Why the Most Important Economic Story of Our Time Isn't the Tariffs — It's the Institutions

What if one of the most famous and widely cited findings in modern economics (that money doesn't really make you happier) turned out to simply be wrong? And what does the economist who proved it wrong have to say about where America is heading next?

Justin Wolfers is not a typical economist. He's written landmark papers on happiness, divorce, racial discrimination in NBA officiating, corruption in college basketball, gender and wages, prediction markets, and the political economy of elections. He runs one of the most widely read economics Substacks on the internet, co-authored a leading undergraduate economics textbook, and once showed Danny Kahneman data that changed the Nobel laureate's mind on a question he'd spent decades answering.

In this episode, Professor Kotlikoff sits down with the University of Michigan professor for a wide-ranging conversation that moves from the science of happiness to the economics of marriage and divorce, the crisis facing young men, the future of American institutions under pressure, and a closing argument for why — despite everything — there has never been a better time to be alive.What You'll Learn

What You'll Learn:

• [00:09:03] Why Gary Becker is the most important economist of the 20th century
• [00:17:51] The radical idea that economists should tell people what to do
• [00:20:00] The ice cream story that turned Justin into a behavioral economist
• [00:34:57] Why your grandmother said "opposites attract" — and why she was wrong
• [00:37:54] The divorce statistic nobody is talking about
• [00:40:05] Why the 1950s marriage model was the historical anomaly, not the norm
• [00:42:01] The Easterlin Paradox — and why it was wrong
• [00:58:21] The 60/40 gender split in college enrollment
• [01:01:16] Is there a crisis of masculinity?
• [01:04:48] Why attacking institutions is the most dangerous economic move America can make
• [01:06:51] The optimist's closing argument
• [01:08:32] Why Justin named his Substack "Platypus Economics"

Resources Mentioned:

• Platypus Economics — Justin Wolfers's Substack, with a simple mission: teach the world economics in an accessible way that helps us all collectively understand it better:
  https://newsletter.platypuseconomics.com
• Principles of Economics (3rd Edition) by Betsey Stevenson and Justin Wolfers — Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Principles-Economics-Betsey-Stevenson/dp/1429237864
• Justin Wolfers's full research catalog — available at the National Bureau of Economic Research:
  https://www.nber.org (search "Justin Wolfers")
• Of Boys and Men: Why the Modern Male Is Struggling, Why It Matters, and What to Do About It by Richard V. Reeves — a Book of the Year according to The New Yorker and The Economist, and included in President Obama's 2024 summer reading list, tackling the structural challenges facing boys and men in education, the workplace, and family life:
  https://www.amazon.com/Boys-Men-Modern-Struggling-Matters/dp/0815739877

Featured Guest

Justin Wolfers is a professor of economics and public policy at the University of Michigan, a research associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research, a non-resident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and the Peterson Institute for International Economics, and a visiting professor of economics at the University of Sydney. He earned his PhD from Harvard University and his undergraduate degree from the University of Sydney, where he won the University Medal. Named by the IMF as one of the 25 economists under 45 shaping how we think about the global economy, he is the co-author of a leading undergraduate economics textbook and the author of the widely read Substack Platypus Economics.

Disclaimer: Any opinions expressed on Economics Matters are those of the authors and guests. These are not the opinions of Boston University or Economic Security Planning, Inc.