Who is the face of capitalism? And how has that face changed over time? In this bonus episode, John Paul Rollert, our In-House Ethicist, Rollert analyzes some of the characters who have represented capitalism over time in the popular imagination, revealing how many people perceive the economic system. He charts the evolution of capitalism’s protagonists from the hardworking professional lauded by Adam Smith to the tech founders of Silicon Valley. So who will be the next face of capitalism?

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Salary negotiations are difficult. Many of us hate talking about money, particularly with a potential employer. So what can you do to make sure you arrive at a fair wage? Chicago Booth’s George Wu says the trick to a successful salary conversation is to prepare, give yourself options, and don’t celebrate too soon.

As long as there’s been a workplace, there’s been tension, strains, and disagreements between coworkers. Many of us are conflict-averse, and try to avoid sensitive areas that we know could lead to confrontation. But is that the wrong approach? Chicago Booth’s Lisa Stefanac says that workplace conflict contains valuable data, if only we know how to gather and learn from it. Confronting conflict, rather than avoiding it, she says, can lead to a healthier work environment.

Research suggests that women are using generative AI much less than men. Why? And who is using the technology to make them more productive at work? In this episode, we hear from The Pie, a podcast from the Becker Friedman Institute for Economics at the University of Chicago. Host Tess Vigeland speaks with Chicago Booth’s Anders Humlum, a labor economist, about the effect of generative AI on the workforce. Who will be the winners and losers from the AI revolution?

What shapes a society’s culture? Chicago Booth’s Thomas Talhelm links the abundance of water in a region to its attitude to the future. His research finds that people who live in areas where water is plentiful tend to live more in the moment, whereas those who live where water is scarce tend to plan more for the longer term. Climate change will result in big changes to water access in the coming decades. So what effect could that have on culture?

Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has taken a sledgehammer to Washington, closing government agencies and leaving many federal employees unsure if they still have jobs. Will that really make government more effective? Chicago Booth’s Rob Gertner says DOGE may end up creating a less effective and less efficient federal government. Rather than smashing things up, he advises focusing on incentives, funding and management. So how could we structure things to make government agencies worth their funding?

President Trump has accused the Federal Reserve of causing and failing to stop inflation. Instead, Trump says he will take care of the issue by producing more energy and boosting US manufacturing. Will the next four years see a confrontation between the Fed and the White House? We ask Chicago Booth’s Randy Kroszner—a former member of both the President’s Council of Economic Advisers and the board of the Federal Reserve—if the Fed and the White House are on a collision course.

This year will see a lot of Congressional wrangling over tax cuts, as many provisions of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act are set to expire. Do tax cuts actually produce the economic benefits that their proponents claim? In the latest in our Trumponomics series, we hear from Chicago Booth’s Eric Zwick, who is part of team that conducted an extensive study of the 2017 law. Did the tax cuts pay for themselves? And what would he do differently?

The first few weeks of the Trump administration have seen the president demonstrate how he approaches negotiations with threats of tariffs, how he closes down government departments without warning, and how what is stated as policy in the morning can be overturned by the afternoon. What effect could all this have on the US economy? To hear more, join the University of Chicago online at 6pm Central Time on February 17 to hear Randy Kroszner address these issues at a Virtual Harper Lecture entitled, “The Trump Administration and the American Economy.”

In the launch episode of a new series about Trumponomics, we address tariffs — the most beautiful word in the dictionary, according to Donald Trump. The US President ran promising to increase duties on all imports. In office he has ordered, and then paused, tariffs on Mexico and Canada, and started a tit-for-tat tariff feud with China. How is all this affecting the US economy? Chicago Booth’s Michael Weber has conducted research that documents how consumers have for months been shopping in anticipation of tariffs being put in place. That looks set to raise inflation, and set the Trump administration on a collision course with the Federal Reserve.