E4E FACULTY SUMMER 2026 RECOMMENDATIONS
Professor Greg Kaplan recommends Tyler Cowen’s thought-provoking The Marginal Revolution: Rise and Decline, and the Pending AI Revolution. Cowen uses the history of marginalism as a case study in how ideas emerge, evolve, and die, and argues that AI will fundamentally disrupt that entire cycle. Illustrating this very idea, he encourages readers to use AI, including the embedded AI assistant, as a way to deepen their engagement with the text.
Professor John List recommends two data-driven books with important human implications. Human Raised: Nurturing Connection, Curiosity & Lifelong Learning in the Age of AI (July 14) by UChicago Professor Dana Suskind (as well as Professor List’s spouse and collaborator) synthesizes behavioral economics, neuroscience, and developmental science into a strong thesis: human relationships at a young age are the most powerful force shaping outcomes. Having It All: What Data Tells Us About Women’s Lives and Getting the Most Out of Yours by Wharton Professor Corinne Low, is an economist’s playbook for dismantling the motherhood penalty, the pay gap, the invisible labor trap, and the lie that women can out-hustle a broken system.
Sprinting across the airport? Professor Evan Rose enjoyed the blogpost Why are airlines always going bankrupt? which covers the recent collapse of Spirit Airlines. The author uses game theory, including the pioneering work of UChicago’s Professor Lester Tesler, and monopoly power to explore the economics of the industry.
For his E4E class, Professor Robert Shimer has been thinking a lot about how property rights and hidden markets might address issues like overfishing and outer space trash. He recommends two Planet Money podcast episodes: The Less Deadly Catch on the unintended consequences of government regulation to protect Alaskan fisheries and The Voyages Of The Starship Indicator on the potential future and challenges of the space economy.
E4E STAFF & PARTNER PICKS
Some of our staff and partners across the educational landscape who share our passion for scaling economic education shared their own picks for the summer. We encourage you to check out more about their organizations, institutions, and companies too!
Recommended Books
1929: Inside the Greatest Crash in Wall Street History–and How It Shattered a Nation
“This book brings the story of the 1929 stock market crash to life in a way that feels immediate and surprisingly relatable. Sorkin does an excellent job showing how optimism, speculation, and fear can drive markets—and how many of those same patterns still appear today. Economics instructors will especially appreciate how naturally the book connects financial history to modern conversations about bubbles, risk, and investor behavior.” ~Thomas Hayward, Senior Portfolio Manager, Pearson
Economic historian Niall Kishtainy organizes short chapters that center on big ideas and events. He introduces us to some of the key thinkers—Adam Smith, David Ricardo, Karl Marx, John Maynard Keynes, and others—while examining topics ranging from the invention of money to the Great Depression, entrepreneurship, and behavioral economics. ~Julia Seither, Senior Research Associate, University of Chicago; Instructor, Economics for Everyone, Universidad de Los Andes; Assistant Director, Joint Initiative for Latin American Experimental Economics
“My favorite recent read in our discipline is Judd Kessler’s Lucky by Design. Kessler explores “hidden markets”—those where goods and services are not allocated based on price (or not on price alone)—and offers advice on how to increase your chances of success, or luck, in those markets. Written in a conversational tone, the book is full of timely, engaging examples and anecdotes that leave the reader hungry for more economics.” ~Megan Kirtz, Executive Director, Econiful
Recommended Podcasts
Planet Money: Planet Money Makes a Boardgame
A special series from Planet Money. Many board games are tiny, little economic simulators. Planet Money tries their hand at making one. ~Amber Thomas, Programs Director, North Carolina Council for Economic Education
Teach Economics Podcast: Stacey Vanek Smith: How Storytelling Can Demystify Economics
Journalist and podcaster Stacey Vanek Smith shares how her love of storytelling and curiosity about the world led her to a career translating economic trends into engaging narratives. From public radio to Bloomberg Businessweek, she has built a reputation for making complex ideas accessible. In this episode, Smith explains how connecting economics to everyday experiences can help students grasp difficult concepts. ~Scott Wolla, Assistant Vice President, Economic Education, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis
Recommended Articles
Reuters: Draw it yourself: Checking Trump’s tariff claims a year later
Trump claimed tariffs would benefit the American economy in a big way. Can you draw what really happened? ~ Carl Coates, Director, Economics for Everyone
Monday Morning Economist: When Staying Home Costs $30 an Hour
The mayor’s decision to raise wages before a blizzard hit ensured streets were cleared quickly and illustrated many economic concepts in real time – the work-leisure payoff, opportunity costs, derived demand, labor supply and demand. ~Avi Cohen, Adjunct Professor of Economics, University of Toronto
Journal of Applied Economics: What Economists Do
This article is the commencement address that UChicago Professor and Nobel laureate Bob Lucas delivered at the University in 1988. The short speech is an excellent introduction to the key ideas in his watershed paper “Expectations and the Neutrality of Money,” which many consider the most important, discipline-defining macroeconomics paper. ~Carlos Perez, Assistant Professor of Finance, Universidad Andrés Bello