Nobel Prize Conversations  “It is very good at developing good work habits” In an increasingly chaotic world, how can you learn to concentrate deeply on a single problem? Guido Imbens found his powers of concentration while getting lost in chess games as a child. ”For four or five hours you would just shut out…

Nobel Prize Conversations  “I try to lead a conversation rather than telling students what to think” ”Sometimes I make a mistake during the lecture, I’ll make an argument that’s not quite right and not even notice it, and a student will catch me. I just love it when students do that.” Economic sciences laureate…

Nobel Prize Conversations  “I guess I was halfway content with the idea that somehow I’d become an economist” Robert B. Wilson didn’t really see himself as an economist until he reached the age of 50. In this conversation, conducted in March 2021, Wilson speaks about his journey to becoming an economist, about how he…

Nobel Prize Conversations “It was almost an accident that I ended up in economics” Meet economist Ben Bernanke in a podcast conversation. Bernanke tells us about his childhood interest in the origin of words, which ultimately led him to win spelling competitions as a child. He also speaks about economics and how that field unifies…

Nobel Prize Conversations In this digital conversation podcast we meet Christopher Pissarides, a humble London School of Economics professor who finished his PhD in two years and was awarded the 2010 prize in economic sciences. He and his co-laureates Peter Diamond and Dale Mortensen were awarded for finding ways to incorporate real-world frictions into the…

Nobel Prize Conversations Esther Duflo’s research improves our ability to fight global poverty. In just two decades, co-laureates Duflo, Banerjee and Kremer have transformed development economics with their innovative experiment-based approach, which is now a flourishing field of research. Thanks to their work we have clearer perspectives on the core problems within areas such as…

Nobel Prize Conversations How does it feel to be one of the most famous behavioural psychologists of our time? Daniel Kahneman says that it is perfectly fine to be famous as long as you don’t let it go to your head. From an early age, Kahneman was interested in people – he took after his…

Nobel Prize Conversations Imagine you’re married, but you never discussed children with your partner beforehand. Then imagine your partner doesn’t want children, but you do. Your wedding day contract made no mention of kids, and legally everything is fine – but you’re still disappointed. Contracts are everywhere in society, and the example of children and…

Nobel Prize Conversations How important is the money in your pocket? Try buying a sandwich with an IOU and a promise to come back and pay, and you’ll soon understand. Christopher Sims’ research explores topics from the meaning of money to his prize-awarded work on cause and effect in the macroeconomy. In this conversation, conducted…

Nobel Prize Conversations Should you be able to buy a kidney? Economic sciences laureate Alvin Roth would call that, and other taboo exchanges, repugnant transactions. Roth pioneered ways of describing outlier markets where prices don’t work, explaining why you can’t buy a job at Google, acceptance at Yale – or a human organ. This Nobel…