Episodes
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During the 2024 U.S. presidential election, inflation was one of the most talked about issues, and there was one policy idea to get inflation under control that kept coming up: price caps. But history has shown time and time again that price caps do anything but reduce inflation. So why do policymakers still want to try it?
In this episode, hosts and finance professors Jonathan Berk and Jules van Binsbergen speak with guest Veronica Rappoport, associate professor at London School of Economics and former 2nd Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Argentina. Veronica served as the deputy governor during a key period of high inflation for Argentina.
She chats with Jonathan and Jules about the circumstances that can lead to inflation rates as high as the ones Argentina has seen in the last 50 years, how band-aids like price caps can in fact make inflation significantly worse in the long run, and what lessons countries like the U.S. can take from Argentina’s case.
Find All Else Equal on the web:
https://lauder.wharton.upenn.edu/allelse/All Else Equal: Making Better Decisions Podcast is a production of the UPenn Wharton Lauder Institute through University FM.
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Should legacy admissions at colleges and universities be banned? What are the benefits and tradeoffs of admitting students based on their legacy status?
In this episode, hosts and finance professors Jonathan Berk and Jules van Binsbergen speak with guest Patrick Awuah, president of Ashesi University, about the Ghanaian university’s unique economic engine and the place for legacy admissions in the higher ed world.
The conversation delves into how Ashesi University balances economic sustainability with educational inclusivity, the ethical and financial implications of legacy admissions, and tackles the controversial question, does admitting legacy students from wealthy families benefit the greater good of an institution?
Find All Else Equal on the web:
https://lauder.wharton.upenn.edu/allelse/All Else Equal: Making Better Decisions Podcast is a production of the UPenn Wharton Lauder Institute through University FM.
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Missing episodes?
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The All Else Equal: Making Better Decisions podcast has officially done 50 episodes! To commemorate the milestone, hosts and finance professors Jonathan Berk and Jules van Binsbergen look back on some of the major all else equal mistakes they’ve covered on the show.
With highlights from past guests like Google CFO Ruth Porat and former SEC chair Jay Clayton, Jonathan and Jules provide insight on the pitfalls of oversimplified decision-making, regulatory challenges, correlation vs. causation, and what organizations can do to avoid making the same all else equal mistakes.
Links to past episodes referenced in the show:
"Secrets of a Stockpicking Star" with Cliff Asness
"Turning ‘Bad’ Investments into Good Profits" with Pete Briger
"Why Has Private Equity Grown So Much?" with Eric Zinterhofer
"Why the Private Debt Markets Have Exploded" with Laurence Gottlieb
“Making Regulation Work” with Jay Clayton
“Investigating Implausible Theories” with John Ioannidis
“Institutional Neutrality: Open Debate and Moral Stands” with John Etchemendy
“Making a Business Decision” with Ruth Porat
“The Future of Higher Education Part 2” with Niall Ferguson
“Disentangling Causation and Correlation” with Guido Imbens
“Fair or Unfair: Do Competitive Markets Give Everyone a Chance?” with John Cochrane
“May Contain Lies” with Alex Edmans
“Understanding the SEC's New Climate Disclosure Rules” with Lawrence Cunningham
“Finance Professors on Why Leaders Can’t ‘Agree to Disagree’” with Robert Aumann
Find All Else Equal on the web:
https://lauder.wharton.upenn.edu/allelse/
All Else Equal: Making Better Decisions Podcast is a production of the UPenn Wharton Lauder Institute through University FM.
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If the purpose of a proxy advisory firm is to gather information and advise shareholders on how to vote, then how do the firms handle the many different goals and incentives each shareholder brings to the table? Where do the proxy advisory firms’ interests truly lie?
In this episode, hosts and finance professors Jonathan Berk and Jules van Binsbergen speak with guest Chester Spatt, finance professor at Carnegie Mellon University and former Chief Economist at U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, about the function and purpose of proxy advisory firms, such as Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) and Glass Lewis.
The conversation delves into the differing objectives and incentives among shareholders and how that complicates the work of a proxy advisory firm. They also discuss how and why proxy advisory firms may purposely foster close votes, and what could serve as better voting benchmarks.
Find All Else Equal on the web:
https://lauder.wharton.upenn.edu/allelse/All Else Equal: Making Better Decisions Podcast is a production of the UPenn Wharton Lauder Institute through University FM.
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Regulation is meant to fix problems in the market, but as more and more regulation is introduced, those issues have a tendency to evolve into new ones. So is all this regulation even accomplishing what it set out to do? And how do you even measure the success of regulation to begin with?
In this episode, hosts and finance professors Jonathan Berk and Jules van Binsbergen sit down with Jay Clayton, former chairperson of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. They chat with Jay about the unintended consequences of regulation, the increasing challenges facing regulatory bodies in today’s political landscape, and debate whether more regulation helps or hurts the overall market.Find All Else Equal on the web:
https://lauder.wharton.upenn.edu/allelse/
All Else Equal: Making Better Decisions Podcast is a production of the UPenn Wharton Lauder Institute through University FM.
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Are CEOs overpaid? It’s easy to see million-dollar (or even billion-dollar) salaries and jump to conclusions. But those figures might not capture the full picture. So, what really goes into deciding CEO compensation?
In this episode, hosts and finance professors Jonathan Berk and Jules van Binsbergen welcome back Dirk Jenter, Professor of Finance at the London School of Economics. Together, they debunk some common myths about how CEO compensation is set, explore the value that CEOs add to firms, and make the case for why CEOs could actually be paid more.
Find All Else Equal on the web:
https://lauder.wharton.upenn.edu/allelse/
All Else Equal: Making Better Decisions Podcast is a production of the UPenn Wharton Lauder Institute through University FM.
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What is the best way to measure National Debt Sustainability, and how does the US do on those metrics compared to other countries? In the first episode of the new season, hosts and finance professors Jonathan Berk and Jules van Binsbergen speak with guest Mohamed El-Erian about the intricacies of the national debt, different measures of sustainability, and the implications of rising debt for national and global economies. Mohamed, Jonathan, and Jules also explore the broader macroeconomic and geopolitical factors at play. They discuss the importance of demographic shifts as well as recent technological advancements (AI) for economic growth and our fiscal future.
El-Erian is the former chair of President Obama's Global Development Council and former CEO of PIMCO. He is a Senior Fellow at the Lauder Institute.
Find All Else Equal on the web:
https://lauder.wharton.upenn.edu/allelse/All Else Equal: Making Better Decisions Podcast is a production of the UPenn Wharton Lauder Institute through University FM.
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This summer break, we'll be taking a pause from uploading new episodes. However, Jules and Jonathan have handpicked some favorite past episodes for new listeners to enjoy and subscribers to revisit!
Corporations are often characterized as evil entities that exploit workers. But in fact they enable firms to provide job security and thus serve the important role of minimizing risk for individual employees.
In this episode of All Else Equal: Making Better Decisions, hosts and finance professors Jonathan Berk and Jules van Binsbergen explore how corporations set employees’ wages based on their job performance while still providing job security by comparing it to an insurance contract. “I think, in fact, you could think of corporations as entities that insure workers,” says Jonathan Berk.
Also in this episode, Jonathan and Jules talk about bankruptcy, house fires, and why your supervisor hasn’t fired that one annoying coworker who doesn’t do anything.
Submit your questions to the show here: https://bit.ly/AllElseEqual
Find All Else Equal on the web: https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/business-podcasts/all-else-equal-making-better-decisions
All Else Equal: Making Better Decisions Podcast is a production of Stanford Graduate School of Business and is produced by University FM.
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This summer break, we'll be taking a pause from uploading new episodes. However, Jules and Jonathan have handpicked some favorite past episodes for new listeners to enjoy and subscribers to revisit!
When the scientific method began to be applied widely hundreds of years ago, innovation bloomed. Today, those same principles inform business leaders who rely on data analysis to set and shape direction.
In this episode of All Else Equal, professors Jonathan Berk and Jules van Binsbergen speak with Alphabet CFO Ruth Porat about how to — and how not to — use data to make decisions.
“It’s too easy to just anchor on a set of numbers,” Porat says. “Most important is to look at the trends over time, then break it down to the sensitivity analysis — what are the key variables that will drive behavior one way or another?
“Coming with just a flat set of data is not constructive because obviously the world in which we live is not static.”
Submit your questions to the show here: https://bit.ly/AllElseEqual
Find All Else Equal on the web: https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/business-podcasts/all-else-equal-making-better-decisions
All Else Equal: Making Better Decisions Podcast is a production of Stanford Graduate School of Business and is produced by University FM.
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
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This summer break, we'll be taking a pause from uploading new episodes. However, Jules and Jonathan have handpicked some favorite past episodes for new listeners to enjoy and subscribers to revisit!
There’s a negative connotation associated with short selling – the act of betting against a stock to perform well. But is this trading practice truly a bad thing?
In this episode of All Else Equal: Making Better Decisions, hosts and finance professors Jonathan Berk and Jules van Binsbergen build the case for short selling as a dynamic regulating force in the free market. And an incentive for individuals to investigate and expose fraud.
Later in the episode, Jonathan and Jules speak with Marc Cohodes, whose notable short-selling decisions have landed him in hot water with powerful figures all over the world. Cohodes has exposed a series of fraudulent practices – from mortgage lender Novastar to digital finance giant Wirecard, and most recently the cryptocurrency exchange FDX – and shares his view on the role of short sellers to step in where government regulation fails.
Submit your questions to the show here: https://bit.ly/AllElseEqual
Find All Else Equal on the web: https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/business-podcasts/all-else-equal-making-better-decisions
All Else Equal: Making Better Decisions Podcast is a production of Stanford Graduate School of Business and is produced by University FM.
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
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This summer break, we'll be taking a pause from uploading new episodes. However, Jules and Jonathan have handpicked some favorite past episodes for new listeners to enjoy and subscribers to revisit!
Competitive markets don’t produce the same level of prosperity for everyone. But economist John Cochrane thinks they give us something essential — incentives.
In this episode of All Else Equal: Making Better Decisions, hosts Jules van Binsbergen and Jonathan Berk are joined by Cochrane, a prominent free-market economist and a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University.
According to Cochrane, competition gives us the motivation to work, serve the needs of others, and innovate. A system with incentives, he says, “is the only one where we all don't end up worse.”
Submit your questions to the show here: https://bit.ly/AllElseEqual
Find All Else Equal on the web: https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/business-podcasts/all-else-equal-making-better-decisions
All Else Equal: Making Better Decisions Podcast is a production of Stanford Graduate School of Business and is produced by University FM.
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
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This summer break, we'll be taking a pause from uploading new episodes. However, Jules and Jonathan have handpicked some favorite past episodes for new listeners to enjoy and subscribers to revisit!
How can investors play a part in accomplishing social change? In this episode of All Else Equal: Making Better Decisions, hosts Jules van Binsbergen and Jonathan Berk explore what strategies are available to the social-minded investor.
When it comes to what’s good for business and what’s good for society, van Binsbergen says, “People really would like to have it both ways.” But as he and Berk explain, it is unlikely that they can.
The Impact of Impact Investing working paper referenced in this episode. Read more about the pitfalls and promises of ESG on Stanford GSB's website.
Submit your questions to the show here: https://bit.ly/AllElseEqual
Find All Else Equal on the web: https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/business-podcasts/all-else-equal-making-better-decisions
All Else Equal: Making Better Decisions Podcast is a production of Stanford Graduate School of Business and is produced by University FM.
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
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This summer break, we'll be taking a pause from uploading new episodes. However, Jules and Jonathan have handpicked some favorite past episodes for new listeners to enjoy and subscribers to revisit!
In this episode, hosts Jules van Binsbergen and Jonathan Berk discuss the complexities of the corporate income tax with former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, who argues for retaining the tax.
Summers explains why taxing corporations is one of the most effective tools the federal government has in making sure the wealthy pay their fair share. Might there be room for improvement? Yes, Summers says, but don’t abolish it. “Before we are critical of that tax, we better make awfully sure that we have a superior alternative.”
Submit your questions to the show here: https://bit.ly/AllElseEqual
Find All Else Equal on the web: https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/business-podcasts/all-else-equal-making-better-decisions
All Else Equal: Making Better Decisions Podcast is a production of Stanford Graduate School of Business and is produced by University FM.
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
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This summer break, we'll be taking a pause from uploading new episodes. However, Jules and Jonathan have handpicked some favorite past episodes for new listeners to enjoy and subscribers to revisit!
When it comes to investments, value sometimes resides in unlikely places. Pete Briger, CEO of Fortress Investment Group, specializes in buying bad debt and spinning it into gold.In this episode of All Else Equal, Briger, who dubs himself a “garbage collector,” describes how he makes decisions and why being prepared to act quickly and decisively is crucial for success.
In a market bristling with competitors, “the competitive edge you get may be expressed in the context of days,” Briger says.
Submit your questions to the show here: https://bit.ly/AllElseEqual
Find All Else Equal on the web: https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/business-podcasts/all-else-equal-making-better-decisions
All Else Equal: Making Better Decisions Podcast is a production of Stanford Graduate School of Business and is produced by University FM.
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
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What is the real problem with misinformation? Are our biases so ingrained in us that we are unable to think critically about the world and the systems around us? What happens when large institutions attempt to push a heterodox narrative? Do we simply need more education to overcome misinformation, or do we need something much deeper—to learn to think critically again? In this episode, hosts and finance professors Jonathan Berk and Jules van Binsbergen welcome Alex Edmans, Professor of Finance at London Business School to discuss his latest book, May Contain Lies: How Stories, Statistics, and Studies Exploit Our Biases – And What We Can Do About It.
Submit your questions to the show here: https://bit.ly/AllElseEqual
Find All Else Equal on the web: https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/business-podcasts/all-else-equal-making-better-decisions
All Else Equal: Making Better Decisions Podcast is a production of Stanford Graduate School of Business and is produced by University FM.
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
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What are the unseen costs of administrative bureaucracy and an ideology that favors victimhood over scholarly debate? What caused the ideological shift from classical liberalism to the illiberal leanings that now permeate universities, and what does it mean for the future of intellectual innovation and freedom? In this episode, hosts and finance professors Jonathan Berk and Jules van Binsbergen welcome Niall Ferguson, the Millbank Family Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University and a Senior Faculty Fellow at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard University, for a discussion of Niall’s solution to the current problems – a new university.
Submit your questions to the show here: https://bit.ly/AllElseEqual
Find All Else Equal on the web: https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/business-podcasts/all-else-equal-making-better-decisions
All Else Equal: Making Better Decisions Podcast is a production of Stanford Graduate School of Business and is produced by University FM.
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
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Should universities be primarily research and teaching institutions or should they have broader social responsibilities to today’s youth? How are institutions navigating the delicate dance of institutional neutrality among very hot-button and controversial issues? In this episode, hosts and finance professors Jonathan Berk and Jules van Binsbergen welcome Carmen Twillie Ambar, President of Oberlin College, and Kimberly Wright Cassidy, President of Bryn Mawr College, to discuss the shape, motivations, and responsibilities of Higher Education today and also going forward.
Submit your questions to the show here: https://bit.ly/AllElseEqual
Find All Else Equal on the web: https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/business-podcasts/all-else-equal-making-better-decisions
All Else Equal: Making Better Decisions Podcast is a production of Stanford Graduate School of Business and is produced by University FM.
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
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Is Suze Orman giving out bad investment advice? Should you ever not refinance rates drop? Is dilution of stock a bad thing for the early stockholders? Should you dollar cost average? In this episode, hosts and finance professors Jonathan Berk and Jules van Binsbergen evaluate three pieces of widely given investing advice and drill down for why each one is actually bad investment advice.
Submit your questions to the show here: https://bit.ly/AllElseEqual
Find All Else Equal on the web: https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/business-podcasts/all-else-equal-making-better-decisions
All Else Equal: Making Better Decisions Podcast is a production of Stanford Graduate School of Business and is produced by University FM.
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
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What could be the reason to delay investing in an option that will make you money? How do your investment opportunities expand when you make that choice? In this episode, hosts and finance professors Jonathan Berk and Jules van Binsbergen discuss the concept of real options in finance, focusing particularly on investment decision-making. They also address the challenge of valuing growth options in uncertain investment environments, emphasizing the importance of flexibility and the potential to create value through well-timed information and decisions.
Submit your questions to the show here: https://bit.ly/AllElseEqual
Find All Else Equal on the web: https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/business-podcasts/all-else-equal-making-better-decisions
All Else Equal: Making Better Decisions Podcast is a production of Stanford Graduate School of Business and is produced by University FM.
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
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Why should climate risk be singled out for mandatory disclosure by the SEC, and how does this change the investment landscape? Can climate disclosure legislation walk the fine line between transparency and information overload? In this episode, hosts and finance professors Jonathan Berk and Jules van Binsbergen welcome Lawrence Cunningham, Research Professor of Law Emeritus at GW Law and special counsel with Mayer Brown LLP, to explore the arguments for and against the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) mandating climate risk disclosures for companies.
Submit your questions to the show here: https://bit.ly/AllElseEqual
Find All Else Equal on the web: https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/business-podcasts/all-else-equal-making-better-decisions
All Else Equal: Making Better Decisions Podcast is a production of Stanford Graduate School of Business and is produced by University FM.
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
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