Sources

October 23, 2009 · by Austin Frakt · Posted in Reviews · Comment 

Since I like to promote things that are worthwhile I’m sharing my primary non-research information sources in this post. (Of course for research I reference the academic literature and government agency publications. Those are not included here.) The lists below include the best of what I read via RSS/Google Reader (mostly) and what I listen to via podcast (iPod). Everything listed is included in my rotating blogroll (far right sidebar). Beyond these my other main sources of news and information are Google News and NPR news programs. Also, I like Y Combinator’s Hacker News as a source for new, unusual, and interesting stuff on the web. (It is not just for hackers.) The only (non-academic) periodical I read regularly is The Atlantic.

Reading List. I read a lot of blogs in four main categories: health care policy, economics, politics/policy, and personal finance. Some blogs are cross disciplinary, but I’ll categorize them below according to the principal reason I read them (at least lately). I do not intend to give the impression that I read every post of every blog I follow. I don’t. I skim, sample, and ignore just as I would the content of a newspaper.

Of course, the best bloggers on the planet write on health care policy. For general health care policy news one can do no better than the Kaiser Health News service. Ezra Klein does the best job at putting health policy in political context (he blogs on many other important topics too). I’m also fond of Jonathan Cohn of The Treatment and Jonathan Chait (both at The New Republic). The latest addition to my health policy blog subscription list is Rational Arguments written by Aaron Carroll (Aaron’s take and mine are so closely aligned it is frightening). The following blogs round out my sources (in no particular order):

The list of economics blogs to which I subscribe is also long. For its variety my favorite is NY Times’ Economix. I consider Paul Krugman required reading, both his NY Times blog and column. NPR’s Planet Money is a good source for the basics, though I prefer to take it in as a podcast (see below). One cannot be a serious economics blogger without reading Tyler Cowen and Alex Tabarrok on Marginal Revolution, Brad DeLong, or Mark Thoma’s Economist’s View. And that’s only about half the economics blogs I follow. The rest include, in no particular order:

Many of the aforementioned blogs contain considerable political and policy content. For serious takes on all matters budgetary I follow the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities, the CBO Director’s Blog (Douglas Elmendorf), and the OMB Blog (Peter Orszag). I also highly recommend Kevin Drum, Matt Yglesias, and The Wonk Room (Igor Volsky and others). For quantitative analysis of anything politically hot there’s no better source than FiveThirtyEight.com (Nate Silver and others). Finally for pure politics, I consult Political Insider, Political Wire (both by Taegan Goddard), and Talking Points Memo (Josh Marshal and others).

My favorite blogs for personal finance include The Finance Buff (where I got my start), The Oblivious Investor, and Get Rich Slowly (GRS is among the most popular). I’m also fond of the Bogleheads Investment Forum. Among finance blogs I read Bad Money Advice has the best blogging style. It’s author, “Frank Curmudgeon,” is simultaneously amusing and informative.

Lastly, I only recently started subscribing to Overcoming Bias (Robin Hanson) and Less Wrong (various). I don’t know what to make of those yet or how to categorize them (probably economics?).

Listening List. I use my iPod to further my education and to stay informed, not for music. As with my blog subscriptions, I don’t listen through every episode of every program suggested below. If I’ve gotten the gist or an episode doesn’t interest me I move on.

My favorite podcast material to date includes that provided by Russ Roberts’ EconTalk (see my review) and Open Yale Courses (class reviews). I cannot imagine anyone not enjoying Radio Lab (Jad Abumrad and Roger Krulwich). This American Life (Ira Glass with guests) is famously entertaining. I mentioned NPR’s Planet Money blog above, but I think the podcast is more fun. Fresh Air (Terry Gross) and On Point (Tom Ashbrook) are among the finest interview programs. Finally, Intelligence Squared is a well-crafted debate show, and The Ethicist (Randy Cohen) from The NY Times is amusing.

I’ve tried many other podcasts (most popular NPR shows, some other NY Times podcasts, some TV network Sunday morning political shows, some cable TV political comedy shows). They’ve all failed to sustain my interest and have fallen away. Though I’ve sampled a lot, I’m always searching for good stuff I haven’t tried. If there are any you like that I haven’t listed, please share them with me.

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EconTalk: The Best Continuing Education Money Can’t Buy

June 9, 2009 · by Austin Frakt · Posted in Economics · 4 Comments 

This post originally appeared on The Finance Buff and is cited by the 210th Carnival of Personal Finance.

My 75 minute one-way commute by foot and train affords me ample time to continue my education by podcast. My favorite podcast by far is EconTalk, a weekly one-hour interview program affiliated with the Library of Economics and Liberty. (All the podcasts to which I currently subscribe are listed in this spreadsheet.) In a typical episode the host Russell Roberts (George Mason University) interviews an academic economist. His interviewees have also included non-economists with expertise that relate to economics, though often in non-obvious ways. The program, and Roberts, is so good that I’d buy a lifetime subscription to EconTalk. But I don’t have to: it’s free.

I began listening to EconTalk about one year ago on the suggestion of a participant on the Bogleheads Forum. The first episode I heard was an interview with Mike Munger (Duke University) on middlemen. It happened to be a particularly interesting show and is still one of my favorites. Munger has been the most frequent guest and for good reason. He has a talent for making economic concepts accessible and relating them to the everyday. Limiting oneself to Munger’s EconTalk interviews alone would provide an outstanding overview of some of the fundamentals of economic thinking.

While Munger’s interviews may be among the best and most accessible, one can hardly go wrong with any EconTalk interview. Of the approximately 160 shows to date (the program began in March of 2006), I stopped listening to only about five before they ran to completion (a 97% rate of satisfaction). What makes the episodes so good are the guests, of course, but also Roberts. He fills his role well, routinely asking sharp (but not antagonizing) questions, letting guests speak at length, playing skeptic and devil’s advocate where appropriate, taking time to explain concepts, and posing clarifying queries to illuminate subtle points.

Perhaps Robert’s greatest strength is his refreshing awareness of and openness about his own bias. The bulk of one entire episode was devoted to his own exploration and evolution of his bias. He freely acknowledges the influence on his thinking of the Austrian and Chicago schools of economic thought. The work of Hayek has had a particularly strong impact on Roberts, and the Austrian economist is mentioned, if not quoted, in nearly every podcast.

To date, EconTalk has covered a wide range of topics in economics but also some surprising areas one doesn’t immediately associate with the “dismal science.” For example, there are episodes on piracy, ants, seasteading, political polling, baseball, football, ticket scalping, family, happiness, global warming, and many other topics.

Over the past year I’ve kept up with current EconTalk episodes and listened through the entire archived collection. As an experienced listener I can make two suggestions about how not to listen. Do not start with the first March 2006 episode and work forward. Roberts definitely improved with practice and didn’t hit his stride until early 2007. The episodes can be listened to in any order; later ones reference earlier ones but only in passing, not as prerequisites. So, I recommend listening to later shows first or at least some from 2007-2009 before those of 2006.

Second, unless you’re an Adam Smith fanatic you may want to wait on the EconTalk book club’s treatment of Smith’s Theory of Moral Sentiments. In these extra episodes, scheduled between regular EconTalk releases, Dan Klein (George Mason University) and Roberts discuss Smith’s lesser known work in great detail. The style of discussion is less thematic than other EconTalk episodes, which imposes a higher barrier to accessibility in my opinion.

While EconTalk is great, it can always be better. I have two requests. In this time of tremendous attention on health reform I would like to hear some new voices on the health insurance and health care markets. (There has not been a single episode on health care in 2009 and very few, if any, focused squarely on the health insurance market.) My other request is for an interview with an economist with expertise in Medicare, a topic that has not been explored (except possibly in passing) on EconTalk. (Since these are my areas of research I am more aware than others that they have not received much attention to date.)

There may be no such thing as a free lunch, but EconTalk is existence proof of excellent, free education. Over the past year I’ve walked many miles with Roberts and his guests as companions. In the years to come I am sure EconTalk will continue to improve, entertain, and enlighten. I’ll be listening.

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