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NYC Sues Over OxyContin and The Heroin Epidemic with William Evans and Ethan Lieber
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New York City filed a lawsuit against the distributors and manufacturers of opioid prescription drugs, including Purdue Pharma, Johnson & Johnson and McKesson. As the manufacturer-to-consumer pipeline is muddied, recent attention is focused on how the recent opioid crisis could have been prevented. Host Dan Loney talks with William Evans, Professor and Department Chair Department of Economics at the University of Notre Dame, and Ethan Lieber, Assistant Professor in the Department of Economics at the University of Notre Dame, to discuss their recent study "How the Reformulation of OxyContin Ignited the Heroin Epidemic” to take a look at some of the causes and potential remedies of this crisis on Knowledge@Wharton.
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Faculty Prediction Series: The 2026 Labor Market Outlook and What Comes Next
10:37|Matthew Bidwell, Wharton Professor of Management, reflects on the cooling labor market, the influence of artificial intelligence, hybrid work dynamics, and what workers and graduates should expect as the economy heads toward 2026.
Faculty Prediction Series: Where Artificial Intelligence Stands Heading Into 2026
08:14|Ethan Mollick, Co- Director of Wharton Generative AI Labs, examines how artificial intelligence continues to advance without slowing, highlighting its growing business adoption, potential labor market effects, and the importance of guardrails as organizations prepare for 2026.
Free Versus Fair Trade in a Changing Global Economy
10:32|John Zhang, Wharton Marketing Professor, discusses his recent analysis of free versus fair trade, explaining the economic assumptions, political incentives, and distributional consequences of tariffs in today’s global trading system.
Why Today’s AI Bubble May Fuel Tomorrow’s Economic Growth
10:57|Lynn Wu, Wharton Associate Professor of Operations, Information and Decisions, explains why today’s AI investment frenzy, while exhibiting bubble-like characteristics, represents a vital phase of technological evolution—driving infrastructure development, enabling future economic spillovers, and laying the groundwork for transformative advancements across industries.
Understanding the True Costs Behind Credit Card Lending
11:07|Itamar Drechsler, Wharton School Professor of Finance and Co-Director of the Rodney L. White Center for Financial Research, explains the economic forces behind high credit card interest rates, highlighting the roles of defaults, operating costs, marketing expenditures, and market power in shaping what consumers ultimately pay.
Examining How Amazon Fulfillment Centers Influence Local Economic Growth
11:56|Serguei Netessine, Professor of Operations, Information and Decisions and Senior Vice Dean for Innovation and Global Initiatives at the Wharton School, discusses new research analyzing how Amazon fulfillment centers affect county-level employment, median household income, and poverty rates.
How Chatbots Shape Emotional Well-Being in the Age of AI
10:58|Stefano Puntoni, Wharton Marketing Professor and co-director of the Wharton Human AI Research Project, discusses emerging research on AI companionship, its effects on loneliness and mental health, and the complex safety, ethical, and legal considerations shaping this rapidly evolving space.
Economic Signals, Policy Debates, and AI’s Impact on Markets
10:42|Jeremy Siegel, Professor Emeritus of Finance at the Wharton School and Senior Economist at WisdomTree, offers his perspective on Fed decision-making amid data gaps, evolving consumer trends, AI-driven market competition, and the broader economic implications of shifting U.S.–China relations.
Rethinking ACA Tax Credits and the Future of Health Coverage
10:02|Mark Pauly, Professor Emeritus of Healthcare Management at the Wharton School, examines Senator Bill Cassidy’s new health savings account–based proposal, evaluates its relationship to existing ACA tax credits, and offers broader insights into the persistent economic and political challenges of U.S. health care reform.