Allison Schrager is the author of the new book, An Economist Walks into a Brothel in which she explores risk through the lens of prostitution, big-wave surfing and war. If you liked Freakanomics, you’ll dig this book too.  

Allison is an economist, journalist at Quartz, and co-founder of LifeCycle Finance Partners, LLC, a risk advisory firm. She has been a regular contributor to the Economist, Reuters, and Bloomberg Businessweek. Her writing has also appeared in Playboy, Wired, National Review and Foreign Affairs. She earned her PhD in Economics from Columbia University and has consulted to international organizations, including the OECD and IMF.

Paul and Allison met in the offices of her publisher, Portfolio, in New York City. Among many topics, they discussed how being purposeful about our goals is the first step in determining how much risk we should take in life, careers and investing strategies. 

Learn more about Allison here:  https://www.allisonschrager.com. Acknowledge Paul's existence here: http://paulollinger.com