Explain It to Me

Explain It to Me

By VoxSociety & CultureNewsEducationPolitics
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  • Typical duration

    30 min

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  • If it hooks

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    finish an episode

Based on Podcast App listening data

Explain It to Me episodes

  • Is Facebook bad?

    Matt, Sarah and Ezra on a new, blockbuster study on racial mobility — and whether Mark Zuckerberg should shut down Facebook.
    References:
    Race and Economic Opportunity in the United States
    Dylan Matthews' piece
    Income Mobility Charts for Girls, Asian-Americans and Other Groups. Or, Make Your Own
    Extensive Data Shows Punishing Reach of Racism for Black Boys
    Matt's case against Facebook

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    1 hr 7 min
  • Cambridge Analytica: Scandal, hype, or both?

    Andrew Prokop, senior politics reporter for Vox.com, joins Dara and Matt to break down the scandal that’s rocking the worlds of technology and politics.
    References:
    The Jane Mayer piece on the Mercers Dara mentioned
    A study on Big Five personality attributes and voting behavior
    SCIENCE! on the Cambridge Analytica model
    A big five personality test you can do at home 
    Andrew's Cambridge Analytica explainer
    Matt's good Facebook take

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    1 hr 2 min
  • The opioid debate: could reversing overdoses worsen the epidemic?

    An economics working paper finds that access to Naloxone, a drug to reverse opioid overdoses, may increase opioid abuse. Sarah and Ezra explain the paper that started a social media firestorm — and what it means for combating the opioid epidemic.
    References:
    Doleac and Mukherjee working paper
    A good summary of the debate from The Atlantic
    Health Affairs blog post 
    Working paper from Daniel Rees
    People are dying because we misunderstand how those with addiction think
    A lifesaving drug for overdoses doesn’t reduce opioid deaths? Be skeptical
    Trump’s opioid crisis plan: more death penalty, fewer prescriptions, more treatment

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    46 min
  • Abolish ICE

    Dara and Matt break down the history of Immigration & Customs Enforcement: how it got this way, and why some on the left want it to go away.

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    1 hr 5 min
  • Nickname fights and wildcat strikes

    Vox Politics & Policy reporter Alexia Fernandez-Campbell joins Dara and Matt to talk about the West Virginia teachers strike.
    References:
    Alexia’s article on teachers
    Vox's Alvin Chang just published this amazing tool to see how teachers are paid in your state
    An explainer on the Supreme Court’s Janus case
    How public-sector unions are preparing for a post-Janus future
    The original “If You’re Gonna Play in Texas”
    Photographer evidence that he’s been called “Beto” since he was a toddler
    A good primer on “Hispanic” as an identity constructed in the US

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    55 min
  • Relief at last for America’s long-suffering banks

    Sarah, Ezra, and Matt talk about a bipartisan bank deregulation bill, Medicaid work requirements, and constitutional hardball.
    References:
    Mark Tushner’s original constitutional hardball article
    Ron Chernow’s biography of Ulysses Grant
    Why there are two Dakotas
    Dylan Scott’s “Trump’s Hidden War on Medicaid”

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    1 hr 8 min
  • Guns, Weeds, and Steel

    Vox senior politics reporter Jane Coaston joins Dara and Matt to talk about a week of extremely erratic policymaking from an increasingly chaotic Trump White House.

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    52 min
  • Medicare for Many More

    Dylan Scott joins Sarah and Matt to talk about a new universal health care plan — plus some exciting administrative data from the good-old USA!

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    53 min
  • The stupidest fucking idea I’ve ever heard

    There are also some good ideas discussed. All of them are about guns. German Lopez joins Dara and Matt to talk about gun control in the wake of the Parkland shooting.

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    56 min

About Explain It to Me

From the publisher's feed

Should I buy a house? Why do I say “like” so much? Should Gen Z bother to save for retirement?

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