Left: Alexi Horowitz-Ghazi helped author Brian Merchant commune with the Luddites by smashing machines. Right: Economist Kevin Lang visited an 1830s historical village to ride in a horse-drawn trolley.
Alexi Horowitz-Ghazi/NPR
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Left: Alexi Horowitz-Ghazi helped author Brian Merchant commune with the Luddites by smashing machines. Right: Economist Kevin Lang visited an 1830s historical village to ride in a horse-drawn trolley.
Alexi Horowitz-Ghazi/NPR
The world of economics has these two different sides. One one side, there are the economists in their cozy armchairs and dusty libraries, high up in their ivory towers. On the other, there’s the messy world we’re all living in, where those economics are actually playing out.
Sometimes, researchers will write about something that they themselves have never actually experienced. Sure, they’ve thought about it, theorized, come up with smart analyses…but that’s not the same as getting out of that armchair and into the real world.
Alexi and Darian pose with their 1620 calorie Bloomin’ Onion and some of the new friends they made while searching for socioeconomic mixing at Outback Steakhouse.
Alexi Horowitz-Ghazi/NPR
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Alexi and Darian pose with their 1620 calorie Bloomin’ Onion and some of the new friends they made while searching for socioeconomic mixing at Outback Steakhouse.
Alexi Horowitz-Ghazi/NPR
So, in this episode, we play our own version of Never Have I Ever. We dare two researchers to go places and do things they have never done before, in hopes of learning something new about the economic world around us.
(Okay, fine, it’s maybe more like Truth or Dare…but go with us here.)
Today’s episode was hosted by Alexi Horowitz-Ghazi and produced by Emma Peaslee with help from Willa Rubin. It was edited by Sally Helm, fact checked by Sierra Juarez and engineered by Maggie Luthar. Alex Goldmark is our executive producer.
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Music: NPR Source Audio – “The Sunshine,” “Happy Harpsichord,” “Try Me On,” and “House of Mirrors”