Tough Calls

If you are fortunate enough to have it, health insurance requires many stressful and often challenging decisions that could affect our health and pocketbook. To unpack the trade-offs and make tackling these decisions a bit easier, health economist Professor Katherine Baicker joins host Lisa Napoli to share insights from the behavorial sciences.  She is the Dean and the Emmett Dedmon Professor at the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy.

During the pandemic, there’s more housework, and more planning tasks than usual in our lives. Do you think it’s being shared equitably with your partner? Well, even if you think so, your partner may not. If you aspire to share household tasks equitably, and keep one person from inadvertently bearing the brunt of growing responsibilities, listen to sociologist Allison Daminger who joins host Lisa Napoli to share research insights on how to make that happen.

Ms. Daminger is a Doctoral Candidate in sociology & social policy at Harvard University.  Her research paper,The Cognitive Dimension of Household Labor, was published in 2019.

It is said that “two minds are better than one.” But it doesn’t always feel that way if you’re a couple making a big decision, like whether to move to a new city or buy a home. Host Lisa Napoli is joined by Professor Jaclyn Wong, who provides some guidance on how to make the toughest of joint calls, especially during uncertain times.

Professor Wong is an Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of South Carolina, and her paper, Competing Desires: How Young Adult Couples Negotiate Moving for Career Opportunities was published in 2017.

It sometimes feels impossible to accomplish our goals. And now, thanks to the uncertainty caused by the pandemic, it’s only getting harder. To help us get going, focus, and get the job done, Professor Katy Milkman joins host Lisa Napoli to discuss research-validated techniques that you can put to use right away.

Professor Milkman is a professor at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. She is host of the popular podcast Choiceology and co-author of the forthcoming book: How to Change: The Science of Getting from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be. 

Because each of us is quite quirky in our decision-making, we frequently don’t make the best decisions for ourselves. To learn how we can overcome some of our quirkiness and make better choices, host Lisa Napoli is joined by behavioral scientist Josh Wright, who discusses the limits of our individual decision-making abilities, and what we can do about it.

Josh Wright is Executive Director of ideas42, a non-profit that uses behavioral science to address complex social problems around the world.

The average adult makes about 35,000 conscious decisions every day. In fact, one study estimated that we make 226 decisions a day about food alone! Every decision we make, from the momentous to the mundane, carries consequences and implications. So, how do we go about making the really hard ones - the tough calls? On Tough Calls, we’ll help you navigate these hard decisions more easily and effectively. Hosted by broadcast journalist and author Lisa Napoli.