This final session features Professors Glenn Hubbard and Tano Santos, the faculty who teach the popular course Modern Political Economy at Columbia Business School.

Hubbard is the director of the Jerome A. Chazen Institute for Global Business, Dean Emeritus, and Russell L. Carson Professor of Finance and Economics at Columbia Business School; and Santos is the director of the Heilbrunn Center for Graham and Dodd Investing and Robert Heilbrunn Professor of Asset Management and Finance at Columbia Business School. Sandi Wright, director of the Tamer Center for Social Enterprise, moderates the session.

The session begins with Hubbard and Santos answering questions from host Professor Ray Horton based on three topics of critical importance that were addressed in previous episodes throughout the season: climate change, migration, and artificial intelligence. In each case, they answer the questions from the perspective of political economy rather than economics.

The Columbia Business School faculty who addressed these issues in earlier episodes of season one comment on the remarks of Santos and Hubbard — Professors Bruce Usher and Gernot Wagner on climate change, Professor Dan Wang and postdoctoral research scholar Sandra Portocarrero on migration, and Professor Sandra Matz on artificial intelligence. Sandra Navalli OAM ’03, managing director of the Tamer Center for Social Enterprise, closes with comments on how this podcast provides a platform to discuss major global issues that elevate the public discourse around the modern political economy.

The session ends with Horton asking Hubbard and Santos to predict who will be the winner of the 2024 presidential campaign.

Thanks for listening!

Subscribe to More MPE wherever you get your podcasts. Visit morempe.com, or drop us a line at socialenterprise@gsb.columbia.edu.

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Mentioned in this Episode

• R. Glenn Hubbard, (Columbia Business School)
• Sandra Matz, (Columbia Business School)
• Sandra Navalli OAM ’03, (Columbia Business School)
• Sandra Portocarrero, (Columbia Business School)
• Tano Santos, (Columbia Business School)
• Bruce Usher, (Columbia Business School)
• Gernot Wagner, (Columbia Business School)
• Dan Wang, (Columbia Business School)

More MPE is produced by The Podcast Consultant. Special thanks to executive producers Sandi Wright and Hannah Slow.

This session of More MPE focuses on the increasing importance of social entrepreneurship and the unique role the Tamer Center for Social Enterprise plays in supporting social entrepreneurship in the United States and around the world. Our guest is Sandra Navalli OAM ’03, the managing director of the Tamer Center for Social Enterprise. She first proposed and now oversees the development of the distinctive and highly successful Tamer Fund for Social Ventures, which supports social entrepreneurs by drawing on the financial and human resources of the center, the Business School, and Columbia University at large.

The conversation begins with Navalli explaining how the field of entrepreneurship differs from the subfield of social entrepreneurship before turning to a discussion of the Tamer Fund for Social Ventures. It provides seed grants to social and environmental startups of all kinds, including nonprofit, for-profit, and hybrid ventures. Competition for the grants is intense, with up to one hundred applications each semester for a total of seven grants each year.

While financial support is a critical part of building a successful venture, according to Navalli another key area is the ability to draw on the diverse skills of students, faculty, and alumni from across the University — and not just from the Business School. Tamer Center staff and an investment board work with portfolio ventures to access university resources, including connecting them with experienced advisors and student talent. At one point she notes that before Warby Parker was a recognized brand, they found it harder to attract interest for open positions. The Tamer Fund for Social Ventures provides a reputational boost and a positive signaling effect for talented students and alumni who wish to work with mission driven ventures.

The conversation ends with a discussion of the final session of More MPE, which will be a live session taking place on March 25 on the Manhattanville Campus. The session will feature a discussion of three professors of the Modern Political Economy Course — Glenn Hubbard, Tano Santos, and Ray Horton — drawing on key points taken from the individual sessions of the podcast. Listeners are invited to attend the live session and a reception afterward of students, faculty, and administrators. Join the mailing list to receive an invitation.

Thanks for listening!

Subscribe to More MPE wherever you get your podcasts. Visit morempe.com, or drop us a line at socialenterprise@gsb.columbia.edu.

• Sandra Navalli OAM ’03, (Columbia Business School)
• Tamer Fund for Social Ventures, (Columbia Business School)

More MPE is produced by The Podcast Consultant. Special thanks to executive producers Sandi Wright and Hannah Slow.

In another session devoted to climate change, we focus on an unconventional way of halting global warming known as solar geo-engineering. In this session, host Professor Ray Horton speaks with Gernot Wagner, faculty director of the Climate Knowledge Initiative at the Tamer Center for Social Enterprise and senior lecturer at Columbia Business School. Wagner is an expert in engineering solutions to the problem of climate change.

The conversation with Wagner begins with the meaning of solar geo-engineering, a technique that promises to play a role in halting global warming by surrounding Earth with a shield that block the sun’s heat from entering the atmosphere. He describes the process of creating the shield as uncomplicated technically and very much cheaper than the sums involved in the wide range of policies designed to reduce fossil fuel consumption.

Why then, the conversation continues, is solar geo-engineering not playing a role in fighting what is seen by many as an existential threat? Wagner advances what he calls a “green” moral hazard problem. Opponents, who for the most part are climate scientists and advocates of decarbonization policies, argue that investing in solar geo-engineering will reduce the pressure to deal with the real problem — reducing CO2 emissions. Wagner explains why he is somewhat skeptical of the moral hazard argument but acknowledges that much more needs to be known about the long-term effects on plant and animal life of blocking the sun. In the end Wagner calls for more research.

Wagner is an important part of Columbia Business School’s commitment to put climate change at the center of its educational mission through teaching and research. He teaches the introductory course in the MBA program, which is already taken by one-half of the students; he is an active scholar and disseminator of research; and through the Climate Knowledge Initiative he is taking theory to practice by working with students to develop decarbonization strategies for select industries.

The Climate Knowledge Initiative launches in 2024 thanks to support and leadership from N. Robert (Bob) Hammer ‘67. The Tamer Center for Social Enterprise applauds his vision and is pleased to present him with the 2024 Horton Award for Excellence in Climate and Social Impact.

Thanks for listening!

Subscribe to More MPE wherever you get your podcasts. Visit morempe.com, or drop us a line at socialenterprise@gsb.columbia.edu.

• Gernot Wagner, (Columbia Business School)

• Climate Knowledge Initiative, (Columbia Business School)

More MPE is produced by The Podcast Consultant. Special thanks to executive producers Sandi Wright and Hannah Slow.

In this session of More MPE, host Professor Ray Horton speaks with Tano Santos about Europe. Santos is the director of the Heilbrunn Center for Graham and Dodd Investing and Robert Heilbrunn Professor of Asset Management and Finance at Columbia Business School.

The conversation begins with talking about the major problems facing Europe today, which Santos believes are two-fold. The first and most obvious problem is the war between Russia and Ukraine. Europe has a huge stake in containing Russia’s desire to expand its influence westward, but Europe’s response to the invasion of Ukraine is muted by its economic dependence, particularly Germany’s, on Russian oil and gas.

The second major problem facing Europe, China, is related to the first. To reduce its economic dependence on Russian oil and gas, not to mention to play a meaningful role in fighting global warming, Europe needs to dramatically increase its reliance on clean energy, solar energy particularly. But like the United States, Europe takes a distant back seat to China in the production of solar panels.

Next, we discuss the major problems facing Europe tomorrow that nobody’s paying enough attention to today. Santos’s worries begin with concerns for the long-run economy. Europeans are aging, and it’s hard for economies to grow if the number of workers doesn’t grow. In theory, the migration of people from other countries could bolster the working-age population, but the reality is that migrants find it hard to enter European labor markets for a number of reasons. In theory, productivity gains due to technological advances could help solve the shortfall of workers, but the major technological change in the offing is AI, which Santos fears will bite heavily into the demand for workers in the advanced service sector.

Thanks for listening!

Subscribe to More MPE wherever you get your podcasts. Visit morempe.com, or drop us a line at socialenterprise@gsb.columbia.edu.

• Tano Santos, (Columbia Business School)

More MPE is produced by The Podcast Consultant. Special thanks to executive producers Sandi Wright and Hannah Slow.

In this session of More MPE, we focus on an issue that bedevils many business leaders: Should they speak out on socio-political issues? Host Professor Ray Horton speaks with Vanessa Burbano, the Sidney Taurel Associate Professor of Business at Columbia Business School. Her award-winning research addresses the question.

We began by talking about how she became interested in the question. Before entering academia, Burbano worked for several years in the private sector in positions that led her to wonder about the relationship between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and corporate profitability. Her early research on the response of employees to various CSR initiatives showed that employees were motivated by the policies to perform better on their jobs. Profitability increased because, for example, employees performed better and turned over less.

She began to think about the “speaking out” issue when Chick-fil-A’s CEO took a public stance against gay marriage, a very “unwoke” thing to do that prompted a debate in business and academia over whether speaking out on “political” issues was a good strategy. Burbano’s instinct, drawing on her earlier research, was that it depended on how a firm’s employees felt about the position. It could have a motivating effect if they agreed and a demotivating affect if they didn’t. But her research yielded an asymmetric finding. Employees who agreed with the position were not motivated to perform better, while employees who disagreed performed worse. Ergo, Burbano’s research suggests that it’s better to stay silent at least from the perspective of profitability.

But she recognizes there may be exceptions to this general rule, which is causing her to think about another wave of research. Some firms are not devoted to profit maximization; they value social goods too. Patagonia comes to mind for its explicit commitment to protecting the environment, which is said to reflect the values of its workforce. If Patagonia’s CEO stood silent on an environmental issue, wouldn’t its employees be demotivated?

We end the session speculating about another phenomenon, the evidence that interstate migration of Americans is increasingly dictated by the red state-blue state litmus. Conservatives vacate blue states in favor of red states; vice-versa for liberals. If political conflict continues to grow in the United States, could the day come when workers choose their employers on the basis of their stances on political issues?

Thanks for listening!

Subscribe to More MPE wherever you get your podcasts. Visit morempe.com, or drop us a line at socialenterprise@gsb.columbia.edu.

• Vanessa Burbano, (Columbia Business School)

More MPE is produced by The Podcast Consultant. Special thanks to executive producers Sandi Wright and Hannah Slow.

There are lots of things to be bummed about these days. Climate change is at the top of Professor Ray Horton’s list because of the scale of the threat it poses to humankind and because, in his opinion, humankind lacks the ability to contain it.

Fortunately, we have Columbia Business School colleagues who are both more knowledgeable and less pessimistic. In this episode of More MPE, host Professor Ray Horton speaks with Bruce Usher, co-director of the Tamer Center for Social Enterprise; Elizabeth B. Strickler ’86 and Mark T. Gallogly ’86 Faculty Director; and Professor of Professional Practice at Columbia Business School.

Usher is not a doomsayer like Horton (or a denier like Trump). He argues that the species has survived bigger problems, like ice ages, but that it's 50-50 we’ll be able to avoid repeated “catastrophes” from the extreme events we are already beginning to experience.

Usher argues that we have the technological ability to solve the problem — renewable energy, electric cars, and lithium batteries — but the political will is lacking in the United States and internationally. Business, then, is going to have to take the lead, which is why, as Usher ends our conversation, the School and Tamer Center are engaged in a wide range of activities designed to make climate change central to the lives of CBS graduates.

Thanks for listening!

Subscribe to More MPE wherever you get your podcasts. Visit morempe.com, or drop us a line at socialenterprise@gsb.columbia.edu.

Mentioned in this Episode

• Bruce Usher, (Columbia Business School)

More MPE is produced by The Podcast Consultant. Special thanks to executive producers Sandi Wright and Hannah Slow.

Artificial intelligence, according to some, is far and away the most important innovation in history with the capacity to bring unprecedented good and unprecedented evil to humankind. In this episode of More MPE, host Professor Ray Horton speaks with Sandra Matz, the David W. Zalaznick Associate Professor of Business at Columbia Business School.

Matz begins by distinguishing big data and artificial intelligence, the former being the raw material the latter uses for its designer’s purposes, which revolve around “profiling” individuals to identify who might be amenable to “targeting” for one purpose or another. She then provides examples, revolutionary examples, of how AI could be put to good use in fields like business and public health before turning to uses with disastrous consequences.

The conversation turns to regulation, which at bottom involves the attempt by law to steer AI from bad uses. Congress is studying the issue In the United States, though the politics of regulating AI, like everything else, are very complicated in America. Matz notes that the European Union has implemented a regulatory regime that relies heavily on individuals to reclaim their once-private information, an approach she doesn’t believe goes far enough to limit profilers. In the final analysis, regulation by government will be difficult because the differences between good and bad uses are not black and white.

Matz concludes that the key to regulating AI may lie in the form of data cooperatives where managers have a fiduciary relationship to act in the best interest of members.

Finally, the discussion turns to the impact of AI on business education. At CBS, she notes that each of the School’s divisions is now offering courses on AI. She closes by noting that ChatGPT could develop the syllabus for a course on Modern Political Economy and somebody might replace the professors who teach the course.

Thanks for listening!

Subscribe to More MPE wherever you get your podcasts. Visit morempe.com, or drop us a line at socialenterprise@gsb.columbia.edu.

• Sandra Matz, (Columbia Business School)

More MPE is produced by The Podcast Consultant. Special thanks to executive producers Sandi Wright and Hannah Slow.

The world’s people are migrating in record numbers with wide-ranging effects on the nations they are leaving and entering. To discuss international migration are two students of the subject from Columbia Business School, migrants themselves. Dan Wang is the co-director of the Tamer Center for Social Enterprise and Lambert Family Associate Professor of Social Enterprise at Columbia Business School. Sandra Portocarrero is a postdoctoral research scholar at Columbia Business School, who studies undocumented entrepreneurs.

The conversation begins with an overview of international migration, about which there is considerable misunderstanding. Americans may think that North America has long been the favored destination of migrants, but nearly twice as many have entered both Europe and Asia in the last half-century. And while the popular conception is that migrants are “pushed” out of their home country by war, political prosecution, or religious persecution, many are “pulled” by the ambition to better their standard of living.

Misunderstanding of migration into the United States also abounds, in part the product of daily publicity accorded migrants trying to cross the Southern border illegally and often at great peril. Historically however, most illegal migrants entered the United States with visas and became illegal, or unauthorized, by overstaying them. Wang and Portocarrero also point out that many migrants reside in the United States legally and are employed as either skilled or unskilled workers. Lost amidst the political conflict over migrants is the fact that they play essential economic roles whether their residence is legal or not.

The conversation moves next to the role of migrants in New York City. The number of migrants has increased dramatically in recent years; so has negative publicity to the effect that migrants are creating a fiscal crisis in local government and displacing New Yorkers in the labor market (both overstated concerns). Lost in the controversy is the reality that the city needs large numbers of immigrants to overcome labor shortages in key industries, including construction, nursing, home health care, and food services.

The session ends with a discussion of how the Tamer Center is developing the capacity, through research and student outreach, to help develop the entrepreneurial skills of undocumented New Yorkers.

Thanks for listening!

Subscribe to More MPE wherever you get your podcasts. Visit morempe.com, or drop us a line at socialenterprise@gsb.columbia.edu.

• Dan Wang (Columbia Business School)

• Sandra Portocarrero (Columbia Business School)

More MPE is produced by The Podcast Consultant. Special thanks to executive producers Sandi Wright and Hannah Slow.