Is San Francisco a Failed State? (And Other Questions You Shouldn’t Ask the Mayor)

Episode description

Stephen Dubner, live on stage, mixes it up with outbound mayor London Breed, and asks economists whether A.I. can be “human-centered” and if Tang is a gateway drug.

• SOURCES:
  • London Breed, former mayor of San Francisco.
  • Erik Brynjolfsson, professor of economics at Stanford University
  • Koleman Strumpf, professor of economics at Wake Forest University

• RESOURCES:
  • "SF crime rate at lowest point in more than 20 years, mayor says," by George Kelly (The San Francisco Standard, 2025)
  • "How the Trump Whale and Prediction Markets Beat the Pollsters in 2024," by Niall Ferguson and Manny Rincon-Cruz (Wall Street Journal, 2024)
  • "Artificial Intelligence, Scientific Discovery, and Product Innovation," by Aidan Toner-Rodgers (MIT Department of Economics, 2024)

• EXTRAS:
  • "Why Are Cities (Still) So Expensive?" by Freakonomics Radio (2020)