Is economics a science? | Adam Mastroianni

Frank Braconi is one of the few economists willing to argue that rent control, properly designed, can work. But what does "properly designed" mean? When should it be used, where, and how? We discuss San Francisco's decontrol-recontrol model and whether it can blunt the harms of gentrification.

As China's star rises, people like Ray Dalio think we may see the emergence of a new tribute system. In this podcast, I discuss with tribute system expert Dr. Dave Kang what the tribute system actually was and whether or not we can anticipate seeing it return.

Prime downtown land sits empty while cities run out of housing. Tax buildings and you punish building; tax land and you punish sitting on it. In this episode, Lars Doucet, author of Land is a Big Deal, discusses the history and relevance of land value taxes to prevent land speculation and address the housing affordability crisis.

What does sixty years of evidence actually say about rent control? Konstantin Kholodilin (DIW Berlin) read 112 empirical studies to find out. We go through the results.

Fertility rates are falling in the Europe and the US, but also in places China, Tunisia and Colombia. What can explain this global trend, and what are the political and economic consequences of low birth rates societies? In this episode, we bring FT chief data reporter John Burn-Murdoch to make sense about these trends.

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What do we mean when we label economics a a science? Can social sciences ever develop a paradigm? In this interview, psychologist Adam Mastroianni discusses the state of psychology as a science and how paradigms improve scientific progress.

This is an update to my conversation with Gulf economy expert Prof. Steffen Hertog. We are already five months into the Iran war now: How much longer will the strait of Hormuz remain closed? and what could that mean for the Gulf countries?

Takuji Aida, advisor to prime minister Sanae Takaichi, explains Sanaenomics.

Is inequality harmful, or should economist focus more on absolute poverty? In this interview, prof. Morten Nyborg presents inequality as an externality and discusses the different policy tools to reduce it.