Noah Smith and Erik Torenberg discuss the resignation of Harvard's President Claudine Gay as well as the issues surrounding academic research, such as plagiarism, peer review, academic incentives, and more. Match a donation up to $100 for your favorite charity with GiveWell by going to https://givewell.org and pick “Podcast” and enter Econ 102 at checkout.

We're hiring across the board at Turpentine and for Erik's personal team on other projects he's incubating. He's hiring a Chief of Staff, EA, Head of Special Projects, Investment Associate, and more. For a list of JDs, check out: eriktorenberg.com.
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Econ 102 is a part of the Turpentine podcast network. To learn more: www.turpentine.co

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LINKS:
- Noahpinion on Substack: https://www.noahpinion.blog/

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X / TWITTER:
@eriktorenberg (Erik)
@noahpinion (Noah)
@Econ102_Podcast (Econ 102)
@TurpentineMedia (Turpentine)

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TIMESTAMPS
(00:25) Episode Preview
(03:00) The Claudine Gay Controversy
(06:24) Bill Ackman's Role
(08:00) Plagiarism's Prevalence in Academia
(11:24) Need for External Scrutiny
(12:51) Universities in the Private Sector
(18:04) The Need for External Scrutiny in Universities
(18:30) SPONSOR: GIVEWELL
(20:09) The Impact of Incentives
(23:33) Issues with Peer Review
(25:44) The Importance of Relevant Research
(26:35) SPONSOR: NETSUITE
(29:13) Research Across Different Fields
(30:07) Theory Papers in Economics
(32:23) Defining 'Waste' in Academic Research
(34:57) Value of Seemingly-Useless Research
(36:39) Incentive in Academia
(36:44) Fields That Refuse to Die
(46:26) Aging Population's Impact on Research
(53:10) Future of Academia