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EconTalk · 2026-09-14 · 65 min · 12,367 words

Incentives Are for Losers (with Adam Mastroianni)

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Welcome to Econ Talk, Conversations for the Curious, part of the Library of Economics and Liberty. I'm your host, Russ Roberts of Shalem College in Jerusalem and Stanford University's Hoover Institution. Go to econtalk.org where you can subscribe, comment on this episode, and find links and other information related to today's conversation. You'll also find our archives with every episode we've done going back to 2006. Our email address is mail at econtalk.org.

We'd love to hear from you. Today is August 12, 2026, and my guest is psychologist Adam Austriani. His substack is Experimental History. This is Adam's fifth appearance on the program. It was last year in April of 2024 talking about our emotional.

Thermostat. Our topic for today is close to my heart, incentives. And it's based on a recent essay of Adam's. Incentives are for losers. Bold, bold claim.

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