition, he has several good episodes with economic historians.

 

Business Scholarship Podcast  Okay this is called business scholarship and it is actually interviews with legal scholars, but Andrew K. Jennings’ podcast provides a lot of interesting stuff for economists.

 

Some Favorites: Harlwell Wells on the Civil Rights Movement and securities regulation; Elizabeth Tippett on enslaved agents; and Sarah Haan on the feminization of capital

 

Economic Rockstar This podcast is currently inactive, but I still included it on the list. He was one of the best hosts for just letting the guest speak. The episodes with Vernon Smith and Harry Markowitz are basically him asking how they got into economics followed by the guests talking for 90 minutes.

 

 

Podcasts for people who want to hear historians talk about their work

 

Age of Jackson One of the things I like most about Daniel Gullotta’s podcast is that in addition to interviewing authors of new books, he does historiographical episodes as well, covering books like Time on the Cross and the Market Revolution. There is also an interesting two parter on the controversy over Arming America.

Ben Franklin’s World Like Gullotta, Liz Covart mostly interviews authors, but also occasionally does special episodes. I really enjoyed her interview with Bernard Bailyn.

Who Makes Cents? Only one a month so there are not a lot, but there are some good ones. I recommend interviews with Shanette Garrett-Scott, Paige Glotzer, and Justene Hill Edwards

Historically Thinking This is one of the few history podcasts that is not constrained by a field in terms of time, place or subject matter. Some of my favorites are the episode on Baptist’s The Half Has Never Been Told and His interview with Sarah Damiano about her book To Her Credit.

New Books in History

 

A podcast for people who want to learn the principles of economics

How to Think Like an Economist