The Economics Show with Soumaya Keynes

Should economics have fewer taboos? With Alvin Roth

Freitag, 15. Mai 2026 · 26 min

MP3

Shownotes

Economists like to think of their discipline as a rational science. But might we make better decisions if we ditched some of our moral aversions? Specifically: would we make better choices if we learned to conquer moral repugnance? Alvin Roth, Nobel laureate, and author of the recent book ‘Moral Economics’, tells host Soumaya Keynes why a free market in kidneys and surrogacy makes economic sense, and what he makes of prediction markets.

The inaugural FT Weekend Festival in New York City is fast approaching, with a line-up featuring Paul Krugman, Martin Wolf, Gillian Tett, and plenty more. Join on Saturday, June 20, at Spring Studios or online. Register now and as a podcast listener, save 10% using our code FTPODCAST.

Further reading
When is it OK for economists to experiment on people? (ft.com/content/df7c0a50-dcc6-4b3a-b3dc-22f7421…)
So you tried to buy a country . . . (ft.com/content/3fb72493-61aa-477c-8893-6928cc2…)

Subscribe to Soumaya's show on Apple (podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-economics-sh…), Spotify (open.spotify.com/show/64rPqCkSSBkuSJpkMLRe9i?s…), Pocket Casts (pca.st/6ysdzw0j) or wherever you listen.

Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com (ft.com/content/25d74738-a142-4fa8-bc1c-681e982…)
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

0:00 / 0:00