Explain It to Me

Matt and Dara are joined by Vox's Dylan Scott to talk about his new Pandemic Playbook project from Vox, exploring how six nations coped with the Covid-19 pandemic, and evaluating what we can all learn from their experiences to help us with the next pandemic. In this episode, Dylan talks with Matt and Dara about how South Korea's response to Covid-19 was shaped in many ways by the 2015 MERS outbreak, and about how the South Korean people's relationship to their government contrasts with the situation in the U.S. Then, some research is analyzed that aims to evaluate a correlation between female representation in the venture capital industry with news coverage of a high-profile trial. Resources: "The Pandemic Playbook: Vox explores the successes — and setbacks — in six nations as they fought Covid-19" by Dylan Scott, Vox (Apr. 19, 2021) "South Korea's Covid-19 success story started with failure" by Dylan Scott and Jun Michael Park, Vox (Apr. 19, 2021) White paper Hosts: Matt Yglesias (@mattyglesias), Slowboring.com Dara Lind (@DLind), Immigration Reporter, ProPublica Dylan Scott (@dylanlscott), Policy Reporter, Vox Credits: Erikk Geannikis, Editor and Producer As the Biden administration gears up, we'll help you understand this unprecedented burst of policymaking. Sign up for The Weeds newsletter each Friday: vox.com/weeds-newsletter. The Weeds is a Vox Media Podcast Network production. Want to support The Weeds? Please consider making a contribution to Vox: bit.ly/givepodcasts About Vox Vox is a news network that helps you cut through the noise and understand what's really driving the events in the headlines. Follow Us: Vox.com Facebook group: The Weeds Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

21 Apr 20211h 6min

Matt is joined by author and podcast host Julia Galef to talk about her new book The Scout Mindset. They talk about the difference between epistemic and social confidence, the role of uncertainty in thinking critically, and — most of all — about fighting with people on the internet. Resources: The Scout Mindset: Why Some People See Things Clearly and Others Don't by Julia Galef (Apr. 2021) Guest: Julia Galef (@juliagalef), Author, host of the Rationally Speaking podcast Host: Matt Yglesias (@mattyglesias), Slowboring.com Credits: Erikk Geannikis, Editor and Producer As the Biden administration gears up, we'll help you understand this unprecedented burst of policymaking. Sign up for The Weeds newsletter each Friday: vox.com/weeds-newsletter. The Weeds is a Vox Media Podcast Network production. Want to support The Weeds? Please consider making a contribution to Vox: bit.ly/givepodcasts About Vox Vox is a news network that helps you cut through the noise and understand what's really driving the events in the headlines. Follow Us: Vox.com Facebook group: The Weeds Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

17 Apr 20211h 6min

It's an all white paper episode, folks. Vox climate reporter Umair Irfan joins Matt and Dara to take on three research papers all concerning climate change: first, on the social costs of carbon; then on the disparate effects of temperature rise on a diverse array of geographic regions; finally, on global migration due to climate change. Be sure to check out the bonus content on the short-form version of The Weeds that comes out Wednesday mornings as part of Vox Quick Hits. Subscribe to Vox Quick Hits wherever you get your podcasts. Resources: White Paper #1: "Revisiting the cost of social carbon" by William D. Nordhaus, PNAS 114 (7) 1518-1528; Feb. 2017. See also Umair's article on this paper: "Climate change is a global injustice. A new study shows why" by Umair Irfan, Vox (Sep. 26, 2018) White Paper #2: "The Economic Geography of Global Warming" by Jose Luis Cruz Alvarez & Esteban Rossi-Hansberg, NBER Working Paper 28466; Feb. 2021. White Paper #3: "Climate Vulnerability and Human Migration in Global Perspective" by Martina Grecequet, Jack DeWard, Jessica J. Hamilton, and Guy J. Abel, Sustainability 9 (5), Apr. 2017. Hosts: Matt Yglesias (@mattyglesias), Slowboring.com Dara Lind (@DLind), Immigration Reporter, ProPublica Umair Irfan (@umairfan), Staff Writer, Vox Credits: Erikk Geannikis, Editor and Producer As the Biden administration gears up, we'll help you understand this unprecedented burst of policymaking. Sign up for The Weeds newsletter each Friday: vox.com/weeds-newsletter. The Weeds is a Vox Media Podcast Network production. Want to support The Weeds? Please consider making a contribution to Vox: bit.ly/givepodcasts About Vox Vox is a news network that helps you cut through the noise and understand what's really driving the events in the headlines. Follow Us: Vox.com Facebook group: The Weeds Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

14 Apr 202156min

Matt is joined by Faiz Shakir, a top adviser to Sen. Bernie Sanders and the former manager of his 2020 presidential campaign, to talk about adopting a working class lens for crafting progressive policy, cultivating an ethic of solidarity, and about the organization he founded, More Perfect Union, which aims to craft media that centers working people. Faiz also gets Matt to go on the record about how his own feelings on Bernie have evolved, from the 2016 campaign to now. Resources: Mission Statement, More Perfect Union Guest: Faiz Shakir (@fshakir), Adviser, Sen. Bernie Sanders, and Founder, More Perfect Union Host: Matt Yglesias (@mattyglesias), Slowboring.com Credits: Erikk Geannikis, Editor and Producer Bernie Sanders, Would have won As the Biden administration gears up, we'll help you understand this unprecedented burst of policymaking. Sign up for The Weeds newsletter each Friday: vox.com/weeds-newsletter. The Weeds is a Vox Media Podcast Network production. Want to support The Weeds? Please consider making a contribution to Vox: bit.ly/givepodcasts About Vox Vox is a news network that helps you cut through the noise and understand what's really driving the events in the headlines. Follow Us: Vox.com Facebook group: The Weeds Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

10 Apr 20211h 6min

Matt and Dara are joined by Vox's Dylan Scott to examine the $400 billion portion of Biden's $2 trillion infrastructure plan that is designated for the "caretaking economy." Is this merely an expansion of Medicaid? Does it actually address fundamental structural issues in the economics of long-term care? Plus, some research is examined that helps illustrate the power of "defaults" in ACA-type health insurance marketplaces. Resources: "White House unveils $2 trillion infrastructure and climate plan, setting up giant battle over size and cost of government" by Jeff Stein, Juliet Eilperin, Michael Laris and Tony Romm, Washington Post (Apr. 1, 2021) "How Biden's infrastructure plan could leave child care behind" by Anna North, Vox (Apr. 3, 2021) "Joe Biden is stretching Obamacare as far as it can go" by Dylan Scott, Vox (Mar. 29, 2021) "Exclusive: Nearly 7 million uninsured Americans qualify for free health insurance" by Dylan Scott, Vox (Apr. 1, 2021) White paper Hosts: Matt Yglesias (@mattyglesias), Slowboring.com Dara Lind (@DLind), Immigration Reporter, ProPublica Dylan Scott (@dylanlscott), Policy Reporter, Vox Credits: Erikk Geannikis, Editor and Producer As the Biden administration gears up, we'll help you understand this unprecedented burst of policymaking. Sign up for The Weeds newsletter each Friday: vox.com/weeds-newsletter. The Weeds is a Vox Media Podcast Network production. Want to support The Weeds? Please consider making a contribution to Vox: bit.ly/givepodcasts About Vox Vox is a news network that helps you cut through the noise and understand what's really driving the events in the headlines. Follow Us: Vox.com Facebook group: The Weeds Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

7 Apr 20211h 6min

Matt is joined by Alyssa Rosenberg, cultural critic and opinion columnist at the Washington Post, to talk about the intersection of criticism and politics. Should J.K. Rowling's recent anti-trans political statements retroactively alter the critical appraisal of Harry Potter? Can one be a fan of a cop show like Brooklyn Nine-Nine without committing to the show's interior politics? And can a show operate without interior politics when it, like David Simon's The Wire, confronts problems in policing at the institutional level — but happens to be a sitcom? Resources: "Why the world's most powerful people just want to podcast and make TV shows" by Alyssa Rosenberg, Washington Post (Mar. 25, 2021) "'I was appalled to be tarred as misogynist': Variety critic hits back at Carey Mulligan's sexism accusations" by Catherine Shoard, The Guardian (Jan. 28, 2021) Guest: Alyssa Rosenberg (@AlyssaRosenberg), Opinion columnist covering culture, Washington Post Host: Matt Yglesias (@mattyglesias), Slowboring.com Credits: Erikk Geannikis, Editor and Producer As the Biden administration gears up, we'll help you understand this unprecedented burst of policymaking. Sign up for The Weeds newsletter each Friday: vox.com/weeds-newsletter. The Weeds is a Vox Media Podcast Network production. Want to support The Weeds? Please consider making a contribution to Vox: bit.ly/givepodcasts About Vox Vox is a news network that helps you cut through the noise and understand what's really driving the events in the headlines. Follow Us: Vox.com Facebook group: The Weeds Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

3 Apr 20211h 5min

Matt and Dara are joined by Vox Senior Correspondent Ian Millhiser to discuss the future of judicial appointments in Biden Administration — starting with the spate of appointees announced on Tuesday, just as we began taping. They also discuss some new research about the historical roadshow of the 1915 film The Birth of a Nation around the country, and how this correlated with an uptick in racial violence in roadshow localities in the ensuing years. Resources: "What Biden's first list of judicial nominees tells us about his approach to the courts" by Ian Millhiser, Vox (Mar. 30, 2021) The Agenda: How a Republican Supreme Court is Reshaping America by Ian Millhiser (Mar. 30, 2021) White paper Hosts: Matt Yglesias (@mattyglesias), Slowboring.com Dara Lind (@DLind), Immigration Reporter, ProPublica Ian Millhiser (@imillhiser), Senior Correspondent, Vox Credits: Erikk Geannikis, Editor and Producer As the Biden administration gears up, we'll help you understand this unprecedented burst of policymaking. Sign up for The Weeds newsletter each Friday: vox.com/weeds-newsletter. The Weeds is a Vox Media Podcast Network production. Want to support The Weeds? Please consider making a contribution to Vox: bit.ly/givepodcasts About Vox Vox is a news network that helps you cut through the noise and understand what's really driving the events in the headlines. Follow Us: Vox.com Facebook group: The Weeds Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

31 Mars 20211h

Matt is joined by political scientist and author Ruy Teixeira to talk about how Democratic messaging has gone wrong, and how to get it right. Resources: "Immigrant Neighborhoods Shifted Red as the Country Chose Blue" by Weiyi Cai and Ford Fessenden, New York Times (Dec. 20, 2020) "The Five Deadly Sins of the Left" by Ruy Teixeira, American Compass (Oct. 13, 2020) "'Hidden Tribes,' the new report centrists are using to explain away polarization, explained" by Zack Beauchamp, Vox (Oct. 22, 2018) Guest: Ruy Teixeira, Senior Fellow, Center for American Progress Host: Matt Yglesias (@mattyglesias), Slowboring.com Credits: Erikk Geannikis, Editor and Producer As the Biden administration gears up, we'll help you understand this unprecedented burst of policymaking. Sign up for The Weeds newsletter each Friday: vox.com/weeds-newsletter. The Weeds is a Vox Media Podcast Network production. Want to support The Weeds? Please consider making a contribution to Vox: bit.ly/givepodcasts About Vox Vox is a news network that helps you cut through the noise and understand what's really driving the events in the headlines. Follow Us: Vox.com Facebook group: The Weeds Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

27 Mars 20211h 1min