But first, I give a little book review of The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander. The book illustrated some vital concepts that are often missing from our conversation on race. I share some highlights. Then, it's a voicemail segment during which I talk at length about a column a lot of people have been sharing lately. It's called When Progressives Embrace Hate and it talks about the leaders of the Women's March and their ties to some questionable people. Hollywood Harris Hit Piece; Article with Anti-Semitism Poll Leave Thomas a voicemail! (916) 750-4746, remember short and to the point! Support us on Patreon at: patreon.com/seriouspod Follow us on Twitter: @seriouspod Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/seriouspod For comments, email thomas@seriouspod.com
What would you expect from a video game inspired by Henry David Thoreau’s sojourn in the woods? In Walden, a game, players can contemplate the forest, go boating with Ralph Waldo Emerson, and practice civil disobedience. The game was developed by the Game Innovation Lab at the University of Southern California. Lab Director Tracy Fullerton explains why she thinks Thoreau might have liked the game.
In the Spiel, our faith in the military might not be blind, but it is blinkered.
The economic recovery is now showing up in state budgets, but massive threats still loom for state budgets. Chief among those threats is the pressure of state pensions. Eileen Norcross of the Mercatus Center comments.
Retirement accounts can be the best way to secure your future--but the rules can be confusing. Laura answers four IRA questions about who's eligible, the rules for doing rollovers, and tips to retire early. Get the Money Girl book at http://MoneyGirlBook.com.
Psychologist and neuroscientist Lisa Feldman Barrett is the grand inquisitor of human emotions. Her book, How Emotions Are Made, inspired a big chunk of the latest season of NPR’s Invisibilia. Barrett says scientific research shows that emotions are highly variable and utter creations of our minds. Some of her resulting conclusions may surprise you.
In the Spiel, Mike goes there: white privilege and rape culture.
The Low Income Housing Tax Credit is supposed to help low-income people secure housing, so why give the benefits directly to developers? Vanessa Brown Calder explains why it should go away.
The system that runs the ride-sharing company Uber doesn’t just link up passengers and drivers based on price. It also has to connect the two based largely on where they are geographically. It is, says Nobel laureate Stanford economist Alvin E. “Al” Al Roth, a matching market.
In this Social Science Bites podcast, Roth explains to interview David Edmonds some of the ins and outs of market matching, starting with a quick and surprisingly simple definition.
“A matching market is a market in which prices don’t so all the work,” Roth details, “So matching markets are markets in which you can’t just choose what you want even if you can afford it – you also have to be chosen.” But while the definition is simple, creating a model for these markets is a tad more complex, as Roth shows in offering a few more examples and contrasting them with commodity markets.
“Labor markets are matching markets. You can’t just decide to work for Google – you have to be hired. And Google can’t just decide that you’ll work for them – they have to make you an offer.” And like say university admission, matching markets require something to intervene, whether it be institutions or technology, to make this exchange succeed. In turn Roth himself helped engineer some high profile matches in areas where the term ‘market might not traditionally have been used: kidney donors with the sick, doctors with their first jobs, or students and teachers with schools. Or even the classic idea of ‘matchmaking’ – marriage.
Roth turned to game theory to help explain and understand these markets, and his work won he and Lloyd Shapley the 2012 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences. As the Nobel Committee outlined:
"Lloyd Shapley studied different matching methods theoretically and, beginning in the 1980s, Alvin Roth used Lloyd Shapley's theoretical results to explain how markets function in practice. Through empirical studies and lab experiments, Alvin Roth demonstrated that stability was critical to successful matching methods."
Roth is currently president of the American Economics Association, and sits as the Craig and Susan McCaw professor of economics at Stanford University. He is also the Gund professor of economics and business administration emeritus at Harvard University
In this episode, the Goods from the Woods Boys are ALL FIRED UP! They're joined in a talk about trading cards, soda, and more by comedian and host of the Nexus at Night Podcast, Atlas Novack. This episode goes into some detail about Cardfight Vanguard, Magic the Gathering, and the awful would-be successors to the Garbage Pail Kids like "Bathroom Buddies" and "Silly CD's". We explore the Dungeons & Dragons' completely terrible attempt at a customizable card game: "Spellfire" and we also taste test the new (not too bad) Pepsi Fire. Plus: Dr. Pat puts The Sooty Show into the Goods from the Woods Hall of Fame! Follow Atlas on Twitter @AtlasNovack. Song of the week this week: "Years in Miles" by Joseph Mosman. Follow the show @TheGoodsPod Rivers is @RiversLangley Dr. Pat is @PM_Reilly Mr. Goodnight is @SepulvedaCowboy Pick up a Goods from the Woods t-shirt at: http://prowrestlingtees.com/TheGoodsPod
For today's show, we revisit the topic first discussed in Opening Arguments Episode #60, namely, whether Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964's prohibition of discrimination on the basis of "sex" implicitly extends to prohibiting discrimination on the basis of "sexual orientation" as well. First, however, fan favorite "Breakin' Down the Law" returns with an explanation of civil and criminal asset forfeiture and a new policy announced by Attorney General (for now) Jeff Sessions. In the main segment, we contrast the amicus brief filed by the U.S. Department of Justice in Zarda v. Altitude Express with the 7th Circuit's opinion in Hively v. Ivy Tech Community College of Indiana. Find out why your government just submitted a brief arguing that employers have the right to hang a sign that says "no homosexuals need apply." After that, Patron Jordan Keith explains a bit more about the TOR browser as a follow-up to Opening Arguments Episode #88's discussion of U.S. v. Matish. Finally, we end with the answer to Thomas Take the Bar Exam Question #34 regarding the rape shield law, FRE 412. Listen and find out if Thomas makes it back to .500! And don't forget to play along by following our Twitter feed (@Openargs) and/or our Facebook Page and quoting the Tweet or Facebook Post that announces this episode along with your guess and reason(s)! Recent Appearances: Andrew was just a guest on Episode 15 of Molly Unmormon's "Doubting Dogma" podcast -- give it a listen! Show Notes & Links
