FT Alphachat
Alphachat is the conversational podcast about business and economics produced by the Financial Times in New York. Each week, FT hosts and guests delve into a new theme, with more wonkiness, humour and irreverence than you'll find anywhere else
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Angela Nagle on the online culture wars
Angela Nagle, author of Kill All Normies: Online Culture Wars from 4chan and Tumblr to Trump and the Alt-Right, talks to FT Alphaville's Jemima Kelly about the online culture wars and the rise of the alt-right. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
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Nouriel Roubini on the US-China Thucydides Trap
A number of geopolitical and financial risks are stalking the global economy, pointing to a possible recession in 2020. According to Nouriel Roubini, what is key among these risks is the US-China trade war and general protectionism in the global market. Izabella Kaminska talks to the economist and New York University Stern School of Business professor. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
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Jay Shambaugh on the tools to fight the next recession
The economist and Brookings Institution senior fellow talks to FT contributor Megan Greene about the fiscal policies that lawmakers could arrange now that would automatically kick in when some of the early signs of a slowdown start to appear. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
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Joel Mokyr and the curse of Adam
Man must work. But how man works matters. Brendan Greeley sat down with Joel Mokyr, an economist and economic historian at Northwestern University, at an event on the future of work at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. Policymakers tend to focus on the binary question of a job — do people have one, or not. But the quality of that work, the questions of meaning and satisfaction, are important to people, in a way that has political consequences. They wandered all the way back to Adam Smith, and eventually the curse of Adam himself, to talk about how the meaning and definition of "work" has changed, and why that matters now. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
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Will Davies on populism, data and experts
The political economist sits down with Alphaville's Jamie Powell and Thomas Hale to discuss how we should think about expertise in a post-truth world. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
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Robert Kaplan on jobs, oil and credit
The president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas sits down with Brendan Greeley to discuss what a tight labour market could mean for retraining workers, what fracking has done to the price of oil and why he prefers to keep an eye on credit spreads instead of equity markets. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
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Ajay Royan searches for the next growth frontier
What if the vast majority of the high-growth tech unicorns emerging from Silicon Valley are not really technology or innovation companies? What if they are highly politicised, zero-sum enterprises? That's what Ajay Royan, the Indian-born Canadian who co-founded Mithral Capital, along with Peter Thiel, thinks might be the problem at the heart of the Silicon Valley investment proposition. Izabella Kaminska asks him how his fund is trying to differentiate itself from that model by focusing on unleveraged growth opportunities instead. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
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Banking culture since the crisis
How has banking culture changed since the global financial crisis and what areas still need work? Brendan Greeley talks with three economics experts who posed that question in a recent report put out by the Group of Thirty consultants. He is joined by Elizabeth St-Onge of Oliver Wyman, Nicholas Le Pan, former superintendent of financial institutions for Canada, and Stuart Mackintosh, executive director of the Group of Thirty. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
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Kimberly Clausing makes the case for open economies
Economist Kimberly Clausing tells Brendan Greeley and Mark Blyth why greater trade, capital flows and immigration are the solution to more equitably dividing the economic pie. It's the subject of her book, "Open: The Progressive Case for Free Trade, Immigration, and Global Capital". See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
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Alphachat Live! Raghuram Rajan and Ashley Putnam on community
Until recently, economists have ignored the idea that communities matter for economic outcomes, leaving those questions to sociologists. But there is too much evidence to ignore: where you live has a profound influence on how you turn out. In a live conversation recorded at Penn Social, a bar in Washington DC, Raghuram Rajan, former chief economist of the International Monetary Fund and Governor of the Reserve Bank of India, talks about his new book, "The Third Pillar: How Markets and the State Leave Communities Behind". He is joined by Ashley Putnam, director of the Economic Growth & Mobility Project at the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, who has run community-level economic growth projects in New York City and across Philadelphia's Fed district. Brendan Greeley hosts. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
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The IMF's Tobias Adrian on stability
Tobias Adrian, formerly of the New York Fed, runs the Monetary and Capital Markets Department at the International Monetary Fund. Brendan and Colby sat down with him after publication of the IMF's Global Financial Stability Report. They talked about collateralised loan obligations, of course, but also about China and how the US faces risks just like any other country when hot capital flows in. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
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Bonus: IMF's Vitor Gaspar on debt
On the occasion of the release of the International Monetary Fund's Fiscal Monitor, Brendan talked to Vitor Gaspar, who runs the fund's Fiscal Affairs Department. Mr Gaspar, formerly of the Banco de Portugal, the European Commission and the European Central Bank, drew a distinction between "good" and "bad" spending. He also argued that a "competitive" economy isn't just an economy that pays low wages, and threaded a fine needle on whether Europe needs more infrastructure investment. And he responded to the contention by his friend Olivier Blanchard, former chief economist of the IMF, that debt isn't necessarily always bad. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
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Odette Lienau on the most complicated debt restructuring in history
Law professor Odette Lienau joins Colby and Brendan on the sidelines of the IMF spring meetings in Washington, DC to discuss the sovereign debt crises in Venezuela, Argentina and Mozambique. They also discuss why vulture funds could do some good. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
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Yanis Varoufakis: "Democracy is a very fragile flower"
Alphaville's Jemima Kelly and Izabella Kaminska sat down with Yanis Varoufakis, former finance minister of Greece and current organiser of a trans-European group of what he calls "radical Europeanists" — in favor of union, without deflation or austerity. Mr Varoufakis answers criticism from the left, pointing out that even if the euro or the EU were poorly conceived, leaving them now would have catastrophic consequences for the poor. He gives a brief history of economic thought, connecting Joseph Schumpeter back to Karl Marx, saying it's not so clear that leftists know what Marx, a globalist, would be saying today. Oh, and also: Pamela Anderson. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
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Brexit: Too late now to get the milk out of the tea
No matter what the British Parliament decides, for almost three years the UK, Ireland and the EU have been dealing with the reality of the Leave vote. Positions have hardened, investments have been foregone, and all the countries involved have become different places, in ways that cannot be undone. Brendan Greeley of FT Alphaville and Mark Blyth of the Rhodes Center at Brown discuss consequences with Stephen Kinsella, economist at the University of Limerick and Megan Greene, chief economist at Manulife Asset Management. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
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Immigration: comparing this wave to the last
Leah Boustan of Princeton and Maggie Peters of UCLA look at the wave of migrants to the US from Central America and compare it to the last great wave, from Europe in the late 19th century. Some things are the same: immigrant families are adopting "American" names at the same rates as before, for example. Some things are different: the speed of communication and container shipping mean that American companies prefer to get cheap labour through outsourcing, and won't lobby for increased immigration. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
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Andrew Keen on the internet: misery is not the answer
Andrew Keen, author of Cult of the Amateur and more recently How to Fix the Future, sits down with FT Alphaville's Izabella Kaminska. They both tell the history of their own disenchantment with the internet, and discuss why the Elon Musk story has turned into a Shakespearean tragedy, while Jeff Bezos is more of a Bond villain. "When you do away with gatekeepers you get anarchy," says Mr Keen, but dystopian misery isn't the answer, either. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
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Waltraud Schelkle and Ashoka Mody: Is the eurozone fixable?
Forget Brexit. Growth in the eurozone is slowing down, but not equally for all countries. Which leaves the continent with the same question it's had for a decade: is it capable of making policy flexible enough for all of its economies? Waltraud Schelkle of the London School of Economics argues that Europe's currencies always swung with the deutschmark, so the European Central Bank offers some level of control. Ashoka Mody of Princeton says the euro will never be flexible enough to let countries like Italy make adjustments. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
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What China wants: Brad Setser, and Freya Beamish
Even if the trade talks are settled, long-term friction will remain between China and the United States. China has an industrial policy which will see it strive to make more advanced products, such as aircraft and medical devices. The US wants to keep selling these kinds of high-value manufactured goods to China. It remains a fundamental issue for the two world economic powers. FT Alphaville's Brendan Greeley speaks first with Brad Stetser, the former US Treasury economist and China watcher, and then is joined by Colby Smith to hear from Freya Beamish, China expert at Pantheon Macroeconomics. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
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Germany's China shock
Answering the question of whether Germany's export-driven model will ever change, and whether Germany's obsession with saving and budget surpluses will ever change. And how to say "Groundhog Day" in German. Wade Jacoby of Brigham Young University and Megan Greene of Manulife Investments join FTAlphaville's Brendan Greeley and Mark Blyth from the Rhodes Center. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
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Peter Norton on the history of paying for big projects
The United States may not have an infrastructure crisis. It may in fact have too much infrastructure. And what does that word "infrastructure" even mean, anyway? We talk about the history internal improvements, public works, and the power of a group that called itself The League of American Wheelmen. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
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Climate change is not a business cycle
Armon Rezai of the Vienna University of Economics and Business and Lint Barrage of Brown University talk to Colby and Mark about how climate change will affect home values and retirement portfolios — you know, middle-class wealth. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
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Adam Tooze on Davos, econ 101 and the unexpected importance of China in the global economy
Adam Tooze, economic historian and author of Crashed: How a Decade of Financial Crises Changed the World, joins the FT’s Brendan Greeley and Brown University’s Mark Blyth to discuss how our politics got us to where we are today, why our ideas about how the economy works may not be fit for purpose, and the key role that China played during the Great Recession and continues to play today. They also discuss the central importance of global capital flows for understanding our world and why global liquidity may be much more fragile than we like to think. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
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The history of what we now call opportunity zones
The 2017 tax cut in the US included a provision that would forgive capital gains taxes, if invested for ten years in an "opportunity zone" — a low-income area designated by a state governor. But the idea of encouraging investments in poor and mostly black areas has a long history. We talk to Mehrsa Baradaran, a law professor at the University of Georgia and Andrew Schrank, a sociologist at Brown University. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
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Olivier Blanchard on debt: “Relax. Don’t relax too much, but relax”
Author of the standard textbook on macroeconomics, former head of research for the International Monetary Fund, currently at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, Olivier Blanchard works in the place where economists and politicians attempt to talk to each other. He talked to us about how the financial crisis changed his thinking on models, why state debt isn’t always and everywhere a bad thing and why the best forecasts in the future might come from artificial intelligence. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
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Adam Posen on central banks, China and the enduring power of the dollar
The economist and president of the Peterson Institute for International Economics joins FT Alphaville’s Colby Smith and Brown University’s Mark Blyth to discuss the politicking of central banking, the hurdles to finding a US-China trade war resolution and how China can manage the financial risks building in its economy. They also touch on the enduring power of the dollar and US markets. Colby Smith is a writer for FT Alphaville and Mark Blyth is the director of the William Rhodes Center for International Economics and Finance at the Watson Institute at Brown University. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
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Robert Shiller: market narratives are 'like diseases'
A bonus episode from the annual meeting of the American Economic Association in Atlanta this past weekend. Brendan Greeley caught up with Yale economist and Nobel laureate Robert Shiller, who argues that if you want to understand markets you have to understand stories — how they start and how they spread. They talked about the stories driving share prices down in December, about Jim Cramer and about the narrative power of Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
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What exactly is 'slack'?
Economists like to talk about the "slack" in the labour market. But how can we measure it, and what does it mean? The FT's Brendan Greeley hosts with guests Megan Greene, chief economist at Manulife Asset Management, Ioana Marinescu, economist and professor at the University of Pennsylvania and Mark Blyth, director of the William Rhodes Center for International Economics and Finance at the Watson Institute at Brown University. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
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Mariana Mazzucato on who creates value
The economist and University College London professor joins Alphaville's Jemima Kelly to discuss the question of value: who creates it and who makes use of it. She also lays out her argument for a rethinking of the relationship between markets and governments. It's the subject of her recent book, The value of everything: making and taking in the global economy. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
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The math wizard who became a customer loyalty scheme guru
Economist Gary Loveman was teaching at Harvard Business School when he went to consult for the Harrah's casino chain in Las Vegas in the late 1990s. Despite knowing nothing about gambling, his insights on customer loyalty earned him a promotion to the chief executive job at the casino group. He took a company that traded at $14 a share and a decade later sold it to private equity for $90 a share. Gary Loveman talks to the FT's Sujeet Indap about how data science is helping executives draw in customers across industries. Music by Podington Bear. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
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Bill Janeway revisits the 'three-player game'
Academic and practicing capitalist Bill Janeway talks to the FT's Jamie Powell about the way government used to drive innovation, and his idea of the "three-player game" between government, capital and industry. Music by Podington Bear. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
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David Autor on what we now know about trade
Alphachat is back, and with a new host, Brendan Greeley. Brendan is the new US editor of Alphaville, and in this episode, he talks to MIT economics professor David Autor about what economics got wrong about trade, how the profession is fixing itself and why policy is still catching up. Music by Podington Bear. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
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Introducing Behind The Money
Alphachat is going on a brief hiatus. When we come back in a few weeks we're going to have some great new interviews. But before we take this short break, we wanted to share a new FT podcast called Behind The Money. Each week host (and Alphachat producer) Aimee Keane will take you inside the big business and financial stories of the moment, with the help of other FT reporters. You can subscribe to Behind The Money on all of the usual podcast platforms. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
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Sir Paul Tucker on the legitimacy of the central bank
The economist and former deputy governor of the Bank of England joins the FT's John Authers to debate the power of government agencies and the unelected officials leading them, including those at the helm of institutions like the Federal Reserve. It's the subject of his recent book, Unelected Power: The Quest for Legitimacy in Central Banking and the Regulatory State. Music by Podington Bear. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
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Dan Drezner on the economics of ideas
In this encore episode, Dan Drezner, writer and professor of international politics, discusses his book, "The Ideas Industry: how pessimists, partisans and plutocrats are transforming the marketplace of ideas" with former host Cardiff Garcia. They also talk about the global populist wave, identity-based politics, and how to resist the temptation to say yes to everything. This episode was originally published on September 29, 2017. Music by Podington Bear. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
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Jim Millstein on lessons from the financial crisis
The former chief restructuring officer of the US joins Lex's Sujeet Indap to talk about the financialisation of American businesses, the causes of the 2008 crisis and the outcomes of the government response and reforms. Music by Podington Bear. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
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An encore chat with Geoffrey West
Physicist Geoffrey West joins FT Alphaville's Izabella Kaminska to discuss his work on a universal theory of growth - or scaling - that extends beyond human lifespans to encompass the sustainability of corporations, cities and more, as detailed in his latest book "Scale". Music by Podington Bear. This episode was originally published on June 9, 2017. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
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Encore: Alice Rivlin on a career as an economic policymaker
Economist Alice Rivlin discusses her storied Washington career, from roles in three different presidential administrations, to director of the Congressional Budget Office, Vice-Chair of the Federal Reserve and to her current post at the Brookings Institution. This episode was originally published on May 26, 2017. Music by Podington Bear. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
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Benn Steil on The Marshall Plan
Economist and award-winning author Benn Steil talks to Matt Klein about the history of the post-World War II European recovery plan, implemented by then secretary of state George C Marshall as a means of defending against communist authoritarianism. It's the subject of Steil's new book, The Marshall Plan: Dawn of the Cold War. Music by Podington Bear. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
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ENCORE: Andrew Lo on adaptive markets
Economist Andrew Lo talks to the FT's John Authers about his adaptive markets hypothesis, the idea that markets develop and adapt over time and should be modelled using concepts from biology instead of physics. It's the subject of his recent book, Adaptive Markets: Financial Evolution at the Speed of Thought. This interview was originally published on March 24, 2017. Music by Podington Bear. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
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The downside of the German economy
Germany is often considered an economic role model for the rest of the world, with low unemployment, a strong welfare state, first-class manufacturing and government budget surpluses. But there's another side to the German economy. Economist Marcel Fratzscher of the German Institute for Economics Research joins Matt Klein to explain. Music by Podington Bear. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
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Emi Nakamura on the methods and madness of inflation
Economist and Columbia University professor Emi Nakamura joins FT senior investment commentator John Authers to discuss the way inflation statistics are compiled, what the cost of inflation is to the economy and the current relationship between inflation and unemployment. Music by Podington Bear. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
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Stephanie Kelton on budget deficits and student debt
Economist Stephanie Kelton talks to Matt Klein about the way government budgets really work and what large-scale student debt forgiveness might do for the US economy. Music by Podington Bear. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
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Jonathan Knee on becoming the "accidental" investment banker
Banker, business school professor and author Jonathan Knee joins Sujeet Indap to discuss his career, the evolution of modern investment banking and finding a way to be influential. Music by Podington Bear. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
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ENCORE: 50 things that shaped the modern economy
In this encore episode, Tim Harford joins Cardiff Garcia to talk about the way 50 different inventions have shaped the way the economy works today, from video games to the tally stick. It's the subject of his book, "Fifty things that made the modern economy", and a BBC audio series. Music by Podington Bear. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
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Understanding the North Korean economy
The North Korean economy was modeled off of Stalin's forced industrialisation of the 1930s. Many still think the country exists in a time warp -- a communist museum piece kept alive by Chinese subsidies. But the truth is more interesting. After the fall of the Soviet Union, North Korea's economy and society changed dramatically. Marcus Noland, economist and executive vice president of the Peterson Institute for International Economics, explains in the latest episode of Alphachat. Music by Podington Bear. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
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Corporate tax and the trade balance
Economist Brad Setser and Alphaville's Matt Klein dig into the recent changes to corporate tax policy in the US, and what effect these will have on the global economy. Music by Podington Bear. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
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Thomas Wieser on his career in economic policy
Thomas Wieser, one of the key figures in Eurozone policymaking since the European sovereign debt crisis, joins the FT's Jim Brunsden and Alex Barker to discuss his career, the crisis and more. Music by Podington Bear. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
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ENCORE: The life of Alan Greenspan
Author Sebastian Mallaby produced the definitive account of the former Federal Reserve chairman's life, career, and the context in which he operated in the book "The Man Who Knew". In this encore episode he joins Matt Klein to discuss. Music by Podington Bear. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
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Michele Wucker explains the 'gray rhino'
Most of the things that hurt us are easy to identify and avoid in advance. Yet rather than deal with these problems, we tend to live in terror of inchoate and unpredictable dangers. Journalist and author Michele Wucker talks with Matt Klein about why this is and how to fix it. Music by Podington Bear. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
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