A glimpse inside Biden’s CEA

11/11/23 • 64 min

The New Bazaar

Martha Gimbel and Gopi Shah Goda were formerly economists within the White House Council of Economic Advisors, or CEA.

They look back on their time inside an important economic policymaking institution, telling Cardiff about:

Their favorite projects
Toughest assignments
The relationship between CEA and other economic policymakers
The difference between academia and policy work
What they might change about it
Common misconceptions about the work of economists

And Martha clears up a big misunderstanding about an infamous graph controversy. All this and more!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Martha Gimbel and Gopi Shah Goda were formerly economists within the White House Council of Economic Advisors, or CEA.

They look back on their time inside an important economic policymaking institution, telling Cardiff about:

Their favorite projects
Toughest assignments
The relationship between CEA and other economic policymakers
The difference between academia and policy work
What they might change about it
Common misconceptions about the work of economists

And Martha clears up a big misunderstanding about an infamous graph controversy. All this and more!

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Previous Episode

Angus Deaton on life in America

Angus Deaton—Scottish immigrant, Nobelist, and one of Cardiff's favorite economists—has written a new, forthcoming book titled Economics in America: An Immigrant Economist Explore the Land of Inequality.

It’s great, if also hard to categorize.

Partly it’s a memoir, about his humble origins in Scotland, where he was born; his studies at Cambridge with better-heeled peers; and his subsequent decades as a Princeton University, Nobel Prize winning economist.

The book is also partly a reflection on a lifetime of practicing economics, and the good and bad of the economics profession. There's plenty of both.

And finally it’s a series of observations about the American economy, including a fascinating self-analysis of his own ambivalence towards the US, his adopted country—the many great things here, including the lives that he and his family have led; and also, yes, some of the devastatingly grim things about life here for so many others.

Related links:

Economics in America, by Angus Deaton (available for pre-order)
The Great Escape, by Angus Deaton
Mortality and the economy, featuring Anne Case and Angus Deaton

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Next Episode

Hoop dreams of electric sheep

Seth Stephens-Davidowitz has unusually written an unusual book.

The data analysis included in "Who Makes the NBA?: Data-Driven Answers to Basketball's Biggest Questions" normally would have taken Seth, a trained economist, multiple years of writing and running code. But because of new artificial intelligence tools, he finished the book in just thirty days. And he used AI tools not just for the coding, but also for the artwork, copy editing, and even to write the appendix.

He discusses with Cardiff the lessons he learned about using AI, and what such accelerated productivity might mean for the future of the labor market.

Then they discuss the actual findings in the book, an investigation into the backgrounds of the basketball players who make it to the NBA and succeed when they get there. How much of success is genetic? What accounts for the NBA's market failures—the traits of players who get paid too much and too little relative to their contributions? Why do some foreign countries have such astonishing success at sending players to the NBA? Does the choice of college really matter for future success?

The answers to these questions are surprisingly revealing about the experiences of non-basketball players, and about the relationships between luck, skill, parenting, undiscovered talent, the economy, and other familiar variables.

Related links: