Platypus Economics with Justin Wolfers

By Justin Wolfers

From world events to everyday decisions, economics explains it all. Platypus Economics makes it clear, useful, and actually fun.... more

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The podcast currently has 128 episodes available.

Best of Platypus Economics with Justin Wolfers

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Number 1: Why Tariffs Can't Rebuild American Manufacturing | The Professor Is In
Why did Trump's tariffs fail? It's a competence problem, not just a trade-theory problem. Economist Justin Wolfers answers your questions about why the Trump administration's tariffs earned straight F's on their own stated goals. His argument: the problem isn't only the economics of tariffs — it's chaotic, incoherent implementation. When a policy exists on Monday, is gone by Tuesday, and gets thrown out by a court on Thursday, you'd be crazy to build a 50-year factory around it. Across-the-board tariffs give you no leverage over China, targeting friendly Canada over fentanyl sets no clear incentives, and skipping Congress means the next president erases the whole thing with a pen. Justin warns the real lesson isn't "tariffs don't work" — it's that incompetent tariffs don't. This is happening to you: two-to-one, Americans oppose these tariffs, and the higher prices land in your grocery cart and your next big purchase, not on foreigners. Justin also pushes back on "manufacturing fetishism" — arguing that what you actually want for your kids may be a keyboard, not steel-toed boots — and closes on why AI, unlike past economic shifts, may hit knowledge workers like you fast enough to really sting. Chapters: 0:00 The report card: straight F's 1:10 How to raise your grade: study economics 2:38 Why chaos kills factory investment 3:41 Across-the-board tariffs give no leverage 9:17 No Congress, no lasting power 10:51 America's standing has fallen 11:46 Americans are on Canada's side 13:45 The manufacturing jobs fetish 18:03 Will AI do to white-collar work what robots did to factories? This is an episode of … Want your question answered next time? Subscribe and comment: on YouTube 👉 https://youtube.com/platypuseconomics on Substack 👉 https://newsletter.platypuseconomics.com Follow on Social Media @PlatypusEconomics and @JustinWolfers
September 05, 202623min
Number 2: The Bond Sell-Off Isn’t the Scary Part | Diving In
Everyone's talking about the bond market, and Justin Wolfers is here to explain what's actually going on — without the panic. In this episode of Diving In, he strips the fancy words away: the bond market is just supply and demand for loans, and right now a lot of people want to borrow. When demand for loans goes up, the price of loans — the interest rate — goes up too. Justin walks through the three forces pushing long-term interest rates higher. Subscribe — it's the one rate that won't rise no matter what the bond market does: on YouTube 👉 https://youtube.com/platypuseconomics on Substack 👉 https://newsletter.platypuseconomics.com Follow on Social Media @PlatypusEconomics and @JustinWolfers
September 02, 202614min
Number 3: Who Actually Paid for the Trade War? | Diving In
Trump’s tariffs were supposed to do five things. So how did they actually score? Justin Wolfers grades the tariff agenda against the administration’s own goals. Did tariffs create leverage? Did the trade deficit fall? Did factories come home? Did America get safer? Did the revenue deliver? The answers: America’s trading partners already charged us around 3% on average before any of this started, so the “ripping us off” story was mostly imaginary. The celebrated Korea deal claimed credit for market access American exporters already had under KORUS — the negotiating equivalent of gifting someone their own umbrella and expecting a thank-you card. And the ten signed agreements the White House points to cover about 6% of U.S. goods exports, with no confirmation any of them are actually in force. Then the numbers. The goods trade deficit hit a record $1.24 trillion in 2025, the first full year of the program. Manufacturing employment is about 62,000 jobs lower than when Trump returned to office. When the Dallas Fed asked 271 Texas manufacturers what tariffs would do to their business, only 5% planned to move production to the United States. Meanwhile, much of the tariff revenue is being refunded — to the importers of record, not to the families who paid at the checkout. Five promises, five tests, five fails. Chapters: 1:04 Were we really being ripped off? 8:24 Did the trade deficit actually fall? 11:19 Did the factories come home? 14:15 Did tariffs make America safer? 16:55 Where did the tariff money go? 20:32 Why trade is cooperation This is an episode of Diving In, the weekly Platypus Economics deep dive. Subscribe to improve your GPA: on YouTube 👉 https://youtube.com/platypuseconomics on Substack 👉 https://newsletter.platypuseconomics.com Follow on Social Media @PlatypusEconomics and @JustinWolfers
September 02, 202624min
Number 4: The Canadian Boycott is About More than Economics | The Professor Is In
Why an "infinity percent" tariff on Canada may hurt Americans more than Canadians. The U.S.–Canada trade war just got weirder, and Justin Wolfers walks through what actually changed. After Canada answered Washington's tariffs with a measured, dollar-for-dollar response, the White House escalated again. They proposed an outright import ban on things like Canadian alcohol, dairy, and auto products. His point: banning a product punishes the American buyers who wanted it most and now can't get it at any price. That’s not the only way Americans are getting hurt. Canadian consumers are boycotting anything U.S. You can see it in the empty hotel rooms in Las Vegas and half-full convention centers. Canadians are "speaking from their heart" about sovereignty and dignity. No handshake between leaders will make that disappear. Why should you care? Because the price of the clowning around lands in your pocket. This could look like a lost bonus, a thinner paycheck, or your employer's shrinking income. If Canada decides it can't trust its neighbor and diversifies toward Europe and Asia, that shift outlasts any single election. Chapters: 0:00 Jazz hands and an update 1:00 What's changed since the last video 3:19 Meet the "infinity percent" tariff 4:30 Why a ban punishes American buyers 5:30 Do consumer boycotts actually work? 9:07 The real cost is the clowning around 11:07 How big a hit is this, really? 12:10 Should Canada diversify away from the U.S.? Subscribe — it's the one relationship with the U.S. that comes with zero tariffs: on YouTube 👉 https://youtube.com/platypuseconomics on Substack 👉 https://newsletter.platypuseconomics.com Follow on Social Media @PlatypusEconomics and @JustinWolfers
September 14, 202621min
Number 5: Vote Republican, Get $5,000? | Diving In
Is the promise real, and who actually pays for it? At a midterm campaign rally Wednesday night, President Trump promised every adult American citizen a $5,000 check, but only if Republicans win both the House and the Senate. He's calling them "Trump dividends." Justin Wolfers is here with a reality check, on Diving In. Subscribe — I'll owe you $5,000, and I promise about as much as the President does: on YouTube 👉 https://youtube.com/platypuseconomics on Substack 👉 https://newsletter.platypuseconomics.com Follow on Social Media @PlatypusEconomics and @JustinWolfers
September 10, 202618min