All Else Equal is on Spring Break this week, so we’re revisiting one of our most popular episodes dealing with the question: How does one become a CEO? We’ll be back with new episodes in two weeks. 

A lot has been written and said about CEOs and their compensation, but who are they really and how did they get there? According to the data, what are the most likely paths to become one? In this episode, hosts and finance professors Jonathan Berk and Jules van Binsbergen are joined by Dirk Jenter, Professor of Finance at the London School of Economics, for a fascinating discussion of CEOs, including the surprising truths about who rises to the rank of CEO and from where, as well as exploring the issue of CEO pay, and how it could be justified. 

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All Else Equal: Making Better Decisions Podcast is a production of the UPenn Wharton Lauder Institute through University FM.

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Whether it be in politics, public health, or corporate finance, why are people more likely to interpret facts or data in a way that fits their preconceived notions about the world as opposed to searching for the fundamental truth?  

A new paper from the Harvard Business School called, Sharing Models to Interpret Data (by Joshua Schwartzstein and Adi Sunderam)

studies the propensity for people to adopt interpretations to data based on their community’s beliefs, and why this can lead to less accurate conclusions. Hosts and finance professors Jonathan Berk and Jules van Binsbergen are joined by the paper’s co-author  Adi Sunderam, who is a professor of corporate finance at Harvard Business School, a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research, and a co-editor of the Journal of Finance. 

The conversation covers the complexity of Bayesian updating and how the process is improperly deployed in today’s thinking, not only in corporate decision-making but also on a sociological level. They also discuss Sunderam’s model for explaining how people interpret data, why people are more likely to fall into group-belief dynamics, and if there are any interventions that would lead to better decision-making.  

Read Adi Sunderam and Joshua Schwartzstein’s paper: Sharing Models to Interpret Data  

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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In the rapid-moving world of delegated money management, it is important to recognize the differences in how mutual funds and alternative assets operate. When it comes to alternatives, how do these funds wind up with strong incentive contracts for the money managers as opposed to flat fee contracts more commonly seen in mutual funds? Why do managers of alternatives cap their fund sizes when it could potentially lead to lower fees?

On this episode, hosts and finance professors Jonathan Berk and Jules van Binsbergen examine the key differences between mutual funds and alternatives, by unpacking research in a new paper co-authored by Berk.

The conversation covers performance fees, persistent alpha, limits on capital, and the key liquidity distinction between mutual funds and alternatives.

Read “A  Unified Theory of Delegated Capital Management” by Jonathan Berk and Peter DeMarzo here: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=6019667

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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When the pandemic hit in 2020, working from home skyrocketed. Six years later, many companies have returned to in-person work, but hybrid models are still the dominant structure. So with WFH here to stay in some form, what’s the proper balance? And what are we at risk of losing in the long term with less in-office interaction?

Nick Bloom is an economics professor at Stanford University and one of the first researchers to take a serious look at the work from home phenomenon. He joins hosts and finance professors Jonathan Berk and Jules van Binsbergen to discuss his research into why working from home has outlasted COVID precautions, its impact on employee performance, the surprising effects its had on birthrates, and his recommendation to companies on striking the perfect balance with a hybrid structure. 

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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In the final part of this two-part interview, Steven Pinker, an experimental psychologist and Harvard professor, again joins hosts and finance professors Jonathan Berk and Jules van Binsbergen to discuss his new book When Everyone Knows That Everyone Knows: Common Knowledge and the Mysteries of Money, Power, and Everyday Life.

In this episode, Jonathan and Jules break down more revelatory examples from Steven’s book that demonstrate how common knowledge is a first order explanatory variable for how humans behave. They also explore the role common knowledge plays in financial markets, particularly when it comes to speculative trading, and examine common knowledge in an academic freedom sense, highlighting the delicate balance between promoting open debate and safeguarding societal norms. 

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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Everyday, we participate in seemingly arbitrary but essential choices for society to function. We all agree on what side of the road to drive on, to use paper currency, or to speak the same language. These kinds of choices make up a group’s common knowledge – things that are made blatantly and publicly known. But what about the things that are known, but unspoken? What is the purpose of innuendos, euphemisms, and veiling the true meaning of our words in society? 

Steven Pinker, an experimental psychologist and Harvard professor, joins hosts and finance professors Jonathan Berk and Jules van Binsbergen to discuss his new book When Everyone Knows That Everyone Knows: Common Knowledge and the Mysteries of Money, Power, and Everyday Life.

In this two-part conversation, they explore the psychological and social significance of common knowledge in human interactions, highlighting its complex role in both fostering cooperation and permitting social taboos. They also discuss the intersection of common knowledge with economic behaviors like speculative trading, and the balance between maintaining social norms and fostering open debate in academic settings.

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 holiday week, All Else Equal is looking back at its episode on the growth of private equity with Ludovic Phalippou. 

Private markets have taken off in the last couple decades, with more investors opting to invest in private equity and debt instead of public markets. But what caused that shift? And are the private markets really a better bet right now, or is there more to the story?  

Hosts and finance professors Jonathan Berk and Jules van Binsbergen sit down with private markets expert Ludovic Phalippou, a professor of financial economics at the Saïd Business School at the University of Oxford and author of Private Equity Laid Bare. 

In the conversation, they explore what private markets can provide asset owners that public markets can not, the potential tradeoffs of investing in private equity, how performance in private and public markets is measured, and if the return on investment is really worth the high fees that come along with private equity firms.  

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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Historically, the U.S. has had a habit of overestimating the capabilities of its enemies. Why? Is this an intentional security strategy? Or does the U.S. need to change the way it gathers enemy intelligence? 

Former National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster gives hosts and finance professors Jonathan Berk and Jules van Binsbergen a crash course on military intelligence and national security advising. 

The conversation covers why the overestimation of enemies happens, including historical examples of misjudgments, the role of proxies in modern conflicts, strategic considerations involving major powers like China, and the threat of information warfare.  

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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As the 2025 municipal elections approach, the New York City mayoral race has garnered national buzz, with one issue particularly capturing attention: rent control. 

On this episode, hosts and finance professors Jonathan Berk and Jules van Binsbergen explore and unpack the best possible reasons for rent control, and why oftentimes – those reasons still come up short. 

They contextualize their discussion with historical examples from Chicago and San Francisco, analyze the arguments for rent control, and explain how despite rent control’s aim to bring more balance to the tenant-landlord dynamic, its negative repercussions on housing supply might outweigh the benefits.

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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Solicited or not, advice on where to invest your money seems to be around every corner these days. But determining whether the advice is credible and worth listening to can be challenging. 

On this episode, hosts and finance professors Jonathan Berk and Jules van Binsbergen put sources of investment advice to the test and provide listeners with some guidance on how to judge the credibility of someone’s stock picks. They also discuss private investing and the potential risk of getting in on the ground floor as an angel investor. 

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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