Podcast · Learning

Not Another Politics Podcast

by University of Chicago Podcast Network · English · Learning

New episodes: Every two weeks
Typical length: 55 min
Latest: 28 Sep 2026
Language: English

Latest episode

28 Sep 2026 · 51 min

Why Do Politicians Polarize Policymaking?

Why do politicians frequently focus on deeply polarizing issues instead of pursuing broadly beneficial reforms? In this special episode, Anthony sits down with Wiola Dziuda and Ethan Bueno de Mesquita to discuss their paper “Partisan Traps”. They examine why some politicians may benefit from convincing voters that policymaking is about zero-sum partisan solutions and that opportunities for reforms benefiting voters across the political spectrum are rare. The team explores how politicians can shape voters’ beliefs, how those beliefs can in turn influence politicians’ incentives, and when…

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Earlier episodes 29 most recent

E164 · 27 Aug 2026 · 1 hr 3 min

Does Congress Actually Have Power of the Purse?

The "power of the purse"—Congress’s constitutional authority to control public spending—is often cited as the ultimate check on executive power. But how effectively does legislative funding actually translate into policy influence in modern Washington? In this episode, we sit down with UChicago Ph.D. candidate Kevin Angell to dive into his latest paper on legislative spending power and appropriations. Moving beyond political rhetoric, Angell shares rigorous empirical research examining how federal budget allocations shape agency behavior, where Congressional leverage succeeds, and where…
E163 · 6 Aug 2026 · 1 hr 6 min

Are Easy A’s Too Widespread in Academia?

Across universities today, raw GPAs treat an A in advanced econometrics the same as an A in introductory film studies. Standard grading systems inadvertently penalize students who challenge themselves and reward those who course-shop. In this episode, we speak with Harvard Business School Professor Scott Kominers about his recent paper that looks at how mathematical market design and "eigengrades" can strip out course difficulty to measure actual student performance. The paper proposes a fixed-effects model—using student overlap across courses—to isolate true academic capability. We explore…
E162 · 17 Jul 2026 · 54 min

Do We Understand Members Of The Other Party?

Do Democrats and Republicans really misunderstand each other as much as we think? This week, we dive into a surprising new experiment that puts that idea to the test — literally. Psychologist and researcher Adam Mastriani created a kind of “political Turing test,” asking people to write persuasive statements from the perspective of the opposite political party. Then, he tested whether others could tell the real from the fake. The results? Most people couldn’t. We unpack what this means for our understanding of polarization, partisan animosity, and political identity. Is the problem really…
E161 · 2 Jul 2026 · 1 hr 17 min

The Economic Cost of Populism

While we take a quick summer break, we wanted to re-release an episode that felt timely, given the rise of right-wing populism around the world. More than 25 percent of countries around the world are currently governed by populists, from Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Turkey, to Donald Trump in the United States. Based on these findings, populism is at an all-time high, and taking a significant economic toll, according to a recent paper by Christoph Trebesch and his co-authors. Trebesch is Professor of Economics at Kiel University. He and his co-authors find that populism leads to slower economic…
E160 · 11 Jun 2026 · 53 min

Is Abortion Policy Out Of Step With Public Opinion?

Since the fall of Roe v. Wade, we've been told a simple story: red states are radically out of step with public opinion. But what if that's not actually the reality? On this episode, we speak with Natalie Hernandez, Yale PhD candidate in Political Science, about her upcoming APSR paper, "Asymmetric Representation: Post-Roe Abortion Policy and Public Opinion in the U.S. States." Using a massive dataset of 155,000 respondents, Hernandez finds policies in Democratic-controlled states are actually furthest from the average voter, and what happens when Democratic lawmakers prioritize wealthy…
E159 · 14 May 2026 · 1 hr 5 min

The Political Effects of the Opioid Crisis

In this episode, we speak with Victoria Barone, Assistant Professor at the University of Notre Dame, to discuss her recent NBER paper that examines the possible relationship between the opioid epidemic and the political realignment between the Republican and Democratic parties. While the public health consequences of the crisis are well-documented, Barone’s research uncovers a startling political fallout. We explore how the rise in opioid-related deaths and addiction has altered voting patterns, shifted party leanings, and influenced electoral outcomes in the hardest-hit communities.
E158 · 24 Apr 2026 · 1 hr 10 min

Is the Median Justice Running the Supreme Court?

In debates about the Supreme Court, we tend to focus on the justice who writes the opinion. But what if that’s not where the real power lies? In this episode, we speak to Jonathan P. Kastellec, Professor at Princeton University, about his new paper that challenges how we think about decision-making on the Court. Instead of opinion authors driving the law, Kastellec argues that power often rests with the median justice within the majority coalition—the key vote needed to hold five justices together. So how does bargaining actually work behind the scenes? Why do some precedents erode gradually…
E157 · 26 Mar 2026 · 51 min

Why Does America Pay More For Infrastructure?

We're off this week for a much-needed spring break, but we wanted to re-share this episode that feels more relevant than ever. Infrastructure in the U.S. now costs dramatically more than in countries like Germany or Croatia—without clear signs of higher quality or better environmental outcomes. Why has infrastructure spending spiraled out of control? Could democracy itself—through litigation, regulations, and empowered citizen voices—be driving costs sky-high? George Washington University Professor of Public Policy Leah Brooks investigates why the U.S. pays so much more per mile of highway…
E156 · 12 Mar 2026 · 39 min

What Binary Questions Get Wrong About Voters

Are Americans really polarized along party lines? Today, we discuss a new paper from our co-host Anthony Fowler, about one of the most common tools researchers use to measure public opinion: simple yes-or-no survey questions. Most political surveys ask people to choose between two options—support or oppose, yes or no. But Fowler’s research shows that these binary questions can hide important nuance in how people actually think about policy. When researchers analyze these responses, it can make voters appear more polarized—or more ideologically inconsistent—than they really are.
E155 · 19 Feb 2026 · 53 min

Do Dishonest People Self-Select Into Public Service?

Is academic dishonesty connected to political power in China? That question is explored in a new paper from Shaoda Wang, Assistant Professor at the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy. Wang and his co-authors explore how plagiarism detection in graduate dissertations is connected to patterns of cheating in career paths and institutional behavior. What lessons might this hold for politics, meritocracy, and institutional performance elsewhere?
E154 · 6 Feb 2026 · 47 min

The Future of Empirical Research in the Age of AI

In this episode, we sit down with Stanford political scientist Andy Hall and PhD candidate Graham Straus to unpack their new paper, “How Accurately Did Claude Code Replicate and Extend a Published Political Science Paper?” — an empirical audit of what happens when an AI agent is asked to replicate and extend a real research project. Last January, Andy asked Claude Code to generate an extension of an existing empirical political science paper in under an hour. The results were surprising: Claude correctly replicated the original estimates exactly and collected new data with very high…
E153 · 22 Jan 2026 · 38 min

Are Primary Elections Responsible for Polarization in Congress?

Do members of Congress vote differently when they are worried about winning their party’s primary election? On today's episode, Ethan and Wioletta interview Anthony about his forthcoming paper, “Do Primary Elections Exacerbate Congressional Polarization?,” which is forthcoming from the Journal of Politics. Using detailed voting data and the natural variation in primary election timing across states, Anthony and his co-author, Shu Fu, show that primaries play a surprisingly small role in pushing lawmakers to the ideological extremes—accounting for only about 1% of congressional polarization.
E152 · 1 Jan 2026 · 55 min

What Do Politicians Think Motivates Voters?

Do politicians really understand what drives voters—or are they relying on flawed assumptions that could shape democracy in troubling ways? As we take some time off for the holidays, we wanted to re-share our episode with University of Calgary political scientist Jack Lucas, whose paper “Politicians’ Theories of Voting Behavior,” reveals striking gaps between how politicians perceive voters and how voters see themselves. While politicians often hold a cynical, “democratic realist” view of voters, citizens are far more optimistic about their own behavior. But who’s right—and does it even…
E151 · 18 Dec 2025 · 59 min

Do Professors Self-Censor On Controversial Topics?

In this episode, we speak with Cory Clark, behavioral scientist and Associate Professor of Psychology at New College of Florida. We discuss her paper, “Taboos and Self-Censorship Among U.S. Psychology Professors," which explores how controversial topics in science are perceived, debated, and sometimes suppressed, and the psychological dynamics of taboo beliefs and self-censorship in academia.
E150 · 27 Nov 2025 · 56 min

Is Partisan Gerrymandering As Bad As You Think?

There is no political topic that can get people’s blood boiling quite like partisan gerrymandering. But what do we know about how effective it is and what the data shows about its outcomes? This week, we're re-releasing our conversation with Princeton political scientist Kosuke Imai about his paper, "Widespread Partisan Gerrymandering Mostly Cancels Nationally, But Reduces Electoral Competition.” He uses a novel methodological approach to try and document the effect of partisan gerrymandering. What he finds is surprising and may lead people who participate in it to re-think whether it’s…
E149 · 14 Nov 2025 · 59 min

Do Donors Punish Extremist Primary Nominees?

What happens when a political party nominates a candidate in its primary who is ideologically extreme? Do donors, especially those outside the party’s base, react — and if so, how? That question is explored in a new paper by Andy Christopher Wayne Myers, Ph.D. Candidate in Political Science at Stanford University. He uncovers how donors respond when a relative “moderate” is replaced by a more extreme nominee and if the force of donors is actually weaker than it once was.
E148 · 30 Oct 2025 · 1 hr 17 min

The Economic Cost of Populism

More than 25 percent of countries around the world are currently governed by populists, from Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Turkey, to Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela, and Donald Trump in the United States. Based on these findings, populism is at an all-time high, and taking a significant economic toll, according to a recent paper by Christoph Trebesch and his co-authors. Trebesch is Professor of Economics at Kiel University. He and his co-authors find that populism leads to slower economic growth, undermines democratic institutions, and can leave the country more vulnerable to future populist…
E147 · 16 Oct 2025 · 43 min

Is Political Science Research Underpowered?

What if most political science studies are too weak to find the effects they’re looking for? In this episode, we dig into a new paper by Vincent Arel-Bundock and colleagues that reveals a striking truth: quantitative political science is greatly underpowered. With thousands of tests analyzed, the authors show that many studies have only a one-in-ten chance of detecting real effects — and that even experts vastly overestimate the field’s strength. Arel-Bundock is Professor of Political Science at the Université de Montréal. In his new paper, he concludes that methodologists greatly…
E146 · 2 Oct 2025 · 1 hr 10 min

Can Trade Be A Weapon Of Global Power?

For decades, free trade was treated as an unquestioned good—an engine of prosperity and cooperation. But today, leaders from Washington to Beijing are rethinking trade as something very different: a tool of power. In this episode, we dive into new research with Harvard’s David Yang that asks: how do trade relationships actually give countries leverage over one another? Why might exports matter more than imports when it comes to power? And how do tariffs, subsidies, and industrial policy reshape not just economies, but the global order itself? We explore what this means for U.S.–China…
E145 · 12 Sep 2025 · 1 hr 10 min

Should Unelected Judges Be Deciding National Policy?

Every week, headlines tell us that a single federal judge has blocked a presidential order—sometimes halting major policies for years. But should that be possible? Is it democratic? In this episode, we dig into the rise and fall of universal injunctions—a little-known legal tool that allowed one judge to freeze nationwide policy. With a recent Supreme Court decision, those injunctions are now off the table, but the ruling raises bigger questions: Has the Court consolidated power for itself? What does this mean for the balance between the executive branch, lower courts, and the justices in…
E144 · 21 Aug 2025 · 54 min

Do Politicians Really Have A Conservative Bias?

Political scientists have long argued that legislators believe the public is more conservative than it really is—potentially shaping policies that don’t align with what voters actually want. But what if that story is incomplete? In this episode, we talk with University of Chicago political scientist Adam Zelizer, who challenges the conventional wisdom. His new research suggests that politicians may not be systematically biased to the right, but rather exhibit something he calls “midpoint bias”. We unpack why this matters: How do politicians perceive their constituents? Are surveys of public…
E143 · 7 Aug 2025 · 54 min

Do We Understand Members Of The Other Party?

Do Democrats and Republicans really misunderstand each other as much as we think? This week, we dive into a surprising new experiment that puts that idea to the test — literally. Psychologist and researcher Adam Mastriani created a kind of “political Turing test,” asking people to write persuasive statements from the perspective of the opposite political party. Then, he tested whether others could tell the real from the fake. The results? Most people couldn’t. We unpack what this means for our understanding of polarization, partisan animosity, and political identity. Is the problem really…
E142 · 24 Jul 2025 · 57 min

MechaHitler and The Political Bias of AI Chatbots

When you ask ChatGPT or Gemini a question about politics, whose opinions are you really hearing? In this episode, we dive into a provocative new study from political scientist Justin Grimmer and his colleagues, which finds that nearly every major large language model—from ChatGPT to Grok—is perceived by Americans as having a left-leaning bias. But why is that? Is it the training data? The guardrails? The Silicon Valley engineers? Or something deeper about the culture of the internet itself? The hosts grapple with everything from “Mecha Hitler” incidents on Grok to the way terms like…
E141 · 10 Jul 2025 · 42 min

Does The Supreme Court Need Term Limits?

We're taking some time off to regroup over the summer, but we’re not just dusting off this older episode for no reason. When we first released it, we were grappling with what Supreme Court reform might look like—specifically, whether we should rethink lifetime appointments and move toward term limits. Now? The stakes feel even higher. In just the last few weeks, we’ve seen the Court issue decisions that fundamentally reshape presidential power—often in ways that don’t reflect where the broader public seems to be. Once again, the question has come roaring back: should nine unelected justices…
E140 · 27 Jun 2025 · 48 min

Are We Really Hopelessly Divided?

Before we get into today’s episode, we wanted to let you know this is a re-release as we take some time to regroup over the summer. But we’re not just dusting it off for no reason. If anything, this episode feels even more relevant now than when we first aired it.It raises a big question: Are voters really thinking for themselves? Or are they just reflexively rejecting anything the other side says? In this episode, we dig into that question with new experimental research that challenges the conventional wisdom. Are Americans hopelessly divided? Or are they actually more open-minded than we…
E139 · 12 Jun 2025 · 55 min

The Surprising Political Consequences Of Emigration?

Migration policies shape not only the economies of countries but also their politics. In this episode, we dive deep into how letting people leave—or restricting their exit—can have surprising ripple effects on collective action and political reform in their home countries. Yale political scientist Emily Sellars reveals why migration might weaken the power of ordinary people to organize and push for change—and why even those who leave might ultimately lose out. Could closing borders paradoxically strengthen democracy abroad? We unpack a provocative new model that challenges our assumptions…
E138 · 28 May 2025 · 58 min

Is Trump Copying Obama’s Playbook on Universities?

What if the recent crackdown on elite universities didn’t start with Trump—but with Obama? In this episode, we trace a surprising through-line connecting Obama’s Title IX enforcement to Trump’s Title VI threats. Harvard Law Professor Jacob Gersen joins us to reveal how both presidents used informal bureaucratic tools to reshape higher education—often without Congress. What does this say about presidential power and academic freedom in America? Papers discussed: “The Sex Bureaucracy”: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2750143 “The Six Bureaucracy”:…
E137 · 8 May 2025 · 41 min

Is This the Most Unexpected Voter Turnout Strategy Ever?

What if one of the most powerful tools to boost voter turnout isn’t a flashy campaign or a new voting law—but being randomly forced to work the polls? In this episode, we explore a surprising study of women in 1930s Spain who were randomly assigned to serve as poll workers—just after they gained the right to vote. The results? A massive, 30-point increase in future voting behavior. Is this just a historical curiosity—or a window into how habit, exposure, and civic experience shape democracy? We speak with researcher Toni Rodon about his paper Working for Democracy: Poll Officers and the…
E136 · 25 Apr 2025 · 51 min

Should Judges Be Elected Like Politicians?

Hello listeners, we're taking a much-needed spring break here at the podcast, but we want to re-share one of our episodes that has become increasingly salient. One of the defining features of the Trump administration so far is its entanglement with the courts. The legality or illegality of many of its actions are currently being decided by federal judges. Which means that judges suddenly have a lot of say over our politics. Is that good? There is a long running debate in political science: do we get better judges by letting the public vote in elections or by giving our leaders the power to…

About Not Another Politics Podcast

With all the noise created by a 24/7 news cycle, it can be hard to really grasp what's going on in politics today. We provide a fresh perspective on the biggest political stories not through opinion and anecdotes, but rigorous scholarship, massive data sets and a deep knowledge of theory. Understand the political science beyond the headlines with Harris School of Public Policy Professors William Howell, Anthony Fowler and Wioletta Dziuda. Our show is part of the University of Chicago Podcast Network.

Not Another Politics Podcast is a English learning podcast from University of Chicago Podcast Network. Melo plays each episode straight from the publisher's own feed — no ads added, no account needed — and remembers where you stopped, in this browser only.

Publisher: University of Chicago Podcast Network
Language: English
Category: Learning
New episodes: Every two weeks
Typical length: 55 min
Latest episode: 28 Sep 2026
Feed: RSS — paste into any podcast app
Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1496412542
Rights: 2020 Harris School of Public Policy

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