Economists

Conversations host Harry Kreisler welcomes Samuel Bowles, Research Professor and Director of the Behavioral Sciences Program at the Santa Fe Institute, for a discussion of his intellectual odyssey and his most recent book The Moral Economy. Topics covered include the influence of parents, his encounters with Nehru and Martin Luther King, and his education. He addresses the necessary changes in the agenda of economics as it grapples with the limits of incentives and the opportunities for bringing in a focus on community and altruism in order to confront global problems. He also offers...

Conversations host Harry Kreisler welcomes Berkeley economist Pranab Bardhan for a discussion of his new book, Awakening Giants, Feet of Clay. Bardhan discusses his interest in poverty and inequality in the context of his intellectual odyssey. He then focuses on the myths and realities surrounding the emergence of China and India, addressing several questions including: What have these countries achieved? How did they do it? How do they compare in terms of inequality and social welfare? What are the factors that explain their reemergence as economic powerhouses? What has been the...

Economist John Kenneth Galbraith, in a conversation with host Harry Kreisler, looks back and reflects on the art of writing, U.S. policy toward the Third World during the Cold War, political leadership, and on his intellectual contributions.

http://globetrotter.berkeley.edu/conversations/Galbraith/galbraith1.html

Conversations host Harry Kreisler welcomes Nobel Laureate Gary S. Becker for a discussion of his intellectual journey. Topics covered in the conversation include: the influence of his parents, his education, Milton Friedman, his early work on discrimination, the skills and temperament required for work in economics, applying economic analysis to social problems, the Chicago school of economics, creativity, rational choice theory, markets vs. government, the impact of ideas on policy, the communications revolution, the lessons of the 2008 economic collapse, and advice for students preparing...