John A. List: Improving the World with Economics | Rational Reminder 204

John List is the recently appointed Chief Economist at Walmart, and is also a Professor of Economics at the University of Chicago, having worked as the Chief Economist at Uber and Lyft. He has published a huge array of important papers in the field of economics and is also the author of the recent book The Voltage Effect, which deals with the question of how to scale ideas successfully. We are very excited to bring you this episode, which is a particularly illuminating one, in which we draw on John’s treasure trove of insight and experience, to answer a long list of questions related to personal finance decision-making. A large portion of our chat focuses on the central ideas of critical thinking and fieldwork, practices that our guest views as indispensable in making the world a better place. Along the way we get John’s thoughts on retirement planning, public policy, charitable donations, and much more, so make sure to press play on this fantastic episode of the Rational Reminder Podcast. Timestamps: 0:00 Intro 5:00 Why Economists Should Conduct Field Experiments and 14 Tips for Pulling One Off 26:49 Can Myopic Loss Aversion Explain the Equity Premium Puzzle? 31:00 Gender differences in revealed risk taking 38:50 Testing for Altruism and Social Pressure in Charitable Giving 49:00 The Voltage Effect 1:05:44 Understanding the Winner’s Curse and Failing 1:22:10 Scaling Public Policy 1:33:49 Getting Fast Thinkers to Slow Down 1:42:59 Working at Walmart, Success and End Books From Today’s Episode: The Voltage Effect: How to Make Good Ideas Great and Great Ideas Scale — https://amzn.to/3xgBhOE Links From Today’s Episode: Rational Reminder on iTunes — https://itunes.apple.com/ca/podcast/the-rational-reminder-podcast/id1426530582. Rational Reminder Website — https://rationalreminder.ca/ Shop Merch — https://shop.rationalreminder.ca/ Join the Community — https://community.rationalreminder.ca/ Follow us on Twitter — https://twitter.com/RationalRemind Follow us on Instagram — @rationalreminder Benjamin on Twitter — https://twitter.com/benjaminwfelix Cameron on Twitter — https://twitter.com/CameronPassmore John List on Twitter — https://twitter.com/Econ_4_Everyone ‘The Nature and Extent of Discrimination in the Market’ — The Nature and Extent of Discrimination in the Marketplace: Evidence from the Field on JSTOR ‘How Many Economists Does It Take to Change a Light Bulb’ — https://www.researchgate.net/publication/228431296_How_Many_Economists_does_it_take_to_Change_a_Light_Bulb_A_Natural_Field_Experiment_on_Technology_Adoption 22 in 22 Reading Challenge — Join the Rational Reminder’s 22 in 22 reading challenge! Ben’s Reading Code (22 in 22 Challenge): 7XWESMK Cameron’s Reading Code (22 in 22 Challenge): N62IPTX

Added 4 Apr 2026