Reasonably Optimistic

This week, we celebrated Presidents Day, which makes it a fitting time to recognize one of America’s most underrated presidents. Herbert Hoover presided over the onset of the Great Depression and is widely viewed as the inferior predecessor to Franklin D. Roosevelt. But, as host Megan McArdle explains, that judgment is unfair to Hoover. It also reflects a larger problem: the assumption that a president can singlehandedly fix or wreck the economy.

Want to win the dating game? Turns out business school has the playbook. Host Megan McArdle breaks down romance through Econ 101: addressable market, signaling, specialty products and sunk costs. Whether you’re single, swiping or settled down, this episode will reshape how you think about love and commitment. Because in relationships, the fundamentals still matter — and sometimes it pays to think like a market participant.

Artificial intelligence is moving fast, with new tools changing how people work, create and compete. Whether you’re an AI doomer or AI boomer, it’s hard to ignore what’s coming. Economist and professor Tyler Cowen has spent years analyzing how these developments could reshape the economy and everyday life. He joins host Megan McArdle to talk through how AI could transform talent, human capital and competition — and how to make sure you don’t get left behind.

Walkable neighborhoods, vibrant nightlife, the sheer bounty of it all. City living isn't for everyone, but it's amazing for the people who want it. Unless, that is, they also want a family. Today's cities are designed for demographic churn — as a rest stop en route to the suburbs, rather than a place you can live a full life. That's bad for families and for America. Bobby Fijan is one of the people trying to fix that. He is the co-founder of The American Housing Corporation, a real estate development company building affordable, family-sized rowhomes in cities across America. Fijan joins host Megan McArdle to explain how urban housing pushed families out of cities and how his company plans to bring them back.

This month marks the 10-year anniversary of Jason Rezaian’s release from imprisonment in Iran. In 2014, Rezaian — then The Washington Post’s Tehran bureau chief — was arrested with his wife at their home and detained in Iran’s notorious Evin Prison. He joins host Megan McArdle to discuss his time in captivity, Iran’s trajectory since his release, and what his experience reveals about press freedom — and its fragility — around the world. Read more in Rezaian’s book, “Prisoner: My 544 Days in an Iranian Prison.”