Econ Cafe: Recent Episodes

Michael Mandel & Sean Flynn

A lively conversation about today's news for economics students. In the length of a cup of coffee, Michael Mandel (author of "Economics: The Basics") and Sean Flynn (co-author of "Economics: Principles, Problems, and Policies" and "Economics for Dummies") cheerfully tackle the current events questions that economics students (and those that wish they were economics students) might be wondering about.

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Inflation is back--but for how long? Mike Mandel and Sean Flynn discuss the latest wave of inflation, and what might happen next. 

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President Biden has proposed a big infrastructure spending package. Mike Mandel and Sean Flynn talk about the economics of infrastructure. 

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Michael Mandel and Sean Flynn discuss the impact of President Biden's $1.9 trillion fiscal stimulus package. 

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Michael Mandel and Sean Flynn discuss the economics of developing the Covid vaccines.

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Michael Mandel and Sean Flynn discuss the link between the Covid Recession and the stock market. What do the ups and downs of the market mean for the economy and the ordinary person?

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Michael Mandel talks with Michael Baye and Jeff Prince, authors of  Managerial Economics & Business Strategy, about price discrimination in the Covid Economy. 

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Michael Mandel and Sean Flynn explain Fed Chairman Jerome Powell's big speech on New Economic Challenges and the Fed's Monetary Policy Review(August 27, 2020).  They discuss the Fed's new approach to inflation and monetary policy, and how it matters to economics students.

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We talk with Martha Field, co-author of Environmental Economics: An Introduction, about the pandemic's impact on the environment. 

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The pandemic has plunged the economy into a Covid Recession. Mike Mandel and Sean Flynn discuss why the Covid Recession is different from the Great Depression of 1929, and how government policy has changed. 

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The Covid pandemic caused some of the fastest, biggest shifts of supply and demand curves in history. Textbook authors Michael Mandel and Sean Flynn explains what it all means 

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Bitcoin and other "cryptocurrencies" are getting a lot of attention these days. Will central banks like the Federal Reserve adopt their own digital currencies?

Michael Mandelinterviews Steve Cecchetti and Kermit  Schoenholtz, authors of the textbook, Money, Banking and Financial Markets, about the plusses and minuses of central bank digital currencies.  They explain the economics central bank digital currencies, and why they are a bad idea for most countries. 

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Textbook authors Michael Mandel and Sean Flynn explain the July 2020 Gross Domestic Product (GDP) report, and what it means for the economy and for economics students. 

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Economic textbook authors Michael Mandel and Sean Flynn discuss how restaurants, casinos and other businesses are making shutdown decisions during the pandemic.