Chicago Booth Review Podcast

Leaders are often told to be their authentic selves, but what does that actually mean? Chicago Booth's Samantha Coleman thinks that authenticity is a choice. How do we make that choice, and what are the consequences of being authentic?

How much do consumers care about shoppers' reviews and product photos? And can economists capture that information and turn it into data? Chicago Booth's Giovanni Compiani talks about his research using AI to analyze "unstructured data." Could his approach help retailers to measure the "vibe" of a product?

How good are you at selling? Or do you think that you don't need to be? Our guest today would like you to think again. Chicago Booth's Michael Alter wants us to think about sales as less about convincing people and more about listening to them.

People with a net worth at least $5m are heavily overrepresented in politics. That enables them to bend the law to benefit themselves. Many tend to be business owners, and some have used policymaking to make their companies more profitable. How have they done that, and what should we do about it? Welcome to the Chicago Booth Review podcast, where we bring you groundbreaking academic research in a clear and straightforward way. I'm Hal Weitzman, and today, I'm talking with Chicago Booth's Eric Zwick about the book he's written with Owen Zidar, The Everywhere Millionaire: Who Is Really Rich in America and How They Got There. This is our second conversation about the book. If you missed last week's episode, it might be useful to start there. Today, we're looking at how these "Everywhere Millionaires" shape our political system. In some cases, what are touted as "small businesses" turn out to be multibillion dollar enterprises that manipulate the tax code and other policy tools to reap ever-bigger profits.

When you think of someone who's rich, who comes to mind? The billionaires of Silicon Valley, AI entrepreneurs or the titans of Wall St? But what about toilet paper and toothbrush manufacturers, chicken processors and burger chain owners? Chicago Booth's Eric Zwick talks about his book, "The Everywhere Millionaire: Who Is Really Rich in America and How They Got There." This is the first of two episodes about the book, which chronicles the rise of a class of mainly business owners with a net worth of at least $5m, and who are typically worth around $25m. How did Zwick discover them? How do they make their money? And what does their emergence as a group tell us about the American dream?